26 Facts About Rosaleen Norton

Rosaleen Norton lived much of her later life in the bohemian area of Kings Cross, Sydney, leading her to be termed the "Witch of Kings Cross" in some of the tabloids, and from where she led her own coven of witches.

Rosaleen Norton was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, during a thunderstorm at about 4:30 in the morning, to an English middle class, Anglican family who had moved to the country a number of years before.

Rosaleen Norton was the third of three sisters and her siblings, Cecily and Phyllis, were each over a decade older than her.

Rosaleen Norton's father Albert, who was a sailor, was regularly away from home, although provided enough of an income so that the Nortons were able to live comfortably.

Rosaleen Norton was enrolled at a Church of England girls' school, where she was eventually expelled for being disruptive and drawing images of demons, vampires and other such beings which the teachers claimed had a corrupting influence on other pupils.

Rosaleen Norton subsequently began attending East Sydney Technical College, studying art under the sculptor Rayner Hoff, a man who encouraged her artistic talent and whom she greatly admired.

In 1935, Rosaleen Norton met a man named Beresford Lionel Conroy and they married on 14 December 1940, before going on a hitch-hiking trip across Australia, from Sydney to Melbourne, and on through to Brisbane and Cairns.

In 1943 Rosaleen Norton exhibited her work with fellow artist Selina Muller in Sydney.

Rosaleen Norton was charged under the Police Offences Act of 1928.

Rosaleen Norton, who did not consider herself to be a Satanist but a pagan, denied these claims, and Hoffman later admitted that she had made them up.

However, by this time, the press had published stories accusing Rosaleen Norton of being a devil worshipper and even engaging in animal sacrifice, a practice which Rosaleen Norton abhorred.

Meanwhile, the successful English classical music composer and conductor Sir Eugene Goossens, who was then in Australia and who had an interest in the occult, read a copy of The Art of Rosaleen Norton and decided to write to the artist herself.

Rosaleen Norton invited him to meet her, and the two, alongside Gavin Greenlees, became friends and lovers.

Rosaleen Norton resigned his positions at both the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and New South Wales Conservatorium of Music and returned to Britain, his international career ending in disgrace.

Soon the life that Rosaleen Norton had with Greenlees collapsed, as he was admitted to Callan Park Hospital in 1955.

Rosaleen Norton continued to visit and support him through his temporary release in 1964 and afterward, but Greenlees was re-admitted after attempting to kill Rosaleen Norton with a knife during a schizophrenic episode.

Rosaleen Norton was discharged permanently in 1983, approximately four years after her death.

The tabloid attention surrounding Rosaleen Norton had intensified in the late 1950s, leading tourists to come into the area in search of her.

Rosaleen Norton tried to explain her beliefs to interviewers, emphasizing her faith in pantheism.

Norton temporarily moved into her sister Cecily's flat in Kirribilli, one of the few family members Rosaleen got along with.

Rosaleen Norton later moved into a ground floor apartment in Whitby flats in the Roslyn Gardens area, Elizabeth Bay, accompanied by her pets.

Meanwhile, Walter Glover gained the rights to republish The Art of Rosaleen Norton, re-releasing it in a facsimile edition in 1982 with a new introduction by Nevill Drury and four colour plates that did not appear in the first edition.

In 2000, an exhibition of Rosaleen Norton's paintings was held in Kings Cross, Sydney, organised by various enthusiasts including Keith Richmond, and Barry William Hale of the Australian Ordo Templi Orientis.

In 2012 Rosaleen Norton's work was included in the major exhibition "Windows to the Sacred", which was curated by Robert Buratti and toured Australian museums until 2016.

In 2017 an exhibition of Rosaleen Norton's artwork, curated by Robert Buratti and Aaron Lister, was exhibited as part of "Occulture: The Dark Arts" at City Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand.

Rosaleen Norton devised her own variety of neopagan witchcraft, establishing a Wicca tradition that, according to English witch Doreen Valiente, became known as "The Goat Fold".