With a keen interest in witches , The Bard would undoubtedly utter Gadzooks! on learning the Witch of Kings Cross, Sydney, the late Rosaleen Norton , is the subject of a book , along with poetry and associated press releases and photos , in yet another interesting offering by that fine Melbourne institution , Douglas Stewart Fine Books .
By Peter Simon
During the l950s , I frequented Kings Cross as a copy boy and cadet reporter and saw the notorious Norton lurch about the area , a devoted friend of hers the poet Gavin Greenlees , One of her unusual murals was on the wall of the Arabian Coffee Lounge , where I oft sipped and munched raisin toast with newspaper mates.
Born in Dunedin, New Zealand , in 1917, Norton , who claimed to have been born a pointy- eared witch , came to Sydney as a child , lived outside in a tent , with a pet spider , was expelled from school , studied at the East Sydey Technical College , became an illustrator and painter . An occultist , devoted to the mythology of the Greek god Pan, she would cast spells and hexes on people.
A 1949 exhibition she held at the Melbourne University was closed by the police and she was later acquitted of an obscenity charge .
Her artwork , which featured horned demons , naked bodies , was often seized by police , even banned in America .
She seems to have cast a sexual spell over English classic composer and conductor Sir Eugene Goossens , conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra , who was interested in the occult. He was arrested at the Sydney airport in l956 trying to bring in 800 erotic photographs ,ritual masks and film . He was sacked or resigned from the orchestra and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music as a result .
I was on duty in The Sun newspaper Police Rounds room the day the airport scandal broke .
The Norton book , listed at $1250, with associated items of interest ,is The Art of Rosaleen Norton, with poetry by Gavin Greenlees , published by Walter Glover, l982, a deluxe edition limited to 50 copies, a facsimile of the 1952 first edition . It is signed , " Best wishes to Lyle , with memories of your copy boy days , Walter Glover 1982." It is in a publisher's slipcase with publisher press releases and other pieces of ephemera related to Norton , Greenlees and Glover.
There is also mention of Nevill Drury who wrote Pan's Daughter .The Strange World of Rosaleen Norton .
