Con Colleano was the grandson of a freed convict and an Aboriginal woman. He grew up in an era of anti-miscegenation laws and repressive control of Aboriginal people. Despite this, he became one of the greatest tightrope performers ever known. Dubbed the Wizard of the Wire, he was the innovator and sole exponent of the forward somersault, previously considered impossible. Colleano has an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as a result.
Colleano was born into show business. His father, Cornelius Sullivan, of Irish ancestry was born in Maryborough, Victoria in 1871, and owned a circus. Colleano was the third eldest of ten children, four boys and six girls, all of whom were theatrical. He grew up in northern New South Wales performing in the family circus. They called themselves the Colleano family because Spanish ancestry was more socially acceptable than Indigenous heritage. Colleano travelled the world during the 1920s -1950s, performing his tightrope act with the famous Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Colleano was a top-ranking, highly paid vaudeville artist performing the top circuits of England, America and Europe, yet he was largely unheard of in his own country.
