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[00:00:30] [00:01:00] [00:01:30] thank Donald. Oh, wow. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Fantastic. It's, uh, amazing to see such a wonderful crowd here this evening. [00:02:00] I'm Malcolm Kennedy Vaughn, and I'm going to be your MC for this, uh, lovely lovely opening of this exhibition. And I must say, what a fantastic job the portrait Gallery has done for this exhibition. It certainly brings back some fantastic memories and, uh, thank you to Fantastic. We'll be going to hear a little bit more of the, uh, the guys and the girls a little bit later on in the programme. I have a honour. It's an honour. And I feel so privileged to be here tonight to do this event. Um, [00:02:30] I look back at this, uh, portraits in here, and they are truly outstanding to see yourself from so many years ago and people pointing out to you. Well, you know, time does take its toll on everybody, but, uh, hey, listen, we're all still here, but it's truly fantastic. Um, our family, This is where it all began many, many years ago. And I've always, um, had a fond love for our transgender community. Uh, for many, many years, [00:03:00] when I was in the 17 and 18 year old um, age bracket. I spent quite a bit of time. I can tell you down at Carmen's coffee Lounge and not just there for the coffee, I can tell you, but it's, uh, truly been, um, a mind blowing experience to see people that you haven't seen for years. But I don't want to bore you too much with, uh, my time. I'd like to introduce to you now, um, Janine Parkinson, who is the, uh, director for the New Zealand Port trade Gallery? Janine, [00:03:30] if I can have you up here a moment, please. Big hand, please. Fantastic job. Hm? [00:04:00] Parkinson. Good evening, everyone. I'm delighted you could all join us here tonight to celebrate the opening of the common generation. My name is Janine Parkinson, and I am the director of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery. [00:04:30] In my personal introduction, I just explained that I was born in up the coast, which is south of the river. But I live now here in Wellington. There are many thanks and acknowledgements that I have to share tonight. Um, but first I would like to acknowledge Carmen Carmen Rupe, Chrissy Ko Dana Demilo Georgina, Baa and all those of their generation and many of whom have passed [00:05:00] away now and whose stellar personality is an enormous contribution. We are celebrating with this exhibition. I also would like to especially, um, acknowledge Dion who I know as a member of the community who passed away just recently, and I will let others acknowledge her more fully. I would like to extend a very special thanks to Chanel hati, who has worked alongside us tirelessly to make this exhibition. [00:05:30] Um, Chanel will say a few words in a minute, but we have a very special gift that we would like to present to her. So if you would just join us a little bit up here for a minute. And while I do that I would also like to, um acknowledge and thank Tale Langley and Georgie Keys, who, um, worked on curating this exhibition alongside Chanel. So a big thanks to Chanel, something little handmade for [00:06:00] you. Yeah. Um, we also have many, um, young artists who have participated in the exhibition, Um, two of which are here tonight with us. Ari Brightwell, Uh, and Sam Orchard. Um, yeah, we've got a few little things for you, too. Thank you. And, um, also to for the wonderful, um, as [00:06:30] we came in and for, um, helping us with arranging tonight. So thank you very much for your support. Yeah, um, no. Exhibition is an island, and we've done, uh, we've made this with the the help and support of our many, uh, trustees, a number of whom are here tonight, Um, our big friends community, Um, our many volunteers and our small but very tight knit team. So, um, my thanks to all [00:07:00] of you for supporting us and what we do. Um, especially we've got a number of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery is not a government funded organisation. We rely on donations and support from our members of our community. And I'd like to acknowledge Chris and Kay Park and who have, um, supported a publicist for this exhibition so we can help get the story out. So it's amazing what, um, small contributions like that can do for us. Um, the Chrissy to trust is a sponsor of this exhibition, and so a big thank you to [00:07:30] all of them. They've also supported this opening, and we'll be supporting some, uh, public programmes throughout the exhibition. Last but definitely not not least I'd like to thank the New Zealand prostitutes' collective who have catered the event, which you'll see enjoy soon and also for their support of Chanel, who has given huge amounts of time. Um, so behind every great woman. There's a great team. Of course, Um, we have enjoyed beginning to share [00:08:00] this exhibition with everyone, and I think the trend that has started with everyone kind of coming out and sharing their stories with us, um will continue as the exhibition goes on for the next three months. Um, we have, as I mentioned, a special public programme to support the exhibition, and Scottie and Ma are gonna lead a community conversation to let those stories be told a more fully than we could do on the walls. Um, and that'll be Saturday, the 11th of October at 1 p.m. So you're all invited to come along to that, and, [00:08:30] um, help us fill in some of the blanks in that storytelling. Um, and if you'd like to take a memento of the exhibition home with you, we've made a, uh, limited edition, um, of postcards. So