The man behind our golden haired boy
Go to any event that’s worth going to on the Gold Coast and chances are he will be there. But if you think that’s all there is to Andrew Meadowcroft, you don’t know the full story of the man they call Squirrel
ANDREW Meadowcroft must be the Gold Coast’s unofficial mascot.
Forget Borobi, you can spot his smiling face at just about any event worth attending in the city – chances are he’s organised it, promoted it, photographed it or just been invited to guarantee a good time.
He even has an animal alter-ego, Squirrel.
And just like the city, all glitz and glamour and good times on the surface, there’s a strong heart beneath that cheeky facade. Andrew is not just a defender of our city, but his family. From his beloved mother Lorraine, whom he spent his childhood protecting from an abusive father, to his older brother Danny, born with Down Syndrome, to his partner Cameron, whom he’s spent the year nursing back to health after he nearly died from a mystery illness, he is nothing if not loyal.
And while this Squirrel now sits pretty in his sky-high nest in central Surfers Paradise, it’s both mere kilometres and a lifetime away from the childhood he spent in poverty and transience.
“I was born in Victoria but we came to the Gold Coast when I was very young. From the time we arrived to the time I finished Year 12, we left and came back nine times,” says Andrew. “I’m one of eight kids and we had an incredibly nasty father. He was a bully, an absolute thug.
“We all thought this was just life and it was only until we started gaining friends and spending time with other families that we realised our situation was extreme and not the norm.
“He just kept mum pregnant and she couldn’t leave. The only time he’d be half-decent to her was for the first six months of each baby’s life – just so he could get her pregnant again and trap her.
“It’s hard enough for anyone in an abusive situation to break free but this was in the ’70s and ’80s – a Catholic family with all of these kids, it was almost impossible for her.
“Still, she’d try. She’d take us to shelters, she’d try to run away but she always had to go back. It was a choice between abuse and starvation – and she had eight mouths to feed.
“They were always unsettled, always looking for somewhere new and better, but we were always so, so poor. We’d just drive from location to location.”
Andrew says while he’d hardly consider himself a religious man, it was the Catholic parish of Surfers Paradise which helped educate, clothe and feed his family when times were at their toughest.
He says while in primary school, the family was forced to live out of their car for a period, parked in Kurrawa Surf Life Saving Club car park.
“The church would help us out with food and secondhand clothes, they helped me go to St Michael’s in Carrara too, although I left and came back five times between years 8 and 12,” he says.
“In fact, when I was in Year 12 my family was about to leave again but I just couldn’t do it. I applied for special permission to live on my own and I ended up in a onebedroom apartment on Fairways Dr near St Vincent’s.
“I was working three jobs as well as school – in a souvenir shop, at Kmart and at a photo lab.
“I just knew I had to find a way out for our family. Just before I finished school, Mum finally left him. All of us kids convinced her she could get out – and we were older so she wasn’t as worried about us.
“We ended up almost all of us living in my little apartment. It was cramped but we were safe and we were together, it wasn’t a bad time.
“Dad died about five years ago. I didn’t even know until six months after he was gone. There was nothing left to say. He was dead to us a long time before that.”
After just missing out on a university degree in film and television, Andrew – like the Gold Coast – decided to start again in tourism.
Just as he’s the king of the social scene now, it wasn’t long before he was crowned a party boy prince.
“I always loved hotels and decided I wanted to be general manager one day,” he says.
“I started house cleaning at Magic Mountain apartments, after they demolished the theme park, and started moving up the ladder pretty quickly.
“By 21 I was a sales and marketing manager, I went to Sydney for a year to open the Radisson Plaza –I was just at that stage where I experienced real freedom for the first time and just let my hair down, which also caused complications.
“The party scene was hard and harsh, so I decided to return to the Gold Coast. I came back here to Palm Meadows and then I got the gig to transform The Villa at Nerang from a private home into an events base.
“That was just next level. It was celebrity central – celeb weddings, sports people, politicians, media personalities. I had dinner with Prime Minister John Howard three times. I was party boy of the year … for many years.
“I took over the group role in marketing, overseeing all of Nifsan’s assets including The Villa and the $1 billion Emerald Lakes residential community but after a few years I was ready for a change.
