October 1967

The white stucco house at the quieter end of one of Brisbane's plusher suburbs is strangly quiet now. Mr & Mrs Tom Wallace find adjusting to the silent atmosphere takes time. It is now seven months since only child Rowena went to Sydney to take the lead in Corners. "I come home from work & there is no sound in the house," said Mrs Wallace. "It's a strange feeling. Rowena used to bounce about the place, sprouting lines or rehersing a new dance step. It wasn't unusual for her to break into song at the top of her vioce." In the loungeroom, hundreds of novels are the only evidence that vivacious Rowena lived there. "She was an avid reader," Mrs Wallace said.

During the commercial breaks through corners, the Wallaces chatted to TV Week about their daughter, about the most talked-about TV show in Australia & that controversal park scene. "We are very proud of her success. When she was young she used to dress up & put on backyard shows with the neighbouring children. It was a shock finding she had acting ability. When we came out from England 12years ago, Rowena was the shyest child on board." Rowena's parents made only one request when she decided to be an actress. "I insisted she do a bussiness course, as something she could fall back on," said Mrs Wallace. "When we went to Cairns, we decided to have her taught ballet, hoping it would bring her out of her shell. And it did. She started those backyard shows. With Corners, there is more scope for improvement in her acting."

What do the Wallaces think of Corners & that park scene? "The scene in the park was part of the story, by banning it the control board only drew attention to it & broke the concept of the story. Rowena told us about it & we didn't worry. We accept it as part of her job, as she did. Besides Margie is a good girl." The scene was banned in Brisbane, so Mrs Wallace did not see it. Her husband did & thought "it was part of the script and not half as bad as some of the scenes in other shows."

Had success spoiled Rowena? "She's more mature...she still likes reading & listening to good music, she even went out & bought Beethoven's Fourth Symphony when I told her I was buying her a portable stereogram," Mr Wallace said.

Rowena Wallace, Australian Tv's now girl, has become Rusty Collins, journalist for a wildlife magazine in the new 0-10 network series, The Rovers. I see her on the swaying deck of a 75ft. gaff-rigged schooner - The Pacific Lady. She pulls a grey cardigan across her shoulders. I sit on the rail of the boat beside her and remark that Rusty Collins is a far cry from the role of Margie in You Cant See Round Corners. She draws on a cigarette & is slightly annoyed. "I can't understand why people can't forget that park scene. It's gone & forgotten now, surely. I always thought that the publicity far outweighed the value of the scene. Oh, certainly, we knew something would happen. It would be a lie to say that we were unaware of the scene's value, but no one thought it would create the stir it did.

I asked her whether it was a relief to be doing a series like this - no controversy & free of the confines of a studio. "Yes, I suppose it is good to get out of a studio & yet, in a way, it is just as confining. Six days a week you are cooped up on this boat or doing interiors in a small hall. There is no getting away. There are always the same people there. Don't get me wrong. They are wonderful people but there is no escape & it can, in a way, be frightening. I even live in flat here on the Hawksbury & most of the other members of the crew do, too, because it is too far to travel daily back to our homes in Sydney."

Rowena agrees that Rusty Collins is not a challenging role. But she is also quick to point out that the very uniformity of the role doesn't make it an easy part. "It isn't a part you can put a lable on. Sometimes I wish Rusty were a mad, zany person - a part you could get your teeth into. You find it hard to give her a personality, to make her really believeable. But I enjoy playing her because the disipline of the role is good for me. Yet I do get frustrated quite alot of the time. I just wish rusty would do her nut sometimes. Mind you, there was one wonderful, tender episode in which I helped an autistic child. That was a great little piece of drama & I loved it."

She lit another cigarette & began to talk about what she might do when The Rovers was finished. "I had never thought of going overseas until recently. I'm mulling it over about going to London to work & see more of the world. But you know what would happen if I got a few knockbacks with work: I'd be on the first plane home."

The real Rowena Wallace - who is she? Is she the intense, moody, unsmiling actress? Is she the sometime swinger who lets her hair down at city discothques with a couple of bourbon-and-cokes? Is she the girl alone in her flat listening to records? She spoke quietly now. "I've given up trying to find the real me. I just let myself happen. I sit there sometimes just thinking, thinking about life mainly. Oh, I'm a dreamer. I know it. That is how I went through most of my childhood - lost in a world of book & music. In fact I don't seem to remember much about myself as a child, just those books. I suppose, really, that I am rather shy. I don't like parties - not many of them, anyway. I get a drink & tend to just sit in a corner watching other people. I just don't seem to be able to relax with other people. Yet I would love to be able to hit it off with people straight away. I am shy, because basically I wonder whether people will like me - whether they will accept me. It's terribly important for people to like me & if they don't take to me instantly I am devastated. Yet strangely - paradoxically if you like - I'm not an easy person to know. I'm a thinker. I worry about the state the world is in. I worry about the new bread of young people. I worry about everything worth worrying about & many things that aren't."

