Wire Wizard Con Colleano's incredible legacy celebrated in highwire tribute | ABC Australia

Almost a century after the 'greatest tightwire artist of all time' built his career on hiding his Indigenous heritage, Con Colleano's legacy is being celebrated through a special high-wire tribute performance in his home town.

Con Colleano was born in Lismore on the NSW north coast in 1899 and hid his Aboriginal (Gamilaroi), Irish and West Indian background through a Spanish toreador persona as part of his act.

Dubbed the 'Australia Wizard of the Wire', Colleano was the first person to perfect a forward somersault on a tightwire - a feat many considered impossible because of its blind landing.

In the 1920s and 30s, he travelled the world as a star circus performer fooling some of history's most notorious racists and dictators about his true identity.

As part of NAIDOC Week, performance group SeedArts is putting on a free tribute show The Xrossing in Colleano's home town to pay tribute to the high wire legend.

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