you can buy those at the front. Now, without any further ado, I'd like to invite my team to join us up here because we have a that we've, um, done a little bit of preparation on, um especially for you and you If you know the words which I'm sure you will please join the clear. [00:09:00] Do you see it in my eye? Oh, wait time so we wouldn't take We go But, [00:09:30] baby Yeah, yeah, he Thank you, Janine. And all the crew from the New Zealand portrait gley, uh, gallery. Fantastic. Um, I think the best thing to do [00:10:00] right now would bring on, um uh, a woman who I have fond, fond memories of who as, uh, Jeanine has just said has done a lot for this exhibition. Could you please put your hands together and welcome on stage the one and only Chanel cutting out in the heat? Um [00:10:30] uh, [00:11:00] thanks everybody for coming. It's really touching to, um see everybody here tonight. Um, first of all, I just want to say, um, we thought of a concept for, for for the exhibition, and it was and is the Central Ridge Pole in the middle of a and like those safe spaces that are [00:11:30] common And that Chrissy provided, um this is where people gathered, uh, who were family And, um, who knew each other. And it's very similar to how they gather on the So we saw Carmen, Chris, Donna, Jackie Grant as well. We saw them as our Poe. Or if we can literally translate that, um, as our pillars of our [00:12:00] community. And, um, you know, those times back in the 19 seventies were quite hard. I mean, I was a bit apprehensive about doing this because I don't go. I'm not that era. But I know the stories. I know the people, I know the history. And so I thought, Just do it because they're my elders, As I am [00:12:30] an elder to the younger generation and, you know, to work on this exhibition with these beautiful ladies. It has been a It's been a real honour because I've never done anything like this like this before. But, um, it's been a wonderful journey to see it come to its. Its completion is just like it's just, like, so, so satisfying and to see to see you all here tonight, you know, we, we, we we we think [00:13:00] about car. And, um um, back in in her day and and all the conservative views and and all the restrictions, uh, the restrictive laws. And, um, what Carmen did is she rekindled that debate about sex work. Um, and gay rights. And you really do need somebody to have their conversation. [00:13:30] Um, Martin Luther King once said I have a dream, and their dream may not be fulfilled in that generation, but with perseverance. Um, and 11 united voice. I'm, I assure you, it will happen in the next generation. And it has all the things they come and dreamed about in her day were gay rights. Uh, legalisation [00:14:00] of, uh, legalisation of sex work, restrictions on alcohol. All these things we have today because somebody dreamed that dream and the next generation stood up and spoke about it. And it was amazing because it went from very a very conservative stance on these issues and over the years, into a more liberal view. And [00:14:30] because of those dreams, it's what we have today. We have We have marriage equality. We have decriminalisation of sex work. We have, uh, homosexual law reform and, um, I'm proud that in my generation, I'd love to see all that. I also want to say that we had a very, um, strained relationship with the police back in those [00:15:00] days. But I'll tell you what, they did what they did, because that's what they had to do. And all those to all those you know, people who were police officers who showed compassion and empathy. And you know who you are. If you're here tonight, we just want to say thank you and to end. I just want to say that this is this is about keeping, um, a legacy keeping our stories [00:15:30] alive for the next generation because they will be asking why is why do you have it? Why do we have it so good? But we just look to the past and at the end I just want to say to come and to all those who stood for us as we stand today because you stood for us. OK, take it. [00:16:00] [00:16:30] Vo my heat. Bye. Yeah, I I'm not too late, [00:17:00] I think. Two miles. Ok? That part, I hope. [00:17:30] Yeah. Oh, they found out that Yeah, [00:18:00] [00:18:30] yeah, yeah, I get that in. OK, one. [00:19:00] Well, again. Thank you to And, uh, Chanel. Amazing speech, darling. Absolutely fab. I found myself watering up a wee bit. Fantastic. Uh, I'm gonna open the floor a wee. But now I've got a few people that I would like to, uh, get to say a few words. Um, one of them is a former Commonwealth Games champion. She's a former police officer who got to wear the first boots in town, if I remember rightly. And she was a police officer that showed that love and the compassion. She's currently, uh, standing [00:19:30] for the Wellington Regional Council. Could you please welcome to the floor one and only Glenda Hughes, Firstly, Chanel. I want to thank you. You made me tear up as well. But, um, I think I wanna I wanna do two bits. One is that I'm here on behalf of the family. So some of you may not know, but I've actually lived with Chrissy's brother for the last 25 years. And [00:20:00] I met his brother, her brother, our brother, because it was always very hard with he was never quite sure he'd He'd make comments sometimes. I met Chrissy before I met and I met Chrissy when I was a police woman because she was on the front door of most of the nightclubs around town where the girls used to run away to And I mean, um Young missing girls from schools and things like that. And Chrissy and I had this deal where [00:20:30] she would keep them all at