By Luke Voogt
Elaine Valentine reckons she owes her life to Geelong’s public hospital.
“I am only alive because of the Geelong Hospital staff and their good care,” she said.
The woman, better known Dame Edna Average, was showing off her new outfit ahead of the centenary of Gala Day this Saturday.
“I’ve done 16 Gala Days as Dame Edna Average,” she told the Indy.
Elaine has long been a fan of Barry Humphries and alter-ego Dame Edna Everage. She has seen the Australian domestic goddess live in several shows.
“She can get away with anything,” Elaine said.
Elaine first donned the lilac locks for Geelong’s bicentennial parade in 1988.
In 1990 she entered her “average” impersonation in the Gala Day Parade, bagging the best novelty act a year later.
“Gala needs good characters. Back when I first started we had Charlie Chaplin – there were a lot of us.”
The 73-year-old’s love of Gala Day extends all the way back to 1951.
She still remembers Side Show Alley and marching in the parade as an eight-year-old from Tate Street Primary School.
“Children of my generation have fond memories of Gala Day,” she said.
But the parade took on a different meaning for Elaine after an horrific car crash on Sydney Parade in 1969.
“A naughty boy came out on the left and hit my car,” she said.
“He came into the side of us doing 85 miles per hour.”
The crash left Elaine with severe feet, head and internal injuries.
“I looked like a panda bear gone wrong with my black eyes,” she said.
Elaine spent four years at the hospital recovering and often fell ill.
“There were times they didn’t think I was going to live,” she said.
She spent decades visiting the hospital’s outpatients section as a result of the accident.
“If you run your fingers across my forehead you’ll feel the bumps of all the roads in Geelong,” she said.
But Elaine had mostly recovered by the 1990s and has paraded as Edna Average ever since.
“It’s my way of giving back,” she said.
This Saturday will mark 100 years since first Gala Day float rolled down Ryrie Street to the bells and voice of the town crier.
From 1927 through to very recent years Gala Day raised money for the Geelong Hospital Appeal.
This year Gala Day is fundraising for Project Love – the redevelopment of the Andrew Love Cancer Centre Chemotherapy Day Ward and Oncology Pharmacy.
For timings and locations for this year’s parade, visit galaday.com.au.
