Madeleine Cowe crowned Miss World Australia

Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Madeleine Cowe from Queensland was first runner up in the Miss Universe Australia pageant last year.

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Madeleine Cowe has been named Miss World Australia in a ceremony at Melbourne's Crown Palladium on Friday night.

The law student, from Tully in Far North Queensland, was first runner up in the Miss Universe Australia pageant last year.

But while Cowe may be representing Australia at the Miss World pageant in December, all eyes were on Northern Territory finalist Maminydjama Magnolia Maymuru, the teenager from Arnhem Land who made headlines worldwide in May when she became the first Indigenous woman to represent the territory at the pageant.

The Yolngu woman grew up in Yirrkala in North East Arnhem, where she still works as a sports and recreation officer.

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Maymuru, 19, finished in the final 10 of the pageant, which sells itself as promoting "beauty with a purpose".

She was "discovered" by a model manager as a year 11 student in Darwin while getting money out an ATM, but put her modelling career on hold until she had finished her studies.

She made her catwalk debut at NT Fashion Week in 2015, after she had finished her year 12 exams.

While she may not have come home with the title, competing in Miss World certainly has opened a lot of doors for Maymuru's modelling career.

The teenager was recently named the face of Melbourne's Chadstone Shopping Centre, a role Maymuru described as "a dream come true".

"I want to be a role model so that beauty is seen as universal, no matter what colour, size or shape you are", she said.

The Miss World Australia national final was held at Melbourne's Crown Palladium on Friday night.

 - Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/beauty/82464842/madeleine-cowe-crowned-miss-world-australia