June Dally-Watkins OAM (1927–2020), model, deportment icon and entrepreneur, was first noticed on a Tamworth street by a photographer, who encouraged her to move to Sydney and try her luck at modelling. She described herself as 'looking like a milkmaid' at the time she scored her first assignments for major department stores, but she was named Model of the Year in 1949. At the age of 22, in 1950 she established the June Dally-Watkins School, which has since trained countless students in deportment and etiquette in Sydney and Brisbane. The following year she established Australia's first modelling agency and, later, a business college. Famously romanced by actor Gregory Peck during a visit to Rome in the 1950s, she returned to Australia to continue her career, marry and raise four children. She took her etiquette lessons to students in China in 2013, co-founding the Dally Institute in Guangzhou. Dally-Watkins died at the age of 92, leaving a lasting legacy not only on the Australian modelling industry, but on the thousands of students to whom she imparted impeccable manners and a knowledge of etiquette.
This glamorous photograph of Dally-Watkins is one of a number taken by Max Dupain in 1949, and was used on the cover of her 2002 autobiography The Secrets Behind My Smile. Dally-Watkins described Dupain as 'charming and brilliant'.
Purchased 2008
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Johanna McMahon revels in history and mystery in pursuit of a suite of unknown portrait subjects.
Gael Newton delves into the life and art of renowned Australian photographer, Max Dupain.
