Franca Frederiksen lives life to the fullest

You can’t accuse Franca Frederiksen of living anything other than an extraordinary life.

Franca Frederiksen’s life has been anything but ordinary. Picture: EMMA MURRAY

Franca‘s life started in the high plains of the Italian countryside in a small village called Camporovere, near Venice.

It seems fitting that a lady of such grace and elegance would begin her life in such an idyllic location.

Before her third birthday, Franca would arrive in Australia.

Franca’s dad Giovanni Vescovi made the move first, and was soon followed by his wife Angelina, and their six kids, Marisa, Mirella, Tino, Giuliana, Sergio and the youngest Franca.

“We couldn’t speak English and I remember getting rapped on the knuckles at school for doing the wrong thing, because I couldn’t understand what I was being told to do! I learned English pretty quickly,” she said. The Vescovi family settled in Harcourt, central Victoria.

“Dad instilled a deep sense of self-belief in us,” she said. “He used to say, ‘remember you’re a Vescovi’, ‘like that was the most important thing in the world! It certainly helped me to feel comfortable in my own skin. We quickly settled in.”

Franca’s life as a fashionista began early on.

“I remember sitting on Mum’s lap as she sowed and she let me use her sewing machine. I’d sew clothes for my dolls, and when I was about 10, I made a play suit which I wore all the time.”

Franca Frederiksen with her granddaughters Arya, Elle, Hunter, Heidi and Grace.

After completing year 11, Franca went off to a hairdressing school for 14 months and then bought her sister’s business. “I wanted to do something with my hands,” she recalls. Franca knew Castlemaine local, David Frederiksen, through the family. He was working as a flying instructor in Cooma.

“He was a pilot. I was fascinated - I mean, how many times would you meet a pilot in country Victoria,” she said.

“David was passionate about his flying, had a good sense of fun, and a real can-do attitude.”

Franca and David fell in love and eventually got married and settled in Alice Springs where he was flying for regional airline, Connair.

Still to this day Franca will call him by his nickname ‘Freddo’, and he often calls her ‘Coc’, short for Coco Chanel.

The couple transferred to Darwin in November of 1974.

The Freddos, as they are known, partied on Christmas Eve. The night of Cyclone Tracy. “We’d had a good time - some very nice champagne! There was a cyclone alert, but alerts happened quite often, and never came to anything,” she recalls.

“Howling wind and straining window louvres woke us up. David, ever-resourceful, created a ‘cubby’ under the stairs to protect us, but we had move after water started pouring down the stairs.

“He pushed our couch into a corner with solid walls, and blocked off the open side with a fridge. David was worried enough for the both of us - I ended up sleeping through most of it!

“We got a shock the morning. Our street was a mess of branches, sheets of tin, and damaged cars.

Franca with her husband David at Uluru.

“All that was left of the neighbour’s house was the bathroom. Our place, which had been hit by someone’s roof, was relatively unscathed”.

David and Franca’s car was operational, and they made their way through the debris to check on friends and then to the Connair hangars.

Using a plane’s radio, David contacted company pilots in Katherine and discovered they had no idea of what had happened.

At that moment, it dawned on David and Franca that perhaps no one outside of Darwin knew.

Turns out David had made the first contact with the outside world.

“Soon, Navy, Army and Air Force officials came to use the radio as their means of communication. That really shocked us.”

Franca rolled up her sleeves and became part of Connair’s flight crews for evacuations, and when regular services returned, stayed on and flew across the top end, including on a flight to take pearl divers from Thursday Island to Broome.

18 months later, the Freddos moved back to Alice Springs onto their land 15ks out of town and, with Denis and Miranda Hornsby, developed the rural subdivisionserviced by Schaber and Petrick Rds.

Kids soon arrived - three sons: Alex, Nick and Simon.

Franca worked part time - teaching hairdressing, marketing for Central Australian tourism, the Heart Foundation, and Liaison Officer during the development of the Todd Mall.

In the late 80s, the Freddos role swapped and Franca spent a decade working in one of her passions, real estate.

“My parents built their wealth this way and it was discussed around the dinner table,” she said.

Franca with her sons Simon, Nick, and Alex.

In 1998, Liz Tier, then PR and Marketing Manager at St Philip’s asked Franca to run their national fundraising program. “Then Headmaster, Chris Tudor’s vision and passion for outback education was irresistible. I ended up with best job in the world and working with the best people in the world,” she said.

Franca spent 18 years in that role, raising millions of dollars and loving every minute.

In the 80s, Franca, Helen Greatorex and Michelle Smail started the Corkwood Festival at Chateau Hornsby - this was the precursor to the Todd Mall Markets. In 90s, Franca and friend Ann Cloke joked that they wanted to sing with a band - so, of course, they started their own - John Bailey, Gus Mattarazo, Alan McGill and Frank Hockley.

The Baby Boomers Bash was great fun. “We were very nervous … it was almost traumatic – but it was fun”. The first one was held at the Scout Hall, “so it felt like a country dance”. The event grew, moving to St Philip’s and Rex Mooney soon joined the band and became a much-loved fundraiser for the school and local charity Bosom Buddies.

Designer Franca Frederiksen (second from right) with her models on the Sustainable Couture runway. Photo: EMMA MURRAY

Franca and Philomena Hali launched “Sustainable Couture” in 2009, the gala opening night fashion parade is held every year in a hangar at the Central Australian Aviation Museum, attracting hundreds of people. It now includes a pop-up shop, the Lost and Found exhibition and Artists’ Trail.

In 2011, Franca along with Jan Heaslip and Helen Kilgariff started the Central Australian Education Foundation which has raised about a quarter of a million dollars to help Alice kids pursue their tertiary education. And Franca says, “for any Italophiles out there, our Italian speakers group is bringing Alice a taste of Italian culture at the end of May”.

“I retired in 2017 and am enjoying the freedom. We have three fine sons and each of them are now married to terrific women and have children of their own. “Our grandchildren, Elle, Grace, Heidi, Arya, Hunter and Nico, keep us both energised … and exhausted (I can imagine lots of grandparents nodding when they read this!) and bring us much pleasure and we get to take them on adventures. Life’s good.”

As you can see, Franca Frederiksen is a true creative