a table and she would buy them all toasted sandwiches and then I would come in and I would talk to them all. And the reason that she got me to do that was because she knew that I wouldn't take them back to the cells, that I wouldn't charge them, but that I would talk through with them how they needed to manage all the different things that were going on in their lives and then take them home. And we started doing that, believe it or not. In 1970 [00:21:00] when she was involved, Um, I think it was at that stage, the Sunset Strip, and she was on the door there. Simon was there. He was about 15. I was 20. And whenever I came in the door, he used to run and hide because he shouldn't have been there and he shouldn't have been drinking. I have no control now. What I want [00:21:30] to tell you about the family is I think they they sort of they hid their lights under a bushel. That particular family they are. Most of them are now in Hawke's Bay. A lot of them have passed on, but they were phenomenal musicians and phenomenal talent. And some of you may not be aware that Chrissy used to do the window dressing for and stains and that wonderful Christmas display that you used to see every year was [00:22:00] done by Chrissy We. And now what I would say is we're on to the third generation. So I'm looking after Chrissy's great, uh, great nieces and nephews. And you'll all be pleased to know that one is coming, uh, to Wellington next year to live with us. And he's going to Victoria University to study law. Uh, one of the daughters is currently, um, captain of the Hawke's Bay Netball. The niece is captain of the Hawke's Bay Netball team, [00:22:30] and another one is currently leading the Kaha Group for So what Chrissy did was not just for your community. She also was a great leader for her own, and that came about after her father first rejected her. And yet, at the end, I think she was her father's favourite, so she completely turned it. The other thing about [00:23:00] her was she had a a pretty good political lineage as well, which I argue with over now because he argues with me about being a politician and says This is shocking and why am I doing it? So I just every now and remind him that his great great aunty was, um Sullivan, the first Maori woman in, uh, Parliament and his ancestor was Sir James Carroll, the first Maori to ever be a prime minister in this country. [00:23:30] And he was an acting prime minister. So I I and also the collages that you see out there were donated by the because I can remember. Chrissy, who sometimes needed to do things, secretly grabbed me, pushed me into a car on Vivian Street and said, Glenda, I'm not very well and I said, I've been telling you that for four years and she said, I need to give you a message and I said, What's that? She said. Those collages that are on the walls [00:24:00] in my evergreen must go to the museum now, After she passed on, they went missing for a while and we had to find them again. And then we got the to actually sign them over to She would be absolutely just smiling and everything about today's because this was what she dreamed. That absolute acknowledgement from a police woman's point of view. What I want to say to you is [00:24:30] your community taught me so much. You had compassion. You had talent. You had wonderful conversation. Um, I was one of the only police women in Wellington at the time. There was only six of us here. And, um, the squad that I belong to was probably the meanest squad as far as Viard Street was concerned. And in the end, I was able to convince them to let me deal with it. [00:25:00] Um, which was really good because a lot of them were quite prejudiced and and what Janel was talking about, You know how sometimes the police were not fair, But all I can say to you is that you actually gave me the same respect and dignity, and you looked after me well, and you made sure that I was all OK, I can remember once, and I think it's Georgina mentioned it in her book where I did sit a few of you down and say You actually don't need to work in the sex industry. You can get jobs anywhere. I didn't [00:25:30] expect Georgina to do what she did. That wasn't that wasn't really in my mind. But I still remember recently going, um, to, uh when Jenny and and Dana passed on. And Jenny was still working in the job that she got at the time that I said to her, You don't have to work at which was at the hospital and the hospital thought so much of her that they let her continue to work there when she couldn't turn up all the time and they made, uh, allowances for [00:26:00] her. So what? What I want to say is, uh, finally, I'm not I was asked to tell you the funny stories about where I found the alcohol. Um, and the, uh What is it? What is it? The 35 ft pipe that was in Alibaba's that we did several raids we couldn't actually find the whiskey. Um, and I started to get the blame because what happened was the cops would go in, they would buy the whiskey, then they'd come back and they say we're going to raid the Sunset Strip. And I was on the raid and they'd get there and they couldn't find any whiskey and they'd go. Glenda [00:26:30] Hughes has told them We know Glenda Hughes told them so in the end, I decided to every time they did a raid on it, I'd say, All right, you're doing a raid. I am standing behind beside the Sergeant from this moment on, so you can see everything I do. But the day we found it, it was my flatmate that found it. He was a policeman at the time, and what happened was he just went along the walls and started pushing these, uh, pushing the walls. And what they had in there was phenomenal. They