Miss Show Girl 1957-1996
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MISS SHOW GIRL <strong>1957</strong>-<strong>1996</strong><br />
<strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> finalists 1974 Royal Melbourne <strong>Show</strong>
MISS SHOW GIRL <strong>1957</strong>-<strong>1996</strong><br />
THE QUEST FOR MISS<br />
SHOW GIRL<br />
Seeking: ‘a young attractive girl with good<br />
grooming and personality who is worthy of<br />
the title.’ (newspaper advertisement, <strong>1957</strong>)<br />
The search for Victoria’s inaugural <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong><br />
<strong>Girl</strong> commenced in August <strong>1957</strong>. A joint<br />
initiative of the Sun-News-Pictorial and the<br />
Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV),<br />
the quest was publicised in the media and via<br />
regional <strong>Show</strong> societies. The competition was<br />
open to ‘All single girls between 16 and 25 by<br />
<strong>Show</strong> Day, irrespective of whether they are<br />
Victorian or interstate visitors to the <strong>Show</strong>.’<br />
This was the first such quest run in Australia<br />
with the other states establishing <strong>Miss</strong><br />
<strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> events in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.<br />
Participants entered the <strong>1957</strong> quest by<br />
sending a head and shoulders photograph of<br />
themselves together with their full name, age,<br />
address and occupation to The Sun offices.<br />
(<strong>Girl</strong>s without suitable photographs could<br />
have them taken free of charge by a Sun<br />
photographer at The Sun offices).<br />
.<br />
<strong>1957</strong><br />
220 young women compete for the<br />
title The Sun <strong>Miss</strong> Country <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong><br />
<strong>1957</strong> and £250 cash.<br />
Kay Nielsen, a shop assistant from<br />
Thornbury, bursts into tears when she is<br />
announced the winner.<br />
This is the first such quest in Australia<br />
- other states introduce <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong><br />
<strong>Girl</strong> events in the 1960s, 70s<br />
and 80s.<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> 1962 Margaret Mezaks<br />
.<br />
1958<br />
74 regional finalists from Victorian<br />
country <strong>Show</strong>s contest the <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong><br />
<strong>Girl</strong> title at the Royal Melbourne <strong>Show</strong>.<br />
50,000 people watch the <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong><br />
finalists complete a lap of the main<br />
arena in open cars.<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> Maryborough Finalists, <strong>1957</strong>. Fairlie Burkinshaw (now McDonald) far right
220 girls competed for the inaugural ‘The<br />
Sun <strong>Miss</strong> Country <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong>’ title. The judging<br />
took place at the Royal Melbourne <strong>Show</strong> with<br />
the dates and times of the preliminary heats<br />
advertised in the press. Dressed in ‘afternoon<br />
clothes,’ the contestants were judged on<br />
stage in Centenary Hall in front of a crowd<br />
of spectators. The judging panel included<br />
Sun reporter <strong>Miss</strong> Dot Jones, an experienced<br />
judge at Belle of the Ball events, who<br />
commented “These girls are not chosen for<br />
their beauty alone but for their personality,<br />
dress sense and grooming.”<br />
The field was reduced to nine finalists and<br />
Kay Neilsen of Thornbury was awarded the<br />
title of <strong>Miss</strong> Country <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> <strong>1957</strong>, taking<br />
home a sash and £250 cash prize.<br />
The following year, the competition was<br />
modified and participants had to compete<br />
and win at a local show to be eligible to<br />
compete in the finals at Royal Melbourne<br />
<strong>Show</strong>. (Later years, saw the addition of a<br />
regional final so some women competed<br />
three times for the title of <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong>).<br />
Unbeknown to the organisers in <strong>1957</strong>, the<br />
inaugural event signalled the beginning of a<br />
new and popular <strong>Show</strong> institution that was to<br />
continue in Victoria for 39 years.<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> Daylesford 1967 <strong>Miss</strong> Alice Rodini (now Hirst)<br />
Top: <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong>girl entrants 1961 at the <strong>Show</strong>grounds including <strong>Miss</strong> Warragul 1961 Elaine<br />
Martin (now Taylor) 3rd left<br />
Left: Lois Davies (now Trimble) <strong>Miss</strong> Stawell 1965. <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> entrant, Royal Melbourne <strong>Show</strong>, 1965
MISS SHOW GIRL <strong>1957</strong>-<strong>1996</strong><br />
.<br />
1971<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> finalists stay at the<br />
Southern Cross Hotel in Melbourne for<br />
four days in the lead up to judging.<br />
Each morning starts with a visit to the<br />
Elizabeth Arden Salon at Buckley &<br />
Nunn’s Department Store for a hair<br />
appointment.<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> Finalists 1971 at the Southern Cross Hotel Melbourne<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> 1964 Suzanne Whyte (centre) with other winners<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> finalists 1973, Grand Parade Royal Melbourne <strong>Show</strong><br />
<strong>Miss</strong> Pyramid Hill1974, Loren James (now McRobb)
<strong>Miss</strong> Berwick 1974, <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> 1974, Sandra Crow (now Funston).
