Black Is White

Let us cast our minds back to 1937.

Earl of Gowrie

Mrs Eric Sheller of Darling Point put forward, to a group of well heeled ladies, the idea of holding an annual charity ball. Soon the The Black and White charity committee was formed and thus Sydney's annual society get together began it's life with the then Governor General of Australia, the Earl of Gowrie,as the  guest of honour at the first Black and White Ball held at the Trocodero, the most glamorous event the city had ever seen.

The Town Hall

Lord Gowrie, late of the 3rd Battalion Highland Light Infantry, the Cameron Highlanders in Dublin, a companion to Lord Kitchener on his visit to Australia had been appointed by King George VI as Governor General to the former colony under the British born working class Labor Party Prime Minister Billy Hughes (later known as the Little Digger), the longest serving Australian parliamentarian in the countries history.

Fast forward to 2011 and last Friday night at the Sydney Town Hall where the 75th Black and White Ball was held with an impressive 450 guests.. One guest of honour was the interior designer Leslie Walford who has decorated grand houses from Belgravia to Beverley Hills and Sri Lanka.and is the son of the committee's founder Mrs Sheller.

Ita Buttrose & Professor Ross Steele

 And what a fab night it was. Like stepping back in time to an era of restrained elegance. They even rolled out the red carpet (only slightly soiled) while dozens of bemused (and confused) by-standers gathered at the foot of the Town Hall steps and gazed in awe at the spectacle unfolding before their eyes.

Leslie Walford & Susan Diver

They had no idea what it was all about of course but there was colour and movement, glamorous ball gowns and a Scots bag-pipe band to serenade the swells as as they arrived in line after line of limousines.

Up until the late 1980sw the B & W Ball was  the cities premier social event. Then a  sort of unfounded and ill-informed criticism was perpetuated in the popular media . Just who in the hell were these ladies, probably with too much time on their hands, many with wealthy husbands , organising these over the top shindigs where hundreds would gather to drink champagne, dine on fine fare and dance the night away all in the name of charity?.

Bronwyn Bishop MP & Angela Bishop

In light of the latest report here-where some of Australia's most well know charities have been exposed for spending up to 60% of donations on  "operating costs" one fact has been ignored. The ladies of the Black & White Committee work for free. They cajole, pressure, plead for every single aspect of the ball.

Caterers, waiters, alcohol suppliers, venues, entertainers, doormen, prize donaters and so on-not one single one is paid. Everything is donated and every penny raised goes directly to charity

The Town Hall looked as splendid as it can at times although sadly the great organ on the stage-the largest in the world -remained silent but a terrific 1940's style band belted out numbers from the past 70 years.

The traditional 'Derby' went off went off without a hitch (although we noticed one gent at a front table, an 87 old retired Admiral almost had a heart attack when the starter's gun was fired) and the throng were soon up and dancing a storm.

The Derby

One guest- Bronwyn Bishop MP who spent the first half of the evening in Canberra at the Parliament House reception for HM The Queen caught a plane to join her TV presenter daughter Angela Bishop at the ball.

Four former presidents of the committee were on hand but the current president, Sue Diver deserves a gold star stamp for her superb efforts. Having survived 75 years, the Black and White Ball looks assured of a future for many years to come.

Dame Edna Everage is Pregnant !

B & W president Susan Diver with Dame Edna

That's the stunning disclosure Dame Edna Everage revealed yesterday at the Black & White Charity's Women of Achievement lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney.

Mrs Barry Humphries-Lizzie Spender

The Dame was in top form as she gave the audience some unique insights into her life and made some other stunning revelations.

We heard about her daughter who has shacked up with another female, her son who is a fashion designer and has a very close male 'friend' and for the first time Dame Edna told us of the daughter she had named Lois whom she has never spoken of before.

a big favourite-Governor Marie Bashir (left) arrives

Before she was famous Edna and her husband Norm went on a holiday by the sea. They left Lois in a cot on the veranda of their holiday home and forgot about her. In the morning they discovered that Lois had disappeared and the awful truth soon became clear. Lois had been stolen by a rogue giant Koala and was never seen again.
 And on and on it went with an audience of 600 in stitches.

One poor elderly lady came in for the Edna treatment when she was  asked where she was from and replied that she had come for a day out from a retirement home just to see Dame Edna. Edna asked if her security guards were close by.

B & W regulars : Baron & Baroness Boyd

Sadly copyright restrictions prevent us from posting the film we made of Dame Edna's talk today-the show was filmed for a Qantas in flight film. So you need to take an international flight to see her and that may be difficult at present as flights have been cancelled yet again due to ash cloud from the Chilean volcano.

 And the Dame saved the Shuttle from mistakenly purchasing a very expensive rug when we waved to a friend during an auction and it was accepted as a $2800 bid for a floor rug. She bid $2850 and saved the day !. One bidder also paid $6000 for the chance to dine with Edna at the restaurant of their choice.

An amusing moment: as Dame Edna posed on the grand staircase of the Four Seasons to record an introduction for the Qantas film surrounded by helpers and a film crew, an American tourist asked the Shuttle "is that Julia Gillard ?".