NEWSLETTER

Greetings to all our members and friends!

Our newsletters have had to take a bit of a backseat over the past year but we are pleased to bring you this one at the start of 2022! COVID has delayed and fractured so much, but as ever our community has been busy, and our PHG committee have been actively continuing the important work of collecting oral histories and sharing these with researchers and members of the community, keeping Sydney’s queer histories visible.

Our meetings take place on the third Monday of the month. If you’re interested in attending, and/or possibly joining us as a member, check out our website – http://pridehistory.org.au. There you will find details about registration. You can also access our resources and learn about our various projects and collaborations.

In this edition of the PHG newsletter:

Outgoing and Incoming committee
2021 Key Events for PHG and the Sydney community
Exhibitions, Places and Spaces
Upcoming Events in 2022
Focus: MAG (Matured Aged Gays) 30th Anniversary

Happy reading!

2021/2022 Committee

As a volunteer organisation, we rely solely on our dedicated members, committee and patrons, as well as support from the City of Sydney, to keep things moving, so we can continue to collect, share and expand our Sydney based collection of LGBTQI+ oral histories and archives.

At our AGM in September, we thanked our outgoing committee for their contributions to PHG during 2020 and much of 2021 - Shirleene Robinson, our President, Scott McKinnon our Vice President, Michael Mullins (Secretary), Trevor Pritchard (Treasurer), and Dan Rogers, Sarah Midgley and Sophie Robinson (General Committee Members).

These same members were all re-elected and retained their roles. All are excited for PHG’s role in the community in 2022, especially at key events including Fair Day during Mardi Gras season, which is always a really important and fun day for us and other community groups looking to share our work with the community, and our passion for LGBTQI+ histories.

Events over the past year

This year marks four years since marriage equality was passed. So much has changed for same-sex couples, queer families and our communities since, and there is also still so much to do and to change.

What PHG has noticed, in our interacions with other LGBTQI+ organisations and community groups, is that positive changes to LGBTQI+ visibility in our city, and around Australia, continues to expand, as does interest in our history and legacies…

In May 2021 Dr Scott McKinnon chaired a panel for History Week for the State Library of NSW’s History Matters series. The panel included Indigenous Services Librarian Ronald Briggs and General Committee PHG member Dr Sophie Robinson. Ronald and Sophie spoke about research into Sydney’s queer histories they were conducting via the SLNSW’s solid, albeit often unknown, collection of queer archives.

In August 2021, the State Library of NSW's Nancy Keesing Fellow 2020 Dr Sophie Robinson delivered a 'Scholar Talk’ for SLNSW on ‘Lesbian Sydney in the 1990s’, all about the library’s collection of Wicked Women and LOTL magazines (and associated ephemera), their important role in connecting and empowering Sydney’s diverse lesbian communities, and the critical role of documenting queer stories, experiences and histories that aren’t always easily collected or archived.

PHG President Dr Shirleene Robinson co-authored Pride in Defence: The Australian Military and LGBTI Service Since 1945 – the book was launched in December 2020.

Feminist Walking Tour

A Feminist Walking Tour was also held in the CBD on December 12 2021 influenced by PHG member Robert French’s history walks. PHG member Gay Maley has been an advisor for these tours which centre around sites and spaces significant to Sydney’s feminist history.

Gay gave this account of the December walking tour:

“It began at Australia Hall, 152 Elizabeth Street, Sydney (just down from Museum Station) with an Acknowledgement of Country. Australia Hall was the site of the first Day of Mourning led by Indigenous people. The speaker was Anny Druett, who is the granddaughter of Pearl Gibbs and she spoke to the significance of that site, where the meetings were held, and the role of Indigenous women in the first Day of Mourning.
From there we walked around the corner to the site of the first Women’s Liberation House where Fran Hamilton told us the history of that site, and the various reincarnations of Women’s Liberation House. There were a few of us there who used to go to the incarnation of it when it was in Regent Street, not far from Central Station.
From that site, we walked on into south Hyde Park, overlooking William