We talked about romance; & she was striding about now, arms folded. "No, there is no romance in my life but one has relationships. I fall in love & out of love, but that's just part of life, isn't it? You give to the person you love what you feel they want you to give. I am a great believer in love & I don't care what sort of love it is. I don't care if it is passionate or what would seem terribly suburban to someone on another social level. Oh yes, I suppose I shall marry one day, but it is not only a matter of waiting for the right person but of waiting, too, for THE somebody you want to father your children."

There was I remarked, no romance in the series, as one might expect, between Rusty Collins & Bob Wild, played by Noel Trevarthen. "No. In fact there was a memo went out about that. There was one scene in an early episode where I came out from taking a shower. I'm in my dressing-gown & there is a bra & stocking drying on the line. But the powers-that-be didn't like that scene. It was apparently not acceptable for any suggestion that I might be spending the night on the same boat as the three males in the series. It's all a little silly really. By going to great lengths to avoid suspicion you run the danger of placing suspicion where it doesn't exist & thereby invite nastiness. Anyhow, the older kids are fairly sophisticated nowadays & any sugestion of wrongdoing wouldn't even enter the minds of the younger kids. The suspicion is all in the mindsof the adults. Really I don't know where Rusty is supposed to spend each night. The cast reckon I can spend each night on top of the mast & climb down at dawn. It's a bit funny isn't it?"

The Pacific Lady is nudging against the pontoon now & for Rowena Wallace another day is over. She walks off, hips swinging, along the pontoon & threads her way through the dinghies pulled up on the slipway. She jumps over a coil of rope & skips, like a little girl along the pathway. She pauses a moment & throws a roguish glance back over her shoulder. "Hey," she calls, "I don't really spend each night up on that mast, you know." And for the first time that afternoon Rowena Wallace is smiling.

June 1973

They still call Rowena the girl from Corners, but today the titile of Mrs. George Assang is one far closer to her heart. Rowena, now grey-haired but with as much sex appeal as ever, is enjoying married life. The couple were married in secret at a ceremony attended by fewer than a dozen people. The wedding solidified a long friendship which began when they were both on Hayman Island filming the series Barrier Reef.

"It was just one of those things and to us it wasn't any great drama," said Rowena of their marriage. "It just followed a pattern. We knew that we would eventually get married and quite suddenlly we decided that the time was right." The wedding was kept secret for several reasons. "It was partly because we wanted it that way, and partly because there are other people. Not that we thought it may have hurt them, just that we thought the least said the better."

George, who has been married before, said the marriage closely followed his divorce. "It was a sudden thing. My divorce came through and we had about a fortnight to wait. We were married on the first of May because there is a song called The First Of May by Jose Feliciano which we both like. And there's another reason really. I'm hopeless at remembering birthdays and anniversaries and I thought I'd never forget a date like that. Whenever we have a May Day procession I'll be able to think 'gee today is the day we got married."

For Rowena marriage has meant a symbolising of her maturity as a person and a bid to gain happiness and stability both as an actress and as a wife. Less than a year ago she suffered a nervous breakdown but today George and Rowena say they have learned to buffer themselves from the pitfalls of showbusiness. "We're very quiet people, really," said George. "All we long for is a nice cosy little cottage and a quiet, routine type of life." "Acouple of pups, books and records," added Rowena. "That is what we are about."....."Ro and I are fortunate in that we dig the same things. We love the same music. We dig the same books and we love model ships and sailing."

An instance is Rowena's views on her much-blown-up love scene in the park with Ken Shorter in You Cant See Round Corners. Looking back Rowena is stunned...at the publicity it brought...."I don't really knock publicity because I am all for Australian shows getting it whether it is good or bad, then at least people will tune into a program. It has got to be kicked around. That is the only way things will happen. But for me all those references to Corners are boring. That was six or seven years ago and I've done a heck of alot since then. People still identify me with it but I have changed so much since then. It jolts me when people mention it. I've gone grey. I'm practically a little old lady now. I don't like to think about it because in those days I was very, very young and wet behind the ears. In a way I suppose it is beaut that they remember. I guess the show must have made some sort of impact. But at the time I can't honestly remember what I thought. I was so stunned. I was just floating, constantly aware of people thinking that it was all going to my head. Every person I looked at I thought -'you're thinking I'm going to get a big head out of this, aren't you? Well I'm not.' I was so aware of it. I just tried to stay apart and not let it reach me."

But for Rowena that is passed and her relationship with George is always upermost in importance. It is based firmly she said on a sharing of interests...."We have to be near the water, somewhere where we can see the sea. I feel dehydrated when I'm not near the water - and George is the same." Rowena and George at one stage planned to build their own ocean-going yacht but....their plans were temporarily shelved. "....Ro went off to London....for awhile..."