had the cleaners cupboard, which had disinfectant [00:27:00] bottles on the top of it. Um, and that was absolutely full of whiskey. And then they had this long plastic pipe that went through all of the walls a couple of cupboards and came out underneath the sink and it had a piece of wood that you just pulled down immediately. The cops came in and and pushed the taps back into the wall. Anyway, they found it. My flatmate found it. He pulls the pipe out. And of course, what happens is he's got this, you know, feet [00:27:30] and feet of whiskey pouring all over him because he's got this pipe from him. And he turned around and said to Karen or tell me who it was, Was it? He said to Fran, Um, can you stop it? She said, you started it, You stop it. And I guess one of the other ones, which I'll probably give away a trade secret here, was when um Chrissy was very sick and Simon and I had been overseas and we knew that someone else is running the coffee bar. And so I said to Simon, Oh, you know, we [00:28:00] should bring some whiskey back, you know, so that they can Actually, there used to be a little bit of whiskey and the coffee there on the odd occasion. Um and so anyway, we bought this beautiful whiskey at, um at the airport, and when we got back in. Um, what happened was I went over there to see how everything was, and, um, they said, Oh, they don't like the whiskey. And so I did some inquiries and discovered that I don't know whether all of you knew that you'd been drinking home brew from [00:28:30] and the issue was that this was real whiskey and the final story that I'll leave you with which Which sort of gives you a view of Chrissy? I walked up Vivian Street one day because I lived just down from where the evergreen was, and I walked up Vivian Street one day, and I noticed that the roller door was down on the window of the, um of the place and I thought, Oh, I wonder what's going on because I was worried about it. So I knocked on the door and Chrissie opened and she said, Come [00:29:00] in And I said, What's going on? And she said, Oh, Mr Barry Moore is here and he's drunk and I don't want the public to see. So I've pulled the the the door down so that they can't see and about, since it's about 15 minutes later, I mean, Mr Barry Moore from England, by the way, and about 15 minutes later, this huge limousine came up. Two guys came rushing in. They grabbed Barry Moore, put him in the car and drove off. And the next day, on [00:29:30] the front of the Sunday news was the story Barry Moore given up drink. And I thought, just as well, they didn't get their photo at two o'clock this morning. So I think I think I hope that's that just gives you a feel. But look, I do. I, I would like to personally thank Papa for this because I absolutely know. Um, you know how Chrissy would feel about this. And the only reason the we family aren't here today is there's actually a big musicians, uh, thing going on in in Waikato, and they're all up there, um, doing [00:30:00] what they do. Well, thank you. Oh, fantastic. Glenda, you gotta come to that storytelling. You've got to come to that. I think you've got a lot more stories there. And I think Karen, you've probably got a few. So please do come to it. It's gonna be fantastic, OK? Our next week I'd like to invite up her. Well, she knows, needs no introduction. Really whatsoever. Former mayor of Carterton former labour MP Could you please welcome my lifetime friend for over 40 years? Georgina Baer. [00:30:30] Uh, everybody. What a wonderful evening to be here. Linda. So glad to see you, my darling. After a after a wee while and yes, I I did mention in my book, uh, I think I called it, um, firm compassion that you and Ted Cox bestowed on us in the scene at that time. [00:31:00] It is wonderful to be here with some of my contemporaries and Chanel. Thank you. And your co-creator for honouring our dear Carmen in this way and therefore honouring all of our generation and those that came after, um, us, uh, for everything. Brilliant. And, um And like Linda said, uh, you don't have to just work on the street. And and you and many of us have proved that we are the living legacy post Carmen and Chrissy and [00:31:30] oh, Jackie is still with us. That's right. And, um, I know we should all take a moment, of course, to think and reflect upon those who have passed. Um, there are few of us left now. Um uh, uh uh, on the cold of she's still with us up in Auckland and all of that and Carmen had this incredible connection. We have taken her as a Wellington based person, but of course, her personality. Her fabulousness spread [00:32:00] far beyond, uh, Wellington. She did have an early period in her life, which was significant in Auckland when she worked for Wally Martin, the the San Francisco and, um oh, I can't remember the name of the other night club Now strip club up there and one of the first trans anyhow to work in a strip club. Um, in those days, they were pioneering days. Then that's the late fifties early sixties when Carmen had that and then before she went and had her for first time round in Australia as [00:32:30] Kiwi, Carmen. And some of those photographs are among the, um, collages and and the memorabilia surrounding, uh, the Carmen portrait. Um, that has been done. It's wonderful to look back and see some of that stuff. Um, I'm a beneficiary of the shoulders I stand upon, and so are we all. Really? None of us ever thought, you know that in our lifetimes we would see the incredible change in acceptance [00:33:00] that has come for trans people. We are not finished yet, of course. But it has given the new generation of transgender activists