Thursday, 30 July 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (09:56): I want to pay tribute to an amazing woman: Audrey Nicholls OAM. She was one of Australia’s most famous ballet dancers and teachers that we have ever known. She was born in Townsville and passed away recently on 30 June. I know her because she did an amazing thing: she ran a ballet school out in the country, in the Darlington hall, for country children who would never have had the opportunity to be taught classical ballet, except for Audrey’s passion for spending some time in the country, away from her famous ballet school in Melbourne. And she did teach my daughter, not only at Darlington hall –

Georgie Crozier interjected.

Bev McARTHUR: Georgie’s goddaughter – but also at the College of the Arts in Melbourne when Sarah studied there. But this amazing woman joined the Borovansky Ballet as a teenager. She continued further training in London, joined the Ballet Rambert, but is best known as an amazing teacher of the Royal Academy of Dance syllabus. I pay tribute to her enormous contribution to ballet in Australia. Vale, Audrey Nicholls.