“I gradually started finding myself on the other side, taking photos, writing and coordinating the events, public relations.
“It’s never about the photos you take or the news you spread, it’s about who you are – the Gold Coast is all about personality.”
But behind the good times on the GC, there have long been two important men in Andrew’s life.
For someone whose profession is dedicated to the positive perception of our city and its players, Andrew appears unfazed by any negative attention given to either his sexuality or his brother’s disability.
Or maybe that’s just the persona of a polished professional. Or a lifetime of practice.
“To be honest, I was so sheltered … there was no internet or exposure to the gay scene when I was in primary and secondary school. Sure, I was abused and bullied about being different, but I really didn’t comprehend what for.
“I was called the gay albino Pavarotti as I had a very high soprano voice, was as pale as a
I always loved hotels and decided I wanted to be general manager one day.
I hate the beach, I hate the sun and I hate the sand.
ghost and apparently different to Coast born-and-bred locals.
“In primary school I had lunch with the teachers most days in the staff room. That wouldn’t happen these days but back then I just felt special and simply blocked out the derogatory comments aimed at me from my classmates.
“It simply didn’t register as an issue. I was hanging out with adults most of the time, learning and it was just my normal day.
“I did have a girlfriend in Year 12, but after graduation I started to realise who I was.
“It was about a year after high school that I told Mum. Actually, I told her I was bisexual. And she said, ‘nope, you’re gay’.
“She knew but I didn’t. But then I found the Brisbane gay scene and I was like, ‘ohhh, Mum was right’.”
Queen Lozza, as he refers to his mum, is the matriarch of this tight-knit, diverse family.
After weathering the storm of a difficult childhood, her eight children now bask in the sunshine of their calm and close adult relationships.
As well as gathering for Christmas celebrations, Andrew regularly joins his mother and his brothers – along with partner Cam – for annual holidays.
“Mum and I have always been close. Especially with my brother Danny, who has Down Syndrome. Mum has always insisted that Danny is the equal of us all – and he is. Danny and Mum and my brother Martin – who looks after Danny even more than me – come with me on holidays, I love them.
“When we were younger Danny started getting some health issues and at one point we were told to put him in care, but we wouldn’t. We all fought together for a better life.”
While Andrew has been with his partner Cam for two decades, he says being with his better half has had its challenges.
“I met Cam when I was just 21. He’s 11 years older than me and had just come out to his family – including his wife. Then they see me, this little blond boy – it was really hard. But as soon as we met, we just clicked.
“For Cam there’s been a lot of strain. He was the principal of a school here so for a long time I was his ‘cousin’ who he lived with. It’s a relief now that gay rights have come so far.
“There’s still a long way to go but I’d hope that people wouldn’t have to deny who they are professionally anymore.”
In fact, it was while Cam was overseas in Kiribati, in his professional capacity as an education consultant, that the couple faced their darkest moment. “One morning Cam didn’t show up for a morning walk with friends. They found him vomiting in his room and rushed him to the local hospital. He went into a coma and they had to medevac him back to Brisbane,” he says.
“I got the call and I was just beside myself. I drove up to Brisbane expecting to see his body, it was that bad. He had viral encephalitis. We don’t know how and probably will never know how he got it.
“It was touch and go whether he would survive at first. He spent five months in hospital and just amazed them all. He’s still experienced a traumatic brain injury but he’s almost made a full recovery, with the support of both our families.
“It has completely altered our lives. We’ve realised now that you don’t wait to fulfil your dreams – you try to achieve them now while you’re alive and healthy. We travel as much as we can. There’s no point in waiting until later. Even at home, we’ve become tourists in our own back yard. We just want to get out there and do things.”
See, Squirrel makes a perfect mascot for the Gold Coast. He’s the living embodiment of the city’s ethos of good times and good people.
Except for just one, small problem …
“I hate the beach, I hate the sun and I hate the sand,” he says.
“Look, I love that locals and tourists love it, but they can have it. As a very pale man/ squirrel, I’ll stick to long lunches looking at the coastline.”
Borobi, looks like you’re back in business.