Family History Stories: Miami

Friday, 10 July 2026

Con Colleano and Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail

Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail and Con Colleano

Cornelius Sullivan (b. 26 Dec 1899 in Lismore, New South Wales), Theatrical, son of Cornelius Sullivan and Julia Robinson, married my grandmother's 2nd cousin, Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail (b. 16 Sep 1900 in Lambeth, Surrey), Actress, daughter of Herbert Fleming Trevail and Alice Maud Stanley Blazey on 10 July 1926 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. The marriage licence states they were married by the Associate Pastor of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, from which I deduce that the venue was the Central United Methodist Church (Detroit), although they were resident in Brooklyn, New York. Both stated they'd not been married before.

While researching, I found a record of a marriage of a Winifred C Trevail, in Victoria, Australia, in 1919 to a Leonard Mendoza. Even sounded like Winnie's "type" and I knew I would need to obtain the certificate to confirm, but just how many people named Winifred C Trevail were there likely to be, and in the same area? As expected, the record clearly tells us that the marriage between Leonard Mendoza (24) Bachelor, born in Melbourne, Victoria, son of Charles Mendoza, Carpenter and Annie Gordon, and Winifred Constance Trevail (19) Spinster, born in Brixton, England - both list their occupations as 'Theatrical' - in the Parish or Church District of Melbourne on 15 Aug 1919, lists her father as Herbert Trevail, Carpenter and mother as Alice Blazey, so there can be absolutely no doubt whatsoever that this was indeed 'our' Winnie.

It's said that Winnie met Con, in Melbourne, Victoria, when she was 22. What can have happened to Leonard Mendoza in those 3 years? If he'd died, or they divorced, Winnie would have listed that she was a widow or a divorcee when she married Con, so I'm certain Winnie was committing bigamy in 1926.

We also know Winnie was in Melbourne before that first marriage, because in the Victoria Police Gazette of 11 Apr 1918, appeared the following report: "TREVAIL, WINNIE theatrical, 7 McKenzie Street, Melbourne, reports stolen from the dressing-room, Bijou Theatre, Bourke Street, Melbourne on the 3rd inst. a diamond cluster ring, diamond in the centre set with other stones around, the centre stone is set a little to side, gold band at side of setting is wavy. Value £8." There can be no doubt who made this report either.

Several articles mention that Winifred "claimed descent from the Earls of Derby" and it appears the source was her brother, Eric, so I assume the story was perpetuated within the family. It's very tempting to dismiss this entirely as theatrical fantasy, but as Winnie's great-grandfather on her mother's side, Augustus George Stanley, came from a quite well off background, and the family name of the Earls of Derby, is also Stanley, who knows? On the other hand, I can confirm that Winnie was a cousin of Silvanus Trevail, famous architect and former Mayor of Truro, as her great-grandfather, Joseph Trevail, was the younger brother of Philip Trevail, Silvanus Trevail's grandfather.

Known professionally as Con Colleano, Cornelius Sullivan, was the most famous and highest paid "swashbuckling circus performer with matinee idol looks" of his time, also hailed as “The Australian Wizard of the Wire”. A member of the Circus Hall of Fame, Con Colleano is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first person to successfully attempt a forward somersault on a tightrope. The forward somersault on a high wire (or tightrope) is widely considered one of the most difficult and dangerous balancing acts in circus history. Unlike a backward somersault—where an acrobat can keep the wire in their field of vision for a longer period—a forward somersault forces the performer to blindly rotate forward, losing sight of the wire until the absolute last millisecond before landing.

"Mrs. Winnie Colleano (neé Trevail) was herself a well known Australian Vaudeville Soubrette", dancer and trapeze artist." One article says that Winnie Trevail began appearing on the stage in Sydney as a child, but actually, she was performing before that in New Zealand. There in Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1909 - where her father's aunts, Ellen Higgs and Mary Ann Burn Trevail Bawden then lived - reports in the Lyttelton Times in Oct 1909 detail that Miss Winnie Trevail was appearing in one of the principle roles in a production staged by the Garrick Juvenile Opera Company, at the Opera House there.

