YOU GHOULS
Ghost tour company slammed for ‘outrageous, slanderous, ridiculous slur’ on Coast icon Sir Bruce
FAMILY and friends have reacted with fury to promotional material for a ghost tour company that labels legendary mayor Sir Bruce Small “a notorious ladies' man". Biographer Rachel Sayers said Sir Bruce was “into clean living” and a faithful husband. “For these people to cast a slur on his legacy as a Gold Coast icon is just appalling and completely untrue,” she said.
AUSTRALIA’S largest ghost tour company has been told to pull a promotion that calls Gold Coast icon Sir Bruce Small a notorious womaniser.
Lantern Ghost Tours yesterday released advertising touting Mr Gold Coast as “a notorious ladies’ man who caused trouble about town, his restless soul is said to harass female staff at the (Clock) hotel” in Surfers Paradise.
Furious family and friends said the jibe was an “outrageous, slanderous, ridiculous and laughable slur” on one of the city’s most important figures and should be pulled immediately.
“He was devoted to his wife, was never a skirt chaser and quite frankly was more interested in business and buildings,” said developer Norm Rix, who served as a city councillor with Sir Bruce for more than a decade from the mid-1960s.
“I went to their place on numerous occasions for lunch and dinners and I know they were devoted to each other.
“It’s quite frankly sad that a person would indicate he was that type of character at all – he had many faults, including being an egotist, but being a womaniser was not one of them.
“Sir Bruce Small is an icon who built the Gold Coast.
“It is sad because it gives the wrong impression of the real person and it should stop immediately.”
Sir Bruce, a teetotaller and non-smoker, was elected mayor on the back of his famous campaign slogan “think big, vote Small’.
He became internationally famous after leading a series of national and international promotional tours for the city starring the iconic Meter Maids.
The tours, featuring plenty of pictures of Sir Bruce flanked by bikini-wearing young ladies, proved to be an enduring image and helped sell the city.
He was also responsible for creating Isle of Capri and Sorrento before moving into politics.
Sir Bruce was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the city in 1974 and served as the state MP for Surfers Paradise before his death from cancer in 1980.
Lantern Ghost Tours did not respond to multiple attempts to contact it yesterday.
Former model Karen Nielsen, who travelled with Sir Bruce in the 1970s, said the tour promotion was “slanderous”.
“He was always a gentleman and was never like that at all and as a model when you are young you know the creepy men who say inappropriate things or try to touch you.
“There were a few others, but certainly not him.”
He married the “love of his life” Lady Lillian Small in 1939 and they were together until his death.
Author Rachel Syers has been writing a biography of the former mayor for his family.
Contrary to his public image, Sir Bruce neither smoked nor drank and had a purely professional relationship with the Meter Maids, she said.
“He was into clean living and for these people to cast a slur on his legacy as a Gold Coast icon is just appalling and completely untrue and baseless,” she said.
Clock Hotel manager Paul Elliot said he was aware the hotel was used as part of the ghost tour, but did not know about the latest advertising concerning Sir Bruce.
“They came and saw us years ago to take a look at the building and figured it worked well with what they are selling,” he said.
“I don’t know anything about Sir Bruce Small being mentioned in relation to us.”