One final Dawn service

Many have said the only time Dawn O’Donnell wore a dress was when going before the licensing magistrate.

It was one of the more humorous anecdotes told by the 200-plus people who shed tears at last Friday’s funeral for the Sydney entrepreneur, described as an “extraordinary woman and a great friend”.

Speakers at the St Canice’s Catholic Church service included childhood friends, neighbours, employees, family and her surviving partner of 30 years, Aniek Baten, who carried the couple’s dogs.

Pat Gregory described how she and O’Donnell left school at 15 to pursue careers as professional figure skaters, working in productions as far away as London.

“We were supposed to dress like ladies and act like them too, but so keen was Dawn that she leapt right over the barriers instead of stepping out gracefully. I thought she was such a tomboy.”

Graham Browning said O’Donnell went on to rule the roost in Sydney gay and lesbian venues and left a legacy of which she could be proud.

“She was often heard to say that she started at one end of Oxford Street opening club after club and worked her way down the street,” he said.

“Whenever she had problems with police she’d pull on her satin globes, put on her pearls, pick up a handbag and go down the police station to sort it out.”

Browning said O’Donnell’s early nightclubs drew some of the biggest names in entertainment, including the Supremes, Sherbet, Marcia Hines, Skyhooks, and the Village People.

He said even the trauma of having a mastectomy while running Sydney’s most successful gay and lesbian venue failed to slow her down. While undergoing treatment she bought a venue in Newtown that went on to become the social centre of the growing inner west gay community.

Long-time friend Ted Marr described O’Donnell as a “pioneering exemplar” of a gay woman.

“She was determined to be comfortable in her own skin and love the way she could love, and not to give anyone the leeway to have an opinion about it,” he said.

“She found something interesting and valuable in a lot of people that a lesser person might have dismissed as not being interesting enough.”

I Love The Nightlife by Alicia Bridges was played in tribute.