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Ethel May (Monte) Punshon (8 November 1882 – 4 April 1989) was an Australian artist and teacher. She was known for her kindness to interned Japanese during the second world war. After she reached the age of 100, she
Moshi Inagaki, who had introduced the teaching of Japanese and who been her teacher when she was at University evening classes learning Japanese, was one of the internees.
After the war all the internees were released and Punshon took a variety of jobs assisting with the people displaced by the war. She was also in what is now Vanuatu where she founded a school in the
Biography at ADB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Punshon, Ethel May (Monte) 1882 births 1989 deaths Artists from Ballarat Australian educators Australian lesbians Australian women centenarians
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
, she joined MENSA, she wrote her autobiography, she was given a decoration by Japan and she was an ambassador for Expo 88.
Life
Punshon was born in 1882 in the Australian state of Victoria inBallarat
Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.
Within mo ...
.
In 1910 she enjoyed a twelve year relationship with a woman named Debbie. They lived together until Debbie left her for another woman. Debbie died two years later and Punshon had no more long term relationships.
In 1943 she worked at the internment camp near Tatura
Tatura is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia, and is situated within the City of Greater Shepparton local government area, north of the state capital (Melbourne) and west of the regional centre of Shepparton, Victoria ...
for Japanese people who had been living in Australia during World War Two. Punshon looked after the compound set aside for those who could not speak English and for the school in the camp.
Moshi Inagaki, who had introduced the teaching of Japanese and who been her teacher when she was at University evening classes learning Japanese, was one of the internees.
After the war all the internees were released and Punshon took a variety of jobs assisting with the people displaced by the war. She was also in what is now Vanuatu where she founded a school in the New Hebrides
New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...
. Punshon taught at Melbournes Swinburne Technical College from 1956 until she retired in 1959.
She came to the attention of the wife of a Japanese diplomat and she was impressed when she researched Punshon's work during the war. In 1980 Saburo Okita
Saburō Ōkita (大来 佐武郎 ''Ōkita Saburō'') (3 November 1914 – 9 February 1993) was a Japanese economist and politician noted for his role in the postwar development of the Japanese economy and Japan-US relations.
Early life and educa ...
who was a Japanese minister gave her a certificate of appreciation.
In 1985 her sexuality was in the press where she was described as the "world's oldest lesbian" and that she had "come out". In 1987 her autobiography, ''Monte-San: The Times Between : Life Lies Hidden'', was published but it did not mention her girlfriends.
She joined MENSA when she was 103 and when she was 105 she was made a roving ambassador for World Expo 88
World Expo 88, also known as Expo 88, was a specialised Expo held in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia, during a six-month period between Saturday, 30 April 1988 and Sunday, 30 October 1988, inclusive. The theme of the Expo w ...
. She was given the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure
The is a Japanese Order (distinction), order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six c ...
in 1988. Punshon died in 1989 in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
.
Further reading
TheAustralian Queer Archives
The Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) (formerly the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives - ALGA) is a community-based non-profit organisation committed to the collection, preservation and celebration of material reflecting the lives and experienc ...
in Melbourne contains her scrapbooks that start in 1923 and go to the 1950s. The books cover many of her interests including women with unusual jobs and transvestites.
Tessa Morris-Suzuki published "A Secretive Century" about Punshon in 2024.
References
External links
Biography at ADB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Punshon, Ethel May (Monte) 1882 births 1989 deaths Artists from Ballarat Australian educators Australian lesbians Australian women centenarians