a voice that they are using very strongly. Now I might have. And while we might, um, have issues ourselves of our generation, uh, with some of the new things that have merged under the 30 odd definitions of transgender, um, it was quite confined to vocabulary back in our day of, um what was what? But now that's expanded. [00:33:30] And this is a wonderful development. All we wanted, really, I guess, was to be able to fulfil our own potential. But societal mores and law are prevented that from happening to a great decree, the degree some of the pioneering things that come and trail blazed other than what was mentioned regarding her, her attitudes and wanting to liberalise things like sex workers. Chanel has mentioned all those things and [00:34:00] the liquor liberalisation and and so on and so forth. But, um, it started a conversation. Carol de Winter, um, ended up in court. She was one of our early, um uh, sex changes. Um, the misdemeanour that she was in trouble with. And I think Roy Stacey probably, um um um uh was the one that defended her, as did a lot of Carmen's, uh, particular and peculiar cases that appeared before the law because the law had no way of dealing [00:34:30] with that kind of sex change anyhow. And through the process of, uh, of that law was amended and changed little by little to accommodate what they saw as this new phenomena of transgender and reassignment. And what do they mean, Women? Because under the law, uh, those of us who are trans women were legally male, and that was difficult in all sorts of ways. I can tell you we would go to the [00:35:00] Dole office to try and sign up for the unemployment benefit we wouldn't be granted because we'd be told to go and be the men we were and get out there and have a job. I've told this numerous times in various interviews and et cetera, And, um, it was a dehumanising thing to have happen, and we were left with extraordinarily little choice of where we were to exist in society. So with the likes of Carmen and Jackie and Chrissie and that Who were our pillars? Absolutely. [00:35:30] They were, um, along with their own contemporaries. We can't forget. Oh, I'm not gonna start rattling off the names. I'm bound to forget some. But gypsy, you know, all the ones I mentioned, you know, all of them, Um, and a little bit like, um, pose. I don't know if anyone's seen pose yet like that. We did have sort of houses. There was shell and street. There was Phyllis Monroe. Um, there was Duncan Terrace. There was a street with Carroll and all of them. There were various houses around [00:36:00] where we newbies who came along could be taken in. Thank God I never ended up at shells. And, um and, um but and all of those and lots, lots of lots of ones started out, Um, their young trans lives, as we were in those days, uh, being, um nurtured, if you could call it that. Hardened up a little bit, actually, to the scene on the street that we were about to enter into. We all dived into an abyss that we [00:36:30] didn't really understand because we were compelled and convinced to be the people who we are. And when you're a transgender woman at least. Anyhow, you can't hide it if we would address and be who we are. It was blatantly obvious in the street, of course. Carmen punched it through the roof like a galleon sailing down Cuba Mall and her via Lucas red and gold splotched gowns, her cavernous chest exposed to all [00:37:00] and on occasions when it suited her Go and photo bomb one and just drop it below the tips. And there she'd be. And um, hey, hey, that's what she would do. She did that with the governor general out of the Trentham races one year and just at the right moment, as the photographer is about to tell you, there she is and she pops them out. She must have kept the truth newspaper going for a decade, at least because of her notorious but wonderful personality. Her sense of man to [00:37:30] she was a person whose warmth of character was infectious upon any New Zealander that came across her. When you get ordinary, straight New Zealanders sort of saying, Oh, when we were in Wellington, we've got to go to the coffee lounge or at least drive down Vivian Street to see the beautiful exotica that wandered up and down the street, The colour that help to give the Cuba Quarter and and and Vivian Street and all of that. Um, it's bohemian feel. It's sort of, you know, anti-establishment and all of that kind [00:38:00] of thing. It was a wonderful period. Um, for better or for worse. And in the Wellington nightlife scene and the nightclubs, you know, I'd start off at the busy bee, you know, town at the Royal Oak Hotel and the tavern bar and the bistro and et cetera. And all of that, uh, the bistro would be full of all the seamen and the Trans and the prostitutes. And it was quite a sort of an eclectic mix in there. When the pub shut at 10 o'clock at night, we all pour out. And, um, and and those of [00:38:30] us would start to wander up Vivian Street, uh, to Vivian Street, where some of us worked at the club. Exotic the purple onion, the hole in the wall. Um, there was a whole culture that was there. Chanel touched on a very important point. A safe haven for us to be who we are, and Carmen provided that with her early coffee lounge. Down further down. Uh um, Vivian Street right next door to the Salvation Army. Citadelle, of course. Do you remember [00:39:00] that? And, of course, Uh uh, through car, and I got my first client. And, um, always used to wonder how Carmen could walk in the front door of the coffee lounge and the kitchen didn't really have an exit out the back. But all of a sudden, Carmen would have disappeared. And