MISS SHOW GIRL <strong>1957</strong>-<strong>1996</strong><br />
<strong>Miss</strong> Sale and <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> 1985 Joanne Taylor (now Leatham) presenting<br />
winning sash<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> 1990, Elizabeth Porter with Mrs Norma Buckland,<br />
long-serving <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> chaperone<br />
.<br />
1984<br />
National <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> Competition<br />
introduced.<br />
Victorian <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> winner Mareeta<br />
Grundy wins the inaugural <strong>Miss</strong> TAA<br />
Japan Airlines Agricultural <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> of<br />
Australia Competition.<br />
She wins a sash, holiday for two to<br />
Japan and a travel wardrobe.<br />
<strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> 1984 Mareeta Grundy
Top Left - clockwise: <strong>Miss</strong> Yarrawonga 1981 Debra Cox (now Mortimore) and <strong>Miss</strong> Swan Hill 1980, Glenda Peel<br />
(now Stayner); <strong>Miss</strong> Deniliquin 1961, Frances Murphy (now Woolnough), <strong>Miss</strong> Echuca 1961, Kay Yeaman (now<br />
Wearne), <strong>Miss</strong> Horsham 1961, Beverley Pilgrim (now McRae); <strong>Miss</strong> Bunyip 1966, Roslyn Drayton (now Andrews)<br />
and <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> 1990, Elizabeth Porter; <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> Reunion, 2017 Royal Melbourne <strong>Show</strong>; <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong><br />
<strong>Girl</strong> Exhibition RMS 2017; <strong>Miss</strong> Boort 1960, Heather Moresi (now Hargreaves, <strong>Miss</strong> Great Southern 1958, Judith<br />
Pearson (now Fasoli), <strong>Miss</strong> Lilydale 1958, Robin Hoyland (now Murphy); <strong>Miss</strong> Port Phillip region, 1987, Lisa<br />
Macdonald (now Holland) with mother <strong>Miss</strong> Yarra Glen 1963, Susan Macdonald.<br />
Acknowledgements<br />
RASV Heritage gratefully acknowledges<br />
the following <strong>Miss</strong> <strong>Show</strong> <strong>Girl</strong>s, individuals and<br />
organisations for their generous assistance with this project:<br />
Aileen Wallace /Alice Hirst / Anne Eskdale / Anne Johnson / Anne Payne /Annette<br />
Lanyon /Anne Snell / Beverley Long / Beverley McRae / Bronwyn Williams / Carol<br />
McFadzean / Cheryl Bottomley / Cherrie Gillingham / Christine Rogerson / Christine<br />
Wilson / Corinne Collins / Debra Mortimore / Elaine Taylor / Ellen O’Keefe / Elizabeth<br />
Michael / Elizabeth Porter / Emma Kubeil / Emma Williamson / Fairlie McDonald / Faye<br />
Crowe / Fiona Crichton / Frances Woolnough / Gael Vanderven / Gail Cullen / Genine Graham<br />
/ Glenda Stanyer / Gwenda Elllingsen / Heather Bawden / Heather Hargreaves / Heather<br />
Watson / Helen Dower / Janice Davies / Janine Fletcher / Jennifer Sonego / Joanne Lee<br />
Archibald / Joanne Leatham / Judy Hipwell / Judy Morrison / Judith Pearson / June Brown<br />
/ Karen Dethomas / Kate Scott / Kathryn Fitzsimons / Kay Wearne / Kerrie Marriott<br />
Anderson / Kimberley McSweeney / Kyrewyn O’Kane / Linda Schultz / Lisa Holland / Lois<br />
Trimble / Loren McRobb / Mareeta Grundy / Margaret Harding / Margaret Woodford<br />
/ Marjorie Van Heel / Melinda Bright / Pamela Coolahan / Pauline Weeks / Raelene<br />
Alexander / Rhonda Day / Robin Murphy / Roslyn Andrews / Sally Minchin /<br />
Sandy Funston / Susan Macdonald / Suzanne Whyte / Vikki Lanyon And, Alana<br />
Christensen, Angelique Perry - VAS, Dawn Stephens, Jacqui Cook - Lilydale<br />
<strong>Show</strong>, Lynne Ferris - Dandenong Agricultural & Pastoral Society Inc,<br />
Norma Buckland, Peter Martin, Tim Morgan.
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