Goodnight Possums!

by John Elliott

Barry Humphries died on Saturday 22 April at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney following complications from hip surgery stemming from a fall earlier this year. He was 89.

Barry Humphries was a true Australian legend. Somehow he helped us all feel good about where we came from. Didn’t matter what shape or size we were.

Mourning Barry who was taken ill in Sydney last week with complications after hip surgery, means saying goodbye to his charismatic, hyper-real fictional personas: not only “the Australian housewife and superstar” Dame Edna Everage, with her radiant, rinsed hairdo, trademark sparkling spectacles and bright gladioli, but also to the revolting Australian cultural attaché, Sir Les Patterson, and the irrepressibly dull Sandy Stone.

Over decades, each of these stage characters has mischievously shaped the world’s view of Australians, satirising the stereotypical lack of taste that British “pommies” enjoy looking down on.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, described Barry as both “gifted and a gift”. His most famous creation, Dame Edna, based on his own aunts, first emerged in rather dowdy form in 1955. Early appearances of the lowly housewife from Moonee Ponds were at the Establishment nightclub in Soho, a venue set up by the satirical comic and Private Eye founder, Peter Cook.

I took this pic of two great Australians in 1992 at Carlton Hill Station in WA. Edna and Slim Dusty were performing together in the outback.