The face behind a no-holds-barred book
Source:Sundaytimes
Beverley Pinder in Colombo. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Imagine British business magnate Sir Richard Branson straddling an elephant and riding the streets of busy Melbourne in Australia!
This is what happened in the 1970s long before his fame-gain through the Virgin Group, dubbed an “irresistible” brand which is in many diverse sectors now, from travel to telecommunications, health to banking and music to leisure.
The woman, however, behind that famous elephant-ride was none other than Beverley Pinder of Sri Lankan origin who had emigrated to Australia with her family as a girl of 13.
This week Beverley who calls herself “not beautiful but may be exotic in a manner” is here in Sri Lanka to launch her frank and no-holds-barred book, ‘Pride without Prejudice – An inspiring life’.
Many of us are familiar with English author Jane Austen’s timeless novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ about class and status and finally love. Beverley’s book with the working title ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ but named ‘Pride without Prejudice’ encapsulates the journey of trial and triumph (peaking when she was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia in January last year – 2023), first set in then Ceylon and later in Australia.
It was when Beverley was working for ‘Professional Public Relations’ (PPR) that one of their clients had said that a man from London wanted PR. He was none other than Branson, about to kick-start his Virgin Records Australia……..and so, “the media had a field day covering the grand entrance of little-known, hippy-looking Branson astride an elephant”.
On her suggestion of such a ride being accepted, Beverley had hired the elephant from her circus friends, Perry Brothers.
In a leisurely chat on Monday, we touch on a wide range of topics, laughing over the fact that she does not have a photograph of Branson on the elephant which would have been invaluable today.
Through her book which took 15 years to write and the interview in Colombo we follow her journey. It has been a journey fraught with heartache (a violent and abusive home where her father assaulted her mother and a mother who adored her brothers but left Beverley to fend for herself – but whom Beverley later learned to love dearly, looking after her until her death).
This autobiography is also about harassment both physical and sexual in public areas (even as a child in Ceylon); discrimination (facing the negatives of the White Australia policy), lost loves and personal tragedies. “Even though Dad adored me, he was an absent father,” says Beverley ruefully, adding that those days she felt she was second class.
Miss Universe 1977, Janelle Commisiong, congratulating Beverley after she was crowned Miss Universe Australia in 1978 in Perth
She had been just 17 when she was hounded by obscene phone calls after her bikini-clad pictures appeared in the newspapers and she changed her name from de Zylva, taking up Pinder, her paternal great-grandmother’s name.
It has, however, also been a journey of achievement and success (being crowned Miss Universe Australia in 1978; going into PR and establishing her own firm; and serving two terms as a City of Melbourne councillor) and contentment with her third husband, Russell Mortimer, while bonding with twin stepsons, one of whom is living with autism.
As she says with conviction that then and now are different, totally different times both in Sri Lanka and Australia, all these have jelled to make her what she is today, believing in what her friend the late Fr. Bob Maguire calls “communitarianism”. The philosophy of becoming more involved in the local
community, for the mutual benefit of all in the community.
This is the same philosophy (“charity is in my DNA”), which saw Beverley, accompanied by then Melbourne City Council’s Deputy Mayor, Susan Riley, rushing to Sri Lanka after the devastating Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 and travelling 1,800 kms pell-mell in a mini-bus from Trincomalee to Batticaloa and then all the way south to see the trail of destruction.
Getting back home, fund-raising followed in earnest along with the Melbourne-based charity, Help Sri Lanka, to build a science laboratory and a craft centre for the Dickwella Maha Vidyalaya. HELP Sri Lanka had been heavily assisted by the Sri Lanka Association of Victoria.
Eight-year-old Beverley (far right) with her cousins in Ceylon.
The duo had also encouraged a Rotary Club in Melbourne to fund a Women’s Enterprise Centre at Kushil Gunasekara’s Foundation of Goodness in Seenigama (which Beverley, Susan and another friend, Sally Grero, re-visited this week), while also getting a helping hand from King’s College, London, United Kingdom, for the fundraising.
Vocal and not fearful to give her opinion, Beverley also touches on the sensitive ‘#MeToo’ conversation. In print too, she lays down her thoughts how “hell broke loose” in Melbourne when the media reported allegations of sexual harassment against Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, not only her mentor but also her friend.
Robert was a ‘touchy-feely’ sort of person, she argues and just because someone touches your knee, does it constitute sexual harassment. Even though she publicly told him to take a sabbatical and he was forced to resign, she says the ‘#MeToo’ movement can lead to good talent being thrown out. “We need to define what constitutes sexual harassment,” she cautions.
Now retired, Beverley, very much a people’s person, is passionately concentrating on pro bono work, supporting charitable causes and mentoring youth.
Even though Beverley’s story with all the personalities
Beverley and husband Russell Mortimer at Government House when Beverley received the Medal of the Order of Australia on April 6, 2023.
mentioned therein would be more relevant to an Aussie readership, there are take-home messages for Sri Lankans. It is not just a story about a beauty with brains, but one of seizing opportunities while seeing life changes as opportunities. It is also a story about resilience and fortitude.
