Katherine Cummings

Cummings was born in Scotland in 1935,{{Cite web |last=Wolfgramme |first=Katherine |date=2019-01-16 |title='I transitioned when I was fifty-one': trans elder Katherine Cummings |url=https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/new-south-wales-news/i-transitioned-when-i-was-fifty-one-trans-elder-katherine-cummings/175203 |access-date=2024-06-22 |website=Star Observer |language=en-US}} and grew up in several Pacific Islands including the Gilbert Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia.{{Cite web |last= |title=Katherine Cummings {{!}} AustLit: Discover Australian Stories |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A13436 |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=www.austlit.edu.au |language=en}} She graduated from the University of Sydney,{{Cite book |last=Coad |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/gendertroubledow0000coad/mode/2up?q=%22Katherine+Cummings%22 |title=Gender trouble down under : Australian masculinities |date=2003 |publisher=Valenciennes : Presses universitaires de Valenciennes |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-2-905725-30-1}} where she met the writer Clive James who would later credit Cummings for starting his career in publishing.{{Cite news |date=29 November 2019 |title=Uni mentors remained dear to his heart |work=The Australian ; Canberra, A.C.T. |pages=8 |id={{Proquest|2319205506}}}} After Sydney, Cummings trained as a librarian at the University of Toronto. After graduating she worked at the University of New South Wales, followed by positions at State Library of Oregon and Upsala College in New Jersey, before returning to Australia where she worked at the University of Queensland. Cummings became the head librarian at the Sydney College of the Arts, and later moved to Macquarie University.{{Cite news |last=Baker |first=Candida |date=1992-07-01 |title=Katherine Cummings formerly known as John Cummings |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-katherine-cummings-formerly-know/120266652/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |work=The Age |pages=52}}

She underwent gender-affirming surgery in Australia, in 1986 when she was 51 years old and named herself after Katherine Hepburn. The surgeon Peter Haertsch performing the surgery.{{Cite news |last=Verity |first=William |date=31 March 2012 |title=Gender mender |work=Illawarra Mercury; Wollongong, N.S.W. |pages=6 |id={{Proquest|963444844}}}} In the late 1980s, Norman Swan conducted a series of interviews with Cummings on her transitioning from male to female. Swan later interviewed Cummings to talk about how her life progressed in the time between the 1980s and 2013.{{Cite web |last=Swan |first=Norman |date=2013-12-23 |title=Katherine's diary, the story of a transsexual, revisited |url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/healthreport/katherine27s-diary2c-the-story-of-a-transsexual2c-revisited/5149694 |access-date=2024-06-22 |website=ABC Listen Radio National |language=en-AU}} Her transition is also discussed in the 2003 book Gender trouble down under by David Coad.{{Cite book |last=Coad |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/gendertroubledow0000coad/mode/2up?q=%22Katherine+Cummings%22 |title=Gender trouble down under : Australian masculinities |date=2003 |publisher=Presses universitaires de Valenciennes |others= |isbn=978-2-905725-30-1}} Cummings wrote about her experience returning to a school reunion forty years after she graduated, and the varied responses of her former classmates.{{Cite news |last=Cummings |first=Katherine |date=1991-11-11 |title=The class act of the high school reunion |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-katherine-cumm/120265574/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |pages=17}}

Cummings petitioned the Australian Immigration Department to legally change her name and pay for electrolysis treatments needed for her transitioning, actions that led the way for others to receive similar benefits. In her work at Sydney's Gender Centre she helped people access resources needed.{{Cite news |last=Powell |first=Sian |date=5 June 2010 |title=Lives in Transit |work=The Australian ; Canberra, A.C.T. |pages=20 |id={{Proquest|357074863}}}} She started as the editor of Polare, the center's magazine in 2001.{{Cite web |date=2008-07-19 |title=The Gender Centre Inc. |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719194634/http://gendercentre.org.au/polare41.htm |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=web.archive.org}} Cummings spoke about her experiences as transgender during the 2011 Australian Transgender Day of Remembrance.{{Cite news |last=Curtis |first=Rebekah |date=19 November 2011 |title='Why was I born a lie?'; Transgender people are making progress in their fight for rights, but still face discrimination and violence all around the world |work=The Gazette; Montreal, Que. |pages=A29 |id={{Proquest|905196035}}}}

