Ian Johnson, Out Now
June 17, 2007
Dawn O'Donnell. Two words that have been uttered countless times by so many people who have come to learn of and admire the work she put into developing gay Sydney. Rarely said dispassionately.
Final words on Dawn O'Donnell, and her incredible life history, are perhaps still to be written.
Yet there is a wealth of material to draw upon when someone chooses to commit to paper the facts surrounding one of the more extraordinary personalities that Sydney's Oxford Street gay community, or indeed Sydney itself, has seen.
Gay Market News covered the basic facts of Dawn O'Donnell's passing last week.
Her funeral was attended by many Sydney luminaries, including renowned Australian artist Margaret Olley.
Her relationship with her wife of more than a quarter of a century, Aniek Baten, was one that seems properly written as one of the world's classic love affairs.
Dawn O'Donnell's dominance and influence upon what became a viable and thriving lesbian and gay community 'Scene' was immense.
Her role in starting business after business that encouraged a nascent underground gay scene into one of the world's best cannot be understated.The admiration felt for her was strongly evident last week.
Through her charitable work and support for local drag performers, Dawn O'Donnell deserves a place of high admiration from many within the Sydney gay scene.
Drag artist, Mitzi Macintosh, said at last week's funeral service in a eulogy for her that "for over 40 years Dawn was our leading lady. She helped to create Sydney's heyday. We came out because she gave us somewhere to come out to."
Her impact on the gay nightlife market of Sydney will be long remembered for both its extent and its longevity.
Dawn O'Donnell though inspired respect as well as admiration.
As expressed by one comment left on this week's Sydney Star Observer obituary: "I certainly appreciate her contribution to the gay community over the years but I'm glad I never crossed her."
Dawn O'Donnell had reported business associations with the late Abe Saffron, Roger Claude Teyssedre and was mentioned in passing in a book about the unsolved murder of Teyssedre's lover Ludwig Gertsh, by SD Harvey, The Ghost of Ludwig Gertsch.Her role as Sydney lesbian philanthropist is unquestioned.
"She did not hesitate to dig deep and throw in extra dollars to make sure fund raising events could be staged to raise badly needed funds at a time when state and federal governments wanted to ignore the needs of those touched by HIV/AIDS," as evidenced in another comment made under the Star Observer obit.
Before the death of Dawn O'Donnell last week, other information about the topics raised in Harvey's book was reportedly coming to light, and an inquest into Gertsch's death was reopened, more than 15 years after his 1990 death.
No matter what else is said about Dawn O'Donnell, lesbian and gay Sydney truly lost one of the most notable characters in its history last week.
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