The Brisbane Courier-Mail  Monday 30^th June 1947

Birds Are Their Hobby

Miss Dorothy Stoney, Miss Australia candidate of Highgate Hill is a spare time poultry fancier and she was photographed yesterday as she gave one of her birds its weekly brush up.  Miss Ailsa Michelson, another Miss Australia candidate also of Highgate Hill, specialises in birds. Her aviary keeps her fully occupied at weekends.

Dorothy Stoney

Ailse Micholson

The Miss Australia contest had its origins in 1908 when the Lone Hand magazine ran a contest to boost circulation. The contest ran in fits and starts over the years and was re-launched in 1945 as a means of raising money for various war charities. Later, large amounts of money were raised for the support of children and adults with cerebral palsy. The event reached a peak of popularity in the 1950s and 1960s and inter-state rivalry was fierce. Controversy dogged the contest in the 1980s and 1990s with feminist opposition and later issues regarding the inclusion of men.  The contest ran for the last time in the year 2000.

The National Museum Australia site gives more details.

Judy Gainford was the eventual Miss Australia of 1947 (National Museum Australia)

Alice Buckridge – 1908 winner (National Museum Australia)