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Overview
This performance costume was made by transwoman Vanessa Wallis Wedding (1942-2022, New Zealand). In 1969, she underwent gender affirming surgery in Australia when she transitioned from male to female. In 1977, she became the focus of media attention when she married a man.
Vanessa made costumes for trans performers in Auckland from the 1960s onwards. The 1960s were a busy time in the Auckland music club scene, which continued into the 1970s aided by the gradual easing of alcohol laws and societal mores.
The cape was worn over the jumpsuit by the lead performer (who was supported by two to three back-up performers in complementary leotard and cape outfits). They performed firstly at Mojos nightclub and then at the Colony Club in Auckland in the 1970s. Patrons could eat and drink while enjoying floor shows until the early hours of the morning. Promoter Phil Warren opened Mojos in the 1960s and introduced risqué floorshows and drag acts in the 1970s (taken over by Hugh Lynn in 1975). Bob Sell started the Colony in the early 1960s: it was considered a ‘plushery’ with its satin padded cell look, early Hollywood décor, and low lighting.
When Vanessa was growing up in the 1940s and 50s, it was illegal for men to have sex with other men, and trans men and women were invisible and had few avenues to express themselves. But she knew from a very young age (3-4 years old) that she wanted to be a girl. When her mother discovered her private journals written as teenager, she was shocked by the graphic descriptions, and sent Vanessa to a psychiatrist to try and cure her from what her mother described as a ‘deviancy’. The psychiatrist diagnosed her as a homosexual and prescribed male hormones, but Vanessa resisted his advice.
Living in Auckland, Vanessa was able to connect with and befriend many gay men her age, including Trevor Rupe who became Carmen, one of New Zealand’s most well-known and iconic trans pioneers. At 21, Vanessa left home and began to live as a woman. She was a talented seamstress and found work making costumes for local productions and was an assistant at Auckland department store Milne & Choyce. During the week she would leave home as a man, but on the weekends, she would go to parties and socialise in the city as a woman, in clothing she designed and made herself.
Vanessa’s life changed after she read the story of American trans woman Christine Jorgensen (1926-1989) who had gender reassignment surgery in 1952. For the first time, Vanessa saw that it was physically possible to change genders. Such experimental surgery was not available in New Zealand at that time, but Vanessa approached many doctors and psychiatrists for help. She was referred to surgeons at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney who had performed the first reported gender reassignment surgery in Australia (in 1954). Vanessa was considered an acceptable candidate. ‘I desperately wanted to be a woman, I felt like a woman and I wanted to get married to a man and be his wife. It wasn’t just about the sexual experience. I wanted to have legal rights and protections as a woman’ (Stuff 2021). Despite the risks and uncertainties, Vanessa was determined to have the procedure and raised the $2000 needed for the surgery.
She flew to Sydney in February 1969 to undergo psychiatric and physical tests. ‘They removed the testicles and inverted the penis into the area around the base of the intestines, where the vagina would be’ (Stuff 2021). There were no major complications afterwards, although over the years Vanessa had to have many additional surgeries because of the experimental nature of the original surgery.
Six months after the surgery, Vanessa returned to New Zealand to start her new life. To feel comfortable in her new body, she became a nude model in art classes. However, she experienced discrimination, especially in the workplace, and spent many months on the unemployment benefit because it was hard to hold down a job. In some instances, employers refused to let her use the women’s toilets. She also struggled with government departments over recognition of her gender.
A happier period began when she met and married Mervyn McConnell. Their Presbyterian Church wedding in Onehunga on 19 February 1977 made the front page of the Sunday News with the headline ‘Sex Change ‘Marriage’’. Despite having a church wedding, the ceremony was described as a ‘marriage blessing’ and was not recognised in law after the newlyweds were denied a marriage certificate because Vanessa was legally considered a man and two men couldn’t marry (people could not change their gender on birth certificates at that time). The couple later applied for a marriage certificate at the Otahuhu Registrar’s Office, which was approved on 9 September 1977. The Sunday News printed dramatic newspaper billboards: ‘Legal Marriage: Sex Change Bride’ (25 September 1977). The marriage ended in 1999, but they stayed on good terms.
Vanessa helped establish the support group Transcare which was set up to promote the interests of transgender people in New Zealand. It provided emotional guidance to trans men and women who wanted to have gender affirming surgery, especially after it became available in New Zealand in 1980. She remained committed to trans health care until her death.
References: Awarau, A. (18 Feb 2021). Becoming Vanessa: New Zealand's first transgender trailblazer on making history. Stuff.