In London Rowena visited her birthplace in Coventry and fell in love with London. But she would not consider working there. "There is so much to do and see in London. I put out a few feelers and spoke to people about working there but I was told I would probably have to start at the bottom. I never did start at the bottom. I was fortunate to get a break in Corners and things just snowballed from there. So I have never had to struggle and I'm not about to start doing it now. I've got to used to the easy life. It would mean things like taking a part-time job and going into a little theatre somewhere. I think I would rather starve among friends in Australia than that."

And Rowena and George are happy in Australia, sharing their interests and avoiding the pressures of showbusiness. "It is a matter of organising yourselves, sorting yourselves out. You can lead an ordered life in this business if you are careful what you do. You can combine everything and still have a happy family life."

Rowena Wallace looked drained as she slumped into an armchair. She'd just left the set of Seven's Sons and Daughters where her character, Patricia Hamilton,had been through a very emotional time. "It seems I've been crying buckets all day," she said with a wan smile. "I feel like a wreck."

She certainly didn't look like one. Apart from red eyes, & hair that is a most elegant silvery blond, Rowena doesn't look much different from the nervous teenager who first arrived at the Channel Seven studios at Epping, Sydney, almost 15 years ago to make You Cant See Round Corners. She's been turning up on television regularly ever since. "I never think of myself as having been around for a long time, but to the kids on the show I must seem ancient. They keep telling me that I was on television when they were still toddlers."

Creating Patricia Hamilton, the woman audiences love to hate, is a full time job for Rowena & one she throws herself into wholeheartedly. "I don't have another life, how people like Leila cope with their families, I really don't know. I come to work & I go home & if I'm really lucky I'll scratch a night out here & there, but I always pay for it the next day. A few days off in a row is a bonus & when I get them I always plan to do all sorts of things, but usually I'm too tired to do anything."

An understandable attitude when you consider that Rowena is involved in two hours of television every week - & there is an awful lot of time spent behind the scenes to create those two hours. But, as she explains, acting is either a feast or a famine. "You know when you start a series like this that it's going to be long & tiring, and very hard work, but that's your job." And being out of work is something Rowena also understands. "I've had many periods when I haven't worked. One time lasted eight months - a very interesting period," she said wryly. "I almost got to the razorblade stage with that one. I don't know why it happens. An actor automatically thinks it's because he's failed, but that's not always the case. The parts don't come along & your just not meant to be working. Then suddenly something comes up - in that case it was Water Under the Bridge."

Patricia Hamilton is the type of woman that Rowena Wallace loves to play. "I like playing strong characters who initiate action, rather than passive types. I enjoy the energy that gpoes into that type of role &, let's face it, bitchy characters are the ones who generate action. Look at JR in Dallas - I guess Patricia is like him." Audiences are now seeing a deeper side to Patricia, & Rowena says that there seems to be more understanding about her character. "The number of girls who come up to me & recognise parts of Patricia in their own mothers is incredible. Of course Patricia is overdrawn for dramatic reasons, but so many people see elements of her in women they know. I think one reason the show is successful is because of the limited regular cast. All the characters get a chance to expand & audiences get a chance to relate to characters who are both good & bad."

Like most of the cast, Rowena didn't expect Sons and Daughters to capture the nation's imagination to quite the extent that it has. "I thought when I first read the script that it would be a successful show, but I never anticipated the overwhelming reaction we've had. It seems we came along at the right time. Most people in Australia are worried about their lifestyles & this show reflects what those people are going through. They enjoy watching situations they can relate to." Whatever the reason, the success of Sons and Daughters means that Rowena's feast of work has only just begun.

Australia's all-time favourite: star of hit shows such as Number 96 and Cop Shop through to Sons and Daughters & today's international hit Home and Away in which she plays Harry's mother.Gifted, warm & relaxed, Rowena has had difficulties with her health, chronic debilitating pain & the illness of both parents but, at 52, she has come through & emerged stronger than ever.

"Rowena is an old Anglo-Saxon name & means long, flowing white hair, so I guess when my father named me he must have known I'd go white early, I started going grey at 15 & just sort of let it go. In my early 20s, I remember a producer telling me I'd never get work with hair that colour. But I got work anyway. Occasionally I've coloured my hair for a role or just because I got bored, but in the end, grey suits me best and I left it. In my 20s, I was a bit wild & did all that stuff you do when you're that age. Life now is much quieter. These days I like being in bed at a decent time & am very happy just to sit in front of the TV or read a good book. I am very comfortable with my own company now, which is a bonus that comes with age. In my 20s, if I'd known what I was going to have to go through these past few years, I'd have baulked, but there is always something positive that comes out of bad times & as you get older, you realise this. When tough times hit, you just have to get through them & hopefully come out the other side wiser & a better person. I have become a much more spiritual person & found my own spiritual path. It sounds like a cliche` but somewhere in my heart I know there is a reason for my existence, & know that whatever is good or bad is happening to me for a reason - which helps me accept whatever is thrown my way. You learn that as you grow older & find you have a confidence to be yourself, which is a wonderful relief. The past four or five years have been the most difficult ever & I've been down emotionally & physically about as far as you can go. Now I have turned the corner & know there is a stronger kernel inside me."