it wasn't until she gave me my first client. Ah, that the secret was revealed because, as carmen always used to say, I think she mentions it in the in the Georgia girl do. It was tea and tiny downstairs and dessert upstairs, [00:39:30] and each of the rooms that she had up there had a different theme. There was an Egyptian theme, and she was famous for having a coffin up there and all of that sort of thing. It wasn't unknown for Carmen to hang out the front window upstairs of her, um, apartment up there. And, of course, um, she'd be doing her, uh what would you call it? Uh, hawking, um, out onto the street hair tits out and all of that while she's being, um, servicing [00:40:00] from behind, if you understand what what? I mean, um uh, So the secret was that there was an alleyway down beside the coffee lounge and a doorway entrance to go upstairs to that. But also, there was an internal door, uh, concealed by a huge tapestry, Uh, that Carmen could have hanging on the wall. And, of course, you just roll back the tapestry. And while a client went outside into the outside entrance, uh, the girl, uh, would nip him through the store and be there to open the [00:40:30] outside door upstairs to the and, um and all of that. And so that's how those funny little things were not unlike what they used to do with the whiskey. Who remembers Wilson's whiskey at the Evergreen? Oh, bloody gut rock. That was, uh, Or maybe it was the home brew from it probably was a bit of both evergreen, um, cosy in the front part had the bay window, which we all want to sit in because then you could [00:41:00] watch everyone out on the street and and keep an eye out. I can, in my mind's eye. Now I can see you know, Geraldine. Geraldine? She'd be going there under the table, wouldn't she? Remember, Girls, please validate me. And that's, um, you know, on all of this going on great, wonderful times, some amazing people and our elders at the time keep an eye out for us. But they could be firm, too. Um, [00:41:30] they had to help harden us up for the very tough life we did live a very tough life. Although you put the veneer of smile and I have to say drugs helped us along the way and booze and all of that kind of thing. But we were living in a quite cruel world then in comparison to now and our in that regard, um, gave us a platform and with encouragement from the likes of Glenda who were symbols of authority. I guess in those days, and we had very cynical [00:42:00] view of authority, particularly police. But that has changed over the years. And we have been able to make use of our talents. We have been able to go way beyond just being scrubbers street queens, and we have been able to achieve an all echelons of our society and life. And you know what the great thing about that is is that we have a contribution to make, and we have now been given the opportunity to make [00:42:30] it and the liberation for us. I mean, I'm I'm looking at Karen over here and to think that she's excelled well in her area of working and, um, the food industry at pack and save to management levels and, uh, very well respected in that Chanel. I understand you're about to go and do some university stuff and and and all of that, which is which is wonderful. But what you've been doing to date has been fantastic. When we did the Prostitution Reform Act, this was another legacy of Carmen who planted the seed [00:43:00] certainly back in 77 when she ran for the mayoralty. Um, she wasn't successful, but boy, she did it for the publicity. Anyhow, she said, uh, she wouldn't have had a clue what to do. If she'd become a male, she'd be able to cut the ribbons and do the ceremonial. But the actual work that needs to be done, she might have had difficulty with, uh but nonetheless, and I do have a slight cynicism about why Bob Jones back someone like her. Um uh, to run for males Who? But the visibility that was important. And she made [00:43:30] it. You know, you could look at that and say, Well, OK, as a citizen, anyone can run for these positions and she's just proved the point. And she was much beloved. She has, in my view, Carmen and Chrissy as well. But Carmen, of course, stole the limelight in many ways because the media warmed her, such as it was in those days. Um, but she set a standard that we all live by. Um, and most people are very [00:44:00] endeared to her and have little to say against Carmen. She's part of our folklore in New Zealand. Now she's legendary, and, um, she'll always be remembered. She fits into that slot of people like a Barry Crump. You know, that kind of Kiwi icon that's there and Carmen will always be that Chrissy and everybody else vitally important as well. Of course, I might never have been able to do what I did. I never thought I'd be going into politics, but, [00:44:30] you know, you know, you just dive into these things and have a go, and it all turned out. And so for me personally, part of what I felt committed that I had to do was to conduct myself with dignity and integrity. So there was never a bad reflection on my trans community. You mightn't have always agreed with things might have said and done. Uh, but the fact that I did it with dignity and integrity is to honour all of those who have gone before us, whose shoulders I definitely stand on. And now you're [00:45:00] gonna stand on mine and those of us of my generation now to take it to punch it even further till we get what is equality. So I'll conclude I could carry on forever. I better come along to the story night, too. Now, you know, to tell a few stories, I, um you know, to tell a few stories of it, um, grateful is not enough, um, to say