In 1913, a talented troupe of 40 children from Mount Victoria, under the direction of Mr. Herbert Fleming Trevail, presented an entertaining pantomine entitled "Babes in the Wood”. Winifred (Winnie) Trevail, who was one of the babes, lived with her family in Mount Victoria having emigrated from England. She was a rising vaudeville soubrette and dancer who made a name for herself on the Tivoli circuit. [Source]

Trevail abandoned her own career around 1924 to travel with her husband. Winifred "Winnie" Trevail played a vital role in transforming Con Colleano from a highly skilled acrobat into an international sensation, acting as his choreographer, creative director, and primary documentarian. [1], [2]. Winnie taught Con how to dance seamlessly on the high wire. Colleano's performances took them to all the big American theatres and on to Europe where Winnie became an important part of his act choreographing his routines. She helped him fuse intense wire acrobatics with stylized dance, such as the Spanish bolero. [3] While Con originally performed in a top hat and tails, Winnie encouraged him to adopt the dramatic Spanish toreador persona. This visual identity became his signature trademark, providing the necessary cover to bypass racial restrictions that targeted Indigenous performers at the time. [4] (That first marriage to Leonard Mendoza, which curiously, is never mentioned anywhere in these articles, looks to me like the source of her inspiration.) Winnie occasionally took part directly in the production. The couple presented a rich contrast on stage, Con with his handsome, dark features, and Winnie with her blonde hair—the proverbial English rose. [5] Behind the scenes, Winnie acted as the archivist of his career. She filmed behind-the-scenes rehearsals and life on the road using a 16mm home camera. Decades later, she donated these historic collections to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) and Arts Centre Melbourne, ensuring his legendary feats were preserved for history. [6], [7].

Con Colleano on a slack-wire, circa 1920

Con Colleano, was of Aboriginal, Anglo-Irish and West Indian descent and adopted a Spanish persona and a costume of a ‘toreador’ or bullfighter.

Con Colleano performed for several seasons with Bertram Mills' Circus at Olympia London.

Colleano’s Indigenous heritage was unknown to his fans – which included one of history’s most infamous racists - "Few people are aware of the fact that in the 1930’s, Adolf Hitler issued an Aboriginal Australian tightrope walker with a German passport so he could come and go as he pleased." Hitler wasn't the only dictator to be conned by "the Wizard". The Italian prime minister, Benito Mussolini, gave him a medal and called him "a stud of a man" [Source]

Passenger lists reveal that Cornelius Sullivan and Winifred C. S. Trevail left Southampton, England on 13 Sep 1924, on the RMS Berengaria (former SS Imperator), The first Cunard "Queen". This was their first trip to the US, so their port of arrival was the infamous Ellis Island, New York. Clearly they were let in. Various sources tell us that, in 1924, Con made his debut at the New York Hippodrome before returning to the circus with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

There's also record of Cornelius and Winifred C Sullivan Colleano travelling from Southampton to New York, on the Berengaria, on 24 Feb 1937.

On 7 Jan 1938, Cornelius and Winifred (Sullivan) Colleano, left Sydney, bound for California, on the luxury ocean liner, SS Mariposa (1931).

On 8 Sep 1939, Cornelius and Winifred Sullivan, listed as British, boarded the Italian ocean liner, SS Rex, leaving Genoa, bound for New York.

In 1940, they are shown arriving in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

These, I'm sure are just the tip of a globe-trotting iceberg, but it was finding these records of voyages that led me to discover more of their story.

The former Albion Hotel (pub) at Forbes, New South Wales, Sheba, CC BY-SA 2.0

"Sadly Con and Winnie ultimately lost all their money indulging in a luxurious lifestyle, giving it away to friends and making a disastrous investment in a pub in outback Australia in the 1950s (what were they thinking?)."

Con Sullivan died, in Miami, Florida, on 13 Nov 1973 and in his obituary in The Stage, the wife of Con's brother is quoted as saying, "His wife WINNIE has cabled that she is broken-hearted because she found my dear brother-in-law lying dead, obviously she is too shocked to tell me more."

Winnie returned to Australia, where she died, in Sydney, in on 5 Jan 1986.

In 1997 the Australia government issued a postage stamp honouring Con Colleano.