Hospital administrator by day, Drag Queen at night, Fanny Cracker, the darling of Kalgoorlie. How did this outrageous character win the heart of an isolated mining town in Western Australia? An affirmation of how laughter breaks down barriers.
In 2017, it had been 14 years since Christopher Jordan-Wright wore a wig, slapped on some makeup and stepped out on the town wearing high heels as his fabulous alter-ego Fanny Cracker, the Queen of the Outback!
Famous for having “the best legs in the Goldfields”, Mr Jordan-Wright is the original and best known drag queen to come out of the mining town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 600 kilometers east of Perth.
“One of my friends said one day ‘you fluff around a bit like Fanny Cradock, but you’re more like a Fanny Cracker’. And the name sort of stuck.”
His return to Kalgoorlie’s main drag, Hannan Street, was to view a large scale exhibition of Fanny’s outfits featured in shop fronts celebrating her time as the town’s most fashionable person.
Mr Jordan-Wright said Fanny Cracker was created by accident after he walked out on stage for a stand-up comedy performance in a dress. “Everyone laughed before I even opened my mouth and I thought ‘this is going to be easy’,” he said. “So I started to evolve this character.
Underneath the glitz and glamour, Mr Jordan-Wright worked at the Kalgoorlie Health Campus as a hospital administrator for 14 years.
On his weekends he would do eight shows as Fanny, and even featured in French fashion magazines. “She was elegant, charming and had a very dry wit. She could come back with any one liners immediately and put people in their place,” he said. “But she was pure glamour and the clothes I designed were to create the ultimate glamour person.”
Moya Sharp
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