Dorothy Dempster - a brilliant light who loved the arts

Dorothy Dempster (black dress) in a Green Room Production (photo from Maryborough Players Our Story)

Our Local History Theme is Having a Voice. Dorothy Ada Nilsina Dempster was a local Maryborough girl who grew up to help many people have a voice through Speech and Drama Lessons, Eisteddfods, and as a founding member of the Maryborough Players and earlier the Green Room Players. She was born on 14th May 1922, the second child of Walter and Dorothy Rex.

"Her passion in life revolved around the artist’s sense and sensibility" her family starts. "She could draw and paint. She loved to perform in dramas and plays. She built a professional career through speaking well. She took her first speech lesson at the age of seven". "Mum remembered the weekly pilgrimage to her speech lessons as a child. She rose at 6 am to make the trip on her bicycle to her teacher's home" reflects her daughter Julie.

After going to primary school in Maryborough, she attended boarding school in Wynnum. Whilst in Brisbane she had speech lessons with Miss Rhoda Felgate - a distinguished teacher and a founder of Brisbane's Twelfth Night Theatre.
"Mum was the youngest in Australia at that time to receive her A.M.E. B (Australian Music Examination Board) Certificate at 16 years of age. She was qualified to teach speech and drama and she returned to Maryborough and began teaching students in the back room of her family home" her family explained. An advertisement for these classes can be found here 

“During the war she worked as a Kindergarten Teacher in Atherton where she met her future husband Ron Dempster” her family remember.

Dorothy as a young woman

During the early years of marriage with a husband away at war, Dorothy formed the Green Room Players. Information about their performances can be found here:
Shakespearian recital was Fine Entertainment
Green Room Players get Instructions
Theatre Gossip

They were the forerunner to the present-day Maryborough Players, who recently celebrated over 65 years on stage. Celebrated here
Dorothy Dempster produced many Maryborough plays in the 1950s- a total of thirty in the first year of production. Some of the Maryborough Chronicle Information  regarding these can be found here
Drama was Enjoyable
Two Mrs Carrolls
Victorian Eeriness
Supper after Final Act
The Dumb Wife of Cheapside
Maryborough Players
Tonights the Night

She established a Children's Theatre on July 4th 1953. Details found here 

She worked with her husband Ron Dempster, who had a love of music, on the Choral Society’s annual Gilbert and Sullivan production.
“Mum convinced Dad to help resurrect the Maryborough Eisteddfod Society after the war” her children remember. “She also performed in, and produced a number of ABC radio plays”.  An article referring to this can be found here 

Neil recalls “For years she rode her bike down to the ABC studios and read the seven minutes to seven evening regional news on ABC radio. She was one of the first women to do so”.
She taught many people who became prominent in broadcast radio and television, including her own son Quentin. She also coached several politicians in the delivery of their speeches” the family remember.

In 1962 at the age of 40, she suffered a cerebral haemorrhage. She remained in a coma for many months. “Eventually she regained consciousness but to everyone’s horror she was paralysed down the right side and had lost the ability to speak” her children reveal. She began rehabilitation and learnt to walk again with the aid of a stick and a steel calliper. Her speech returned slowly and she returned home. She resumed speech and drama lessons before and after school and on Saturdays.
She would hold recital nights in her lounge room once a month, where her students could perform. Despite her difficulty with mobility, she would travel to eisteddfods to see her students perform and her children recall she would attend the hairdresser regularly.

Dorothy in her studio

“Dorothy was a courageous woman” her family assert. She is also fondly remembered by many students for her incredible width and breadth of literary knowledge, her tenacity of spirit, her generosity and her gift for helping them reach their potential.  “She was a brilliant light in Maryborough, who encouraged the arts in all who fell under her influence” a former student asserts. She is very deserving of a place in local history for allowing so many to have a voice.

Do you have a story about Dorothy?

Published with consent from Dorothy's family.

Tags #greenroomplayers #maryboroughplayers #theatre  #arts #gilbertandsullivan #choralsociety #eisteddfod