30 years and life’s still a drag

Matt Dunstan, aka Melony Brests shares his 30 year journey as a drag queen. Including dealing with bullies and how he came out to his mum.

AFTER almost 30 years as a drag queen, there is nothing that Matt Dunstan is surprised by anymore.

As he prepares for the upcoming Noosa Rainbow River Festival, Dunstan, aka Melony Brests looked back over his lengthy and unique career.

Initially, Dunstan went to acting school in Melbourne with dreams of the big screen.

But after bartending in a gay pub, he soon realised doing drag shows was a lot easier to get in to.

"TV acting is really cutthroat," he said.

"I discovered if I am doing my own show, I get to call the shots.

"I slid into it quite easily."

Performing to a supportive audience gave Dunstan a safe place to come out as a gay man.

"I felt like it was meant to be," he said.

"I was able to meet other people in the community."

The Eumundi resident remembered being told he was gay before he even knew it.

He said it was pressure from school that made him hold back from coming out sooner.

"I think I tried to deny it for the first few years," he said.

"I worked up the nerve to tell my mother.

"I said, 'mum, I've got something to tell you'."

"She said, 'what? That you're gay'."

Dunstan hosts the extremely popular Drag Queen Bingo as his alter ego, Melony Brests.

The unique and hilarious event takes him all over the Sunshine Coast and further abroad.

Over the years, he has been aggressively confronted by people expressing their opposition to his way of life.

"I have been attacked a few times," he said.

"But it is by people I am not going to listen to anyway."

Now in its fifth year, Noosa's Rainbow River Festival is three days of colour, fun and frivolity on the water.

Commencing on Friday, February 28 through to Sunday, March 1, it will be a jam-packed weekend concluding with the Rainbow River Parade on Noosa River.

For more information go to the website.

Originally published as