Meet the drag queens conquering country Queensland

Drag queens bring glamour and grit to country Queensland Deep in one of Australia's conservative heartlands, four drag queens take their heels on the highway for a road trip. The group has a gig about 300 kilometres from Rockhampton at a country pub in Emerald, in Queensland's central-west. It's a far cry from the "gaybourhoods" of Sydney's Oxford Street or Melbourne's Smith Street, but the queens receive a glowing reception from a sold-out crowd. Twirling in a wavy brunette wig and gold mini dress, Leisha Luck lip-syncs to a Kesha song with seasoned confidence. A drag-themed birthday party led to an unexpected career pivot for Leisha, who made a professional career performing five nights a week in Sydney and Melbourne. After seven years in central Queensland, Leisha says the Emerald show was a unique gig. "The fact that it sold out, like, weeks prior and then … we were over capacity on the night absolutely blew my mind," she says. "It revived my sense of purpose … I felt reinvigorated in what I do." Leisha says central Queensland audiences have been largely welcoming. "Even though I'm a beautiful woman, the moment I open my mouth and they hear that I'm a bogan, they're much more comfortable," she says. For Emerald theatre director Bailey Simpson, seeing the queens in action in his town "was the best thing in the world". "In an outback rural community to have this representation just shows that it doesn't matter where you are, that you're supported," he says. Central Queensland's drag history Drag in central Queensland has a colourful history stretching back decades. Luke Shaw, who was born and raised in Rockhampton, recalls packing out the old Post Office Hotel with a hundreds-strong crowd with his LGBTQIA+ show Venus Rising in 2005. "It was a bit of a push at first, some venues didn't want to be associated with that … because of the stigma then, 'Oh, that's the gay bar', which could be perceived as a harmful brand in the early 2000s," he says. Loading...Mr Shaw, as Miss Katherine Astrophe, performed alongside his late friend Peter Legget, aka Veronica Darling. "We would pass as reasonably female," he says. "We went to the Rockhampton [agricultural] show one year in full drag with a group of girls and no-one clocked us once." Dressed as Katherine, he was even offered a job at the local strip club. "The manager at the time thought I was an actual woman, and I kept saying, 'I don't think I'm what your clients want!' "And he's like, 'Oh no, they'll love you, they'll love you.'" Venus Rising eventually amalgamated with a new queer night, ClubRok, which has continued its central Queensland events. Chryseïs Richardson remembers the early days of ClubRok, sitting cross-legged on a dingy pub floor in 2010. "It wasn't like what it is today," she says. "The first time I saw the drag show I was just in awe of … the confidence that they exuded performing." Ms Richardson and Mr Shaw, who occasionally still perform at ClubRok, attribute its longevity to the popularity of reality TV juggernaut RuPaul's Drag Race, along with greater acceptance of queer people within the wider community. "[Rockhampton] has improved, I think it's really a more welcoming place now," Ms Richardson says. Queer in the regions People in the LGBTQIA+ community have a long-documented history of higher rates of mental health issues compared to their heterosexual counterparts. A La Trobe University study published in 2020 found 57 per cent of the LGBTQIA+ community experienced high or very high psychological distress, and almost 75 per cent had experienced suicidal ideation, compared to 13 per cent of the general population. The report notes that Queensland performed worse than other state jurisdictions. Family support is vital for improved mental health outcomes for queer youth, especially in regional areas, according to national youth mental health organisation Headspace. Senior clinical adviser David Myles, who has worked for more than a decade in central Queensland, says young people often feel "disconnected from queer culture" in regional areas. "We know that young people, particularly regionally, have to change how they dress … or the way they speak or the way they move … because they're not safe to share who they are entirely." Mr Myles says positive representation of queer culture is instrumental in helping young people feel connected to their identity and community. "Some young people may not know any other queer people [and] may not have grown up knowing anything about queer culture," he says. For Yeppoon's Lachy Warner, the impact of representation is personal. They spent much of their adolescence grappling with internalised homophobia "very much in the closet, in denial", before discovering drag persona Krimsyn Kaos at age 18. "It was very freeing for me, it opened up a lot of avenues that I didn't think existed. "I didn't really realise how comfortable I could be in my own skin and how happy I could be without really second-guessing anything and just doing what I felt was right for me." A safe space Back at the country pub in Emerald, Leisha Luck takes to the stage, microphone in hand, and warms up the crowd. "When a queen comes out on stage, you f***ing scream!" she says in a thick Australian drawl, to rapturous cheers and applause. "I think I might kick it off with a bit of a number, should I, should I do a number?" When the night eventually draws to a close, Leisha hopes she's inspired queers in this corner of country Queensland to feel a sense of safety, belonging and community. "The young little queerlings will move away from country towns because they don't feel like there's a space for them here," she says. "I want them to know that there [are] spaces for them here. "The main objective is just to entertain and be an idiot, a beautiful idiot."