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First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on July 31, 1972
Kerry Anne Wells, a 20-year-old television weather girl from Perth, is crowned Miss Universe in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday night.
Kerry Wells after she was crowned Miss Universe, July 29, 1972.Credit:AP
She won from 60 other contestants, the first time in the contest’s 21-year history that an Australian girl took the title.
Miss Wells, a stunning auburn-haired beauty who is also a professional model, won $US10,000 ($A8,400) plus a host of special presents.
Kerry Anne Wells, in Sydney on June 6, 1972, before leaving to compete in the Miss Universe pageant.Credit:Anton Cermak
The four runners-up were: Rejane Viera Couto, from Brazil, Maria Antonieta Campoli (Venezuela), Ilana Goren (Israel) and Jenny McAdam (England).
“I am ecstatic to be Miss Universe,” said Miss Wells. “Right now I’m thinking very much of my mother and father. I am going to call them as soon as I get out of here.”
She said the beauty title would “change my life for only a year.”
“When I am through with this I want to go to London and study languages and theatrical make-up. I would then like to work for a film company,” she said.