About the Australian Drag King Universe

The Australian Drag King Universe started with a simple question I had: who were the women performing masculinity before we called them drag kings?

As I started searching and found a history (frustratingly) scattered across newspapers, theatre records, archives, photographs and community histories — often using terms that had little to do with drag kings. The more I found, the more I wanted to understand how those theatre performances connected to the Australian drag king scene we know today.

The search grew into the Australian Women Performing Masculinity Timeline, bringing together performers, terminology, characters, performance styles and the changing world around them.

The timeline gives the history its structure, while the articles and essays explore the context, connections and ideas behind it. It comes from a forty year career in Australian professional theatre. This shapes both my understanding and exploration of the drag king artform. 

The timeline is based on what I’ve been able to verify through the available resources thus far. As history is always capable of revealing something new, because I’m human- which means I might get somethings wrong- and I’m a self-directed researcher. I’m endeavouring to keep checking, learning and updating as I go to make sure the timeline is solid to the best of my ability. 

My currently drag king persona is called Dragos, and my previous king persona was Hans Sparrow. I’m Natasha “Nash” Hill, the person behind the Australian Drag King Universe. Enjoy!