To have a perfect life, to know all the right things to do,
is so important.
Not only do I want to transform the way they look,
but the way they think, the way they dream...
All right, I'm the queen.
..to empower them physically and emotionally and mentally.
It's famous, the Dally stance.
One foot in front of the other. like that...
Yes!
For more than half a century
one woman has been the undisputed queen of good Aussie etiquette.
They call me Miss Dally.
Some say June Dally-Watkins was Australia's first super model.
In the 40s and 50s she was, at the very least, the most photographed.
I grew up with my grandparents
at a little village called Watson's Creek
then I was adopted and that's when I became June Dally-Watkins.
People would say "Oh you should be a model,"
so I did some modelling
and way back then we were paid lots of money,
like half a dollar for a model job!
But you see, when you grow up with nothing
I knew I had to succeed, to achieve, or I'd always have nothing.
But soon modelling wasn't enough
and in her early 20s, Miss Dally saw a gap in the market.
So many would come to me and say "How do you walk like that?
"How do you do this?
And that's when my mother suggested
I should start the school of personal development.
Mine was the first one ever in Australia
and the first one outside of London and New York.
I wanted to show that a woman can have a family
and have her own business.
I'd get phone calls from women saying
"You're a terrible mother, go home to your poor, starving children."
I'd say "Thank you very much for phoning me.
"I'll go home when I can."
66 years later
the June Dally-Watkins Finishing College
is till in operation in both Sydney and Brisbane.
And the shape of your eyebrows means a lot to you.
Yes, I think these need to be trimmed, darling.
I still see them...
"Miss Dally, remember me? I did your course 40 years ago."
I always say "Yes, I do remember you."
(Laughs) Yes.
See, champagne goes wonderfully with dessert.
A lot of young ladies sometimes go out and drink too much alcohol.
Her students learn to talk, walk and dine the Dally way.
You place your spoon... there.
Right there at 6 o'clock.
You see young people sitting there together
and instead of communicating with each other,
they're doing this on their mobile phone.
I want to transform them.
And just shy of her 90th birthday, Miss Dally's mission has gone global.
MC: Miss Dally!
Three years ago, Miss Dally and her Chinese business partner
set up what she calls the Look of Success programme.
Do not put your wrists on the table.
You do not do that, you do not do that.
A three-day crash course in the finer points of Western dining,
fashion and appearance...
Tattooed eyebrows... no more, no more.
And of course, those all-important good manners.
I think they are more eager than here
because they've only grown up using chopsticks
and they have never understood Western etiquette.
Both the course and its teacher are proving to be a smash hit.
(Sighs)
Do we have a "before" photograph?
The classes like this one in Guangzhou
attract young, wealthy women from all over the country,
keen to learn the Western way for both business and pleasure.
The Chinese society is extremely competitive.
So, knowing Western customs,
knowing anything that other people don't know,
is one of the things that gives you distinction,
that allows you to stand out from the crowd.
Cultural studies expert Yingjie Guo
believes the success of Miss Dally's etiquette classes
represents a broader shift within Chinese society.
The number of people who are reasonably well off
has increased dramatically
in the last 30 years.
So you have an increasing number of people
who can afford to travel in Australia,
who can afford to send their kids to study in Australia.
They need to know how to relate to them, how to speak to them
and how to behave towards them.
That's not a case of Australians or Americans or Europeans
imposing their own customs on China.
It's because there's a market for it.
And it's a big market.
Miss Dally's courses are run from the finest hotels
with students paying as much as $4000 a head.
If they were cheap
then the Chinese people would think they weren't important.
They want to be Westernised, the Chinese,
they really want to understand how to conduct themselves
when they are outside of China.
You say to your brain... "Switch on."
But Miss Dally believes her classes aren't just about etiquette.
The one-child policy, everybody wanted to have a boy.
Now I want to make women pleased that they are female.
At the graduation ceremony, there's no doubting
the classes are already having an effect on her students.
I love you.
(Weeps) Thank you.
And with six trips to China under her belt already this year
Miss Dally says she has no plans to retire.
As long as they want me there, I will.
Because I love it.
Good etiquette is to be the best you can be.
To be a lady
wherever you are in the world.