She was the original Elle Macpherson: a golden blonde poster girl whose easy smile and tanned bikini body attracted thousands of tourists to the
Gold Coast in the 1970s.
As a fresh-faced and leggy young model, she rose from twirling in fashion parades in her native Brisbane to modelling designer wear in front of Princess Anne and strutting the catwalks of London and New York, where she captivated the likes of legendary designer Valentino.
Most recently, Maureen Boyce (nee Madden) was best known as a high-profile socialite and fashionista on the Brisbane social and racing circuits. At 68, she had maintained her striking looks and model physique, flamboyant style and effervescent personality.
Kind-hearted and fun-loving, she was happily married to Dr Graham Boyce, a GP, and devoted to their children: a handsome son, Zachary, who is a doctor due to graduate as a dermatologist next year, and her newlywed doppelgänger daughter Angelique, who works as a senior business banker.
In family photos, you can see the warmth, closeness and pride. Yet out of the blue last month came shocking news – Maureen had been found dead with a knife wound to her abdomen, in her luxury multi-million dollar apartment overlooking the Brisbane River, in the wealthy enclave of Kangaroo Point.
A 63-year-old American man called Thomas Chris Lang, a retired doctor based in New Zealand who had been staying at Maureen’s four-bedroom home, alerted police to her death. After extensive questioning, he was arrested and charged with her murder.
News reports have made much of the fact that Maureen and Lang had been in a relationship in the US about 40 years ago, after which they fell out of touch. It’s understood Maureen had re-established platonic contact in recent years, after she had been contacted by Lang’s mother, with whom she’d continued to exchange annual greetings.
Maureen’s family say she was “deeply in love and committed to” her husband, Graham, and was looking forward to the next stage of their life together, during which they planned to divide their time between Australia and France.
However, Lang reportedly told American relatives he and Maureen had rekindled their romance, become engaged and had been due to marry last year. Problem is, of course, Maureen was already married and Lang was staying in her spare room.
Murder, said a pathologist, was the most likely explanation for her death.
News of Maureen’s death sent shockwaves through Brisbane’s social set. And her bereft family was left grappling with the sudden loss of a woman who would always fill a room with “sunshine, life and happiness”.
The Boyce family has spoken to The Weekly to pay tribute to a woman whom they emphasise was so much more than her exuberant public persona. “She was not only a beauty on the outside,” says son Zachary, “but also within.”
In a terrible twist, Maureen has been narrowly robbed of the chance to meet her first grandchild. The Weekly understands that her daughter, Angelique, is pregnant with her first child – an occasion that would undoubtedly have brought so much joy. Maureen was also looking forward to seeing Zachary graduate as a dermatologist next year.
At social functions, Maureen was most often seen as a colourful and larger-than-life presence. Poised and self-assured, she could pull off a daring skin-tight red dress with leopard-print boots – even in her late 60s. Over the years, remembers long-time friend Dale Olsson, she would blow away the judges with her statement style in Fashions on the Field competitions. Today, however, her family, who are “devastated beyond words at the sudden, unexpected, tragic death of our beloved mother and wife”, also remember a gentle and religious woman.
“Mum was loved by all she touched with her kind-hearted, generous and friendly nature,” says Zachary, with Angelique and their father, Graham, in a family statement. “She was always there for all of us whenever we needed her, able to reassure, comfort and advise. with unconditional love and affection.”
Indeed, her family tells how Maureen sacrificed her high-flying modelling career in her 20s in New York, while still at the height of her earning power, to return to Australia and help care for her seriously ill father. Likewise, she quit part-time modelling to be a full-time mother to her children.
In many ways, Maureen led a privileged life of high society parties, seafood dinners and island holidays. She and Graham had put their apartment up for sale this year with an original asking price of $3.7 million. Once they had secured a contract, they were planning on travelling to France to celebrate and look for a property to buy as a second home.
Yet Maureen did not lead a shallow existence, says her family. “A little known aspect of Mum was her deeply held religious beliefs, never travelling without her Bible: a book that she read daily without exception,” says Zachary, “and [she] was a regular church attendee, including the Sunday before her tragic passing.”
“She would never pass a homeless person on the street without reaching into herpurse to give them a helping hand and she despised injustice of any form.”
Family was equally important.
“Even though, in recent years, Dad’s work has meant he lived in Cairns much of the time, Mum and Dad were so close, talking on the phone multiple times per day,” says Zachary. “[They] remained deeply in love and committed to each other, frequently visiting and enjoying each other’s company. For the last two years, Mum has spent most of her time in Cairns with Dad in a happy, loving relationship.”
Friends of Maureen were apparently unaware of Lang’s existence, noting she hadn’t been as active on the social scene because she had spent so much time in Cairns. When Graham posted a photo on Facebook of himself looking dapper in a suit and hat on a balcony last year, Maureen left him a flirty comment, “Looking hot!”
Maureen grew into a bright young woman who loved surfing, water-skiing and sunbaking. After finishing her studies, she worked as a secretary at Brisbane City Council, where her dad was chief industrial chemist. At 18, she began modelling and her beauty would soon prove just as suited to a relaxed surf shoot as it was to high glamour and runways.
A photo of 21-year-old Maureen lying on a towel in a white towelling bikini became an iconic billboard poster for Gold Coast Tourism. A press release from the city council in 1970 heralded Maureen as the star of the by then famous image.
“Maureen is in great demand for television appearances and in a wide variety of photographic work and modelling,” it stated. “A highlight of her career was her selection in the team of mannequins to show off Australia’s latest ‘gear’ at the Royal Fashion Parade attended by Princess Anne in Brisbane recently.”
“She was a very elegant model,” says Brisbane style maven Di Cant. “Maureen was one of the favourites in the 1970s. She was a bright and vivacious sort of girl, and had a very charming personality.”
Debbie Miller, who modelled with Maureen in 1969 and 1970, remembers a warm-hearted young woman who loved to kick up her heels.
“Modelling was very glamorous in those days,” Debbie tells The Weekly. “We were taken overseas and treated like princesses. Maureen was lovely and bubbly, full of personality and a lot of fun. We travelled in a big group with the mayor, his wife and a big entourage. We’d be on the front page of the newspaper and on TV – it was all very exciting.”
Maureen’s aspirations to work overseas came true: she jetted off to New York, London and Houston. “When in the United States, she was Valentino’s favourite model,” says Zachary, “and in Australia a special favourite of [designer] George Gross and Myer. She was indeed a supermodel, before the term was even created.”
Dale Olsson, who is the owner of high-end Brisbane millinery shop The Hat Box, cancelled her annual trip to the Melbourne Cup this year so she could attend her friend’s church funeral the following day.
It was bittersweet timing: the friends first met at the races in their 20s. And in a parallel world, they could have been dressing up in frocks and fascinators, laughing over flutes of champagne and casting an expert eye over Fashion on the Field.
Instead, alongside Maureen’s grieving family, Dale was remembering her friend to the music of a series of aptly chosen songs, including The Way We Were, Time To Say Goodbye and Oh, Pretty Woman.
“Maureen’s favourite saying was, ‘The show must go on!’,” recalls Dale. “Of course, the show will go on. But the show won’t be the same without Maureen.”
Originally printed in the December issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
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