thank you, Uh, to all of those of Carmen's generation [00:45:30] who went through tougher times than we did who broke down the barriers a little bit so that some of us could come along and tear them down even further um, that is our obligation, I believe, um, as the next generation. And now some of us who are of an age where really we should shut our mouths and stand back a bit and let these young activists get on with it. I I just got someone needs to so it shut sometimes. But, you know, we've got a challenge sometimes the debate [00:46:00] that, uh, that begins, uh, and people who are particularly passionate about a student and it gives them an opportunity to anchor their debate and to anchor it, There's nothing to be afraid of to have robust debate, particularly at the moment around transgender issues, which are, you know, there's now 30 odd definitions of transgender, whereas before it was confined down to about five. So that's how much the world has changed in New Zealand. And we've been leaders. [00:46:30] We have all each and every one of us. It's not just those of us that make the headlines, um, from time to time, we get to do the right things. Um, I'm grateful. I don't know if I'd be the person I am today, and I don't know if I'd been able to advocate on things like prostitution reform when the opportunity came up and I happened to find myself in Parliament at that time. And along with Tim Barnett and Catherine Healey, et cetera, um worked and lobbied hard on a very controversial issue. Um, [00:47:00] but the sky has not fallen and life has been made better. And New Zealand came to accept at the end of the day, um that this was a more realistic way of dealing with an issue like prostitution because it was easily swept under under the carpet and all sorts of horrors happened for those who work in the industry when that is what happens. So we brought it out into the light to give it some disinfectant if you like, And we gave it some regulation for occupational health and safety reasons all the kinds of things [00:47:30] that Carmen advocated way back then. So, in conclusion, everybody thank you for attending tonight again. Compliments to the New Zealand portrait gallery, uh, for mounting this, um, exhibition, and particularly again to thank Chanel and her co-creator for bringing it all together. You have gifted us a tonne. Oh, ladies and gentleman Georgina Baer. [00:48:00] I just got one more speaker I'd like to bring up. And it's a fellow artist and contributor here for New Zealand. Portrait Gully. Uh, gallery at Ricky. Would you like to come and say a few wisdom? Kill it. Uh, [00:48:30] [00:49:00] so cure to everyone. Um Who? I'm pretty speechless. Um, I'm incredibly overwhelmed by what has happened tonight. Um, first of all, I would love to thank the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, uh, especially, um, Tale and Georgie for their contribution and their hard work to make this all happen. And especially, uh, [00:49:30] Chanel, um who I look up to and all of our of the past and present. I speak today is one of the, um who lives on in this day and age. And when I was called, um, to be a part of this project, um, really I I wasn't sure what to say. It was it was such a a huge honour, um, to to be a part of this and [00:50:00] in terms of the the where I stood at, I never had the honour of meeting our great leaders and the ones that that made this all possible for myself and others to walk the streets today without feeling the weight come down on us as in the past decades that they fought so hard for to achieve. And another thing too when I see my in front of everyone, as you all know, represents your genealogy, [00:50:30] the land you come from and your ancestors and who you are and to Maori, your your identity, your means everything to you to who you are. And for us to be who we are and who we need to be and who we know we are as a key fundamental to that. Our ancestors have suffered greatly and have fought too for now, for us to stand on our land and to be who we are today and all aspects of life. And so to be [00:51:00] asked to to dedicate, um what I knew or who what I have to this project was quite overwhelming. And so, being going to the te Papa to to view the collection of Chrissy's work, um was very, very much a lot to take in because not only I was looking at something incredibly precious to our society. I was looking at also at my [00:51:30] and the very people who helped me stand where I AM today and I could say that for the today who are carrying on their work and still fighting today for our rights but more so accessibility to what we need to have access to today in terms of health care and mental health, which is also a very big topic still running today. And without that and without them, I do not think myself and everyone who comes later would [00:52:00] be here today or many of us will not be here today through the struggle that they have fought for and in terms of my commitment to this, um my myself as an artist, um, and I come from a line of artists, um, the 27th generation of my family stretching back all the way to our in that time, which my father has bestowed on me. Use my knowledge and also my my essence and passion for what [00:52:30] I love, but also to tell our story of the whole event and our ancestors. So the piece I dedicated to the NZ portrait gallery and to and so all of our, um is called, which is the standing heartbeat or standing post of a A is built of your ancestors. When you walk into a you are walking inside the eponymous ancestor of the area and it is your ancestors, your [00:53:00] who give you the strength