Cummings was a regular visitor to Casa Susanna, a camp in upstate New York that welcomed cross dressing men and transgender women, where she went by the name Fiona.{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Penelope |date=2006-09-07 |title=A glimpse of the '50s, with a twist - Arts & Leisure - International Herald Tribune |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/07/arts/07iht-casa.2733187.html |access-date=2024-07-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Her presence in the 2005 book, Casa Susanna, was part of the inspiration for Harvey Fierstein's 2014 play Casa Valentina.{{Cite news |last=Bernstein |first=Jacob |date=2014-04-11 |title=A Mayor of Sorts Meets His Public |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/fashion/harvey-fierstein-new-play-night-out.html?searchResultPosition=3 |access-date=2025-05-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Finn |first=Amanda |date=17 July 2016 |title='CASA VALENTINA' OFFERS INSIGHT INTO THE LIVES OF 1960S CROSS-DRESSERS |work=Wisconsin State Journal ; Madison, Wis. |pages=E1 |id={{Proquest|1804591384}}}} Cummings was in the 2023 documentary Casa Susanna after being interviewed by Sébastien Lifshitz about her experiences at Casa Susanna.{{Cite news |last=Rapold |first=Nicolas |date=2023-06-27 |title=Revisiting a Midcentury Haven for Cross-Dressing Men |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/movies/casa-susanna-documentary.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=2025-05-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Cummings published two books. Katherine's Diary: the story of a transsexual,{{Cite book |last=Cummings |first=Katherine |title=Katherine's diary : the story of a transsexual |publisher=William Heinemann |year=1992 |location=Port Melbourne}}Reviews of Katherine's diary

• {{Cite news |last=Sen |first=Veronica |date=1992-08-01 |title=Plea for understanding from a man who changed sex |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/137167183?searchTerm=%22katherine%20cummings%22 |access-date=2025-05-11 |work=Canberra Times |pages=27}}
• {{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Simon |date=1992-07-25 |title=Review of Katherine Cummings book |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-review-of-kath/120266277/ |access-date=2025-05-11 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |pages=42}} which was a winner of the Australian Human Rights Award for Non-Fiction Literature Award in 1992.{{Cite news |date=1992-11-29 |title=Children's book award goes to Canberra writer |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/126958599?searchTerm=%22katherine%20cummings%22 |access-date=2025-05-11 |work=Canberra Times |pages=24}}{{Cite web |title=1992 Human Rights Medal and Awards Winners {{!}} Australian Human Rights Commission |url=https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/1992-human-rights-medal-and-awards-winners |access-date=2024-06-22 |website=Australian Human Rights Commission |language=en}} Her second book was The life and loves of a transgendered lesbian librarian and other essays, stories and verse.{{Cite book |last=Cummings |first=Katherine |title=The life and loves of a transgendered lesbian librarian and other essays, stories and verse |publisher=Beaujon Press |year=2014 |location=Woy Woy, NSW}} She edited a collection of short stories, No Thanks or Regrets,Review of No Thanks or Regrets
• {{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Gretchen |date=1996-06-20 |title=No Thanks or Regrets |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-no-thanks-or-r/172547821/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |pages=13,[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald/172547831/]}} and her 1998 short story, A Tale of Nine Cats, was on the short list for the 1989 Ditmar Awards.{{Cite web |title=Ditmar Awards 1989 |url=https://www.sfadb.com/Ditmar_Awards_1989 |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Science Fiction Awards Database}}

Cummings was married for twenty-five years, with three daughters from the marriage. She describes the loss of family as a major loss that resulted from her transitioning from male to female, though she describes one of her daughters as her best friend.

Cummings died on January 26, 2022.

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• {{Trove person |599365 |Katherine Cummings |1935–2022}}

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Category:Australian librarians

Category:LGBTQ history in Australia

Category:Transgender women writers

Category:University of Sydney alumni

Category:University of Toronto alumni

Category:1935 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:Scottish transgender women