The remarkable story of Monte Punshon, the world’s oldest lesbian

At the age of 103, Monte Punshon, with her tiny frame, blindingly white hair and 19th-century diction, made history when she came out to a Melbourne gay magazine.

Punshon – who lived until 106 – was dubbed the world’s oldest lesbian. But having survived two world wars, the Great Depression, Melbourne’s 1880 Centennial, multiple waves of feminism and gay liberation, Punshon had a larger story waiting to be told.

That’s why, five years ago, Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki from The Australian National University (ANU), started writing Punshon’s life story.

Her book, A Secretive Century: Monté Punshon’s Australia 1882-1989, takes readers on a journey as magnificent as it is mysterious.

“I spent a lot of time wondering whether I could write a biography, because she had written a memoir, but then I realised there was an awful lot missing,” says Morris-Suzuki, a historian at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

“I thought it was a story that was worth telling, and there was a lot that she hadn’t told herself.

“Although she broke a lot of barriers, she did have this feeling that it somehow wasn’t really the right thing to talk too much about your private life in public. That was the 19th century ethos that she grew up with.”

That’s showbiz

Rewinding to Punshon’s early upbringing in the rural Australian town of Ballarat, Morris-Suzuki began to unthread her real life from her 19th century ideologies.

Born into a middle-class family, Punshon longed for a life on the theatre stage, but it was a career choice that wasn’t considered respectable for women at that time. Feeling the pressure of sexist barriers and gendered social norms, Punshon marched toward one of the only career choices available to her at that time – teaching.

“She would have loved to have been an actor, but it was kind of ordained that a teacher was what she would have to become,” says Morris-Suzuki.

“She got around this initially by becoming a teacher working with children’s theatre groups.

“She was very good at talking to younger people. The message that she always wanted to give them was, ‘don’t be afraid’. Don’t be afraid of anything. Don’t allow your fear to shut you in or limit you.”

It was a sentiment that, during the First World War, Punshon not only taught but embraced as a career in theatre became more acceptable.

“During the First World War, everything changed. There was more scope for the blending of amateur and professional, as a lot of the theatres were raising money for the war effort,” Morris-Suzuki says.

“Suddenly, it was ok for Punshon to be on the stage. It was part of the national war effort.”

In both the theatre and gay community, Punshon thrived – attending underground grungy bars and avant-garde drag parties in Melbourne’s outer suburbs during the late 1920s and 1930s.

While homosexuality was still illegal at the time, it was in this space that Punshon could authentically be herself – both on and off the stage.

“She had quite a lot of friends who were gay men, and she could talk to them, but otherwise, she really couldn’t talk about her sexuality at all,” Morris-Suzuki says.

“In the late 70s and into the 80s, there was the gay rights movement in Australia. That was really liberating for her because she suddenly had all these experiences she could share with others.”

Teaching hits centre stage

A large part of Morris-Suzuki’s book details Punshon’s remarkable teaching career, which took her to East Asia and lasted into her 90s.

“In 1929 Punshon made a trip to Japan. This came about by complete accident,” says Morris-Suzuki.

“A friend of a friend won a free trip for two people to Japan in a raffle and couldn’t actually go on the trip himself, and so Punshon ended up getting taken along on the ride.

“It was very eye-opening for her. She stayed longer than she was supposed to stay, and she travelled further than she was supposed to travel.

“When she came back, she gave a newspaper interview where she talked about women in East Asia, particularly the women she’d met in Japan and Korea, who were doing exciting work, and how Asian women weren’t all suppressed and submissive.”

As a result, before the Second World War, Punshon became one of the first Australian women to study Japanese – an achievement that required bravery in the face of Japan’s increasing militarisation during the early 1930s.

Despite the dangers – and increased surveillance from Australian security officials – her connection to the only language deepened.

In 1940, Punshon’s ability to speak Japanese led to her being appointed as a warden in the Tatura Internment Camp in rural Victoria.

“A lot of people in Australia aren’t really aware of the fact that a lot of ‘enemy alien’ civilians were interned in these camps during the war.

“Some were Japanese, others were Koreans and Taiwanese. Australian women married to Japanese men, and sometimes Aboriginal women married to Japanese men, all got put into this remote internment camp in Victoria.

“It’s quite a remarkable part of Australian history that we don’t remember all that well, but Punshon’s story brought that to life.”

Encore

Morris-Suzuki’s says that it’s these stories from Punshon’s life that she most wanted to document.

“I think she felt quite ambivalent about the label of being the world’s oldest lesbian. She also wanted to be known for the work that she’d done in linking Australia and Asia, particularly Japan.

“And another important part of her story was her connection to the theatre. This gives a fascinating window into the role that women as playwrights and choreographers had in the early 20th century Australian Theatre.”

Punshon has also shown that women of any age can shape history – even after the curtain falls.

“There are so many amazing women who have done exciting things in Australian history but have disappeared from the record,” reflects Morris-Suzuki.

“I came across quite a lot of their stories and put some into the book. It’s nice to be able to bring these people back into the limelight through Monte Punshon. They definitely deserve it.”