to survive today. And so when I look back to our and our in those times who struggled, I also think of my S them as my ancestors and also our ancestors of the past who went through the same hardships. And I always acknowledge them and thank them for what they have fought for for us today. And so the painting I dedicated is everything I have experienced, but not just that. The stories I have [00:53:30] heard in the I have spent time with Amalgamated into one, and the style I chose is the style of a pope, because a poet symbolises your ancestors and the shoulders that you stand on because they are the ones that have built your foundation. They are the ones that have brought you into this world, and they are the ones that will always be with you through now and the afterlife and forever until you join them. And so the the the [00:54:00] level of the painting I created goes into three levels. The first level at the bottom, it's called was a prophecy given by a that lived in in 17 66 called and he prophesized a long, long night was to come ahead 17 69. The arrival of the Endeavour and also the first European contact [00:54:30] happened, and from then on, much of much struggle became to come in, especially within our own identity. Our identity was targeted the most, and what came with that too was as well that was affected by that tremendously. And so the bottom part of the painting represents that the effects of the missionaries arriving, but also the establishments of government and colonialism which theorised who we are and to make it normal in society [00:55:00] or to make give the impression in society of who we are is wrong or not appropriate for the time, but which our ancestors fought hard for to reclaim. The second level is based on that time within the 20th century of our leaders going becoming who they are still holding on to that, knowing that they, uh, they know who they are and fighting for that, and so therefore throughout, through the presence of being visible [00:55:30] and also striving to achieve, um, the rights for everyone and to fight for it came into being, and that leads to the top pope. So the middle is called, and I can relate to all of our across across the Pacific. All have a name for our society and also a place for our people. So coming to Maori, here is the word, and that's what the middle part is named after. The top part is called [00:56:00] means to uplift, and that is at the top is the result of what we have fought for, where the figure is standing proud, performing a and the that expression shows our mana and our prestige, and one of it is attained and has been given to. And with that comes victory, but not also that it comes to Reg. Gather one's strength and to pass on to the next generation and the next. Throughout my lifetime, I've [00:56:30] seen more change in the past decade than I've seen throughout the history of New Zealand, especially with what I've looked for the people I've talked to and what I've seen. And so, looking at everything today and what we have today, it's incredible how far we've come. And I have the utmost confidence that my generation, and also the generation after me, will continue to bring bring us higher and higher into that realm. [00:57:00] And so, without further ado, I would like to end. That is that the top part is where we are now, and there's still plenty more to go. However, we are achieving much more process and a much shorter amount of time. And I've seen that happen quite rapidly, which I'm very proud of. So I would like to thank all our leaders of the past. I would like to thank all our leaders today. And I also like to thank our who are leading the movement to bring [00:57:30] to the level where it once was with our ancestors. Thank you. Fantastic. Well, uh, my part of the night is just about over, but I've I've got to, uh, just a few more words, and that is looking around this exhibition, and, um, I it takes me back to, um, the occasion of Carmen's 70th birthday [00:58:00] party, and we threw a fantastic birthday party for her down at the boat shed. What? We didn't tell Carmen it was going to be your birthday party and a celebrity roast. So we managed to, uh all the girls came from Auckland to came down. All the girls from the past at the coffee lounge arrived. It was a fantastic night, but we also managed to track down two of the original police officers that did the arresting of Carmen. Every time she got busted for alcohol, we invited her to come and say a few words. We also managed to make them pay for [00:58:30] their own tickets and their fares. So we got her money back on that night. They presented her with that lilac policeman's helmet with the, uh, pink feather boa. So to see that on display tonight is absolutely fantastic. Certainly brings back the memories for me. Um, all I want to say now is please talk to your friends. Talk to everybody about this exhibition. Talk to, uh, the rest of our younger transgender community, make them come down here and see this [00:59:00] exhibition. Because if it wasn't for Carmen and those girls, I firmly believe we would not be not just the transgender community, but the LGBT community as well. They opened the door for us. They gave us a life as well. So, uh, on that note, ladies and gentlemen, um, I'm going to finish up. I'm gonna hand you back to, uh, for a and then I do believe there's gonna be some, uh, food served and, uh, light refreshments. Please spread the word about this exhibition. [00:59:30] He [01:00:00] [01:00:30] Yeah, time [01:01:00] return [01:01:30] to go. [01:02:00] [01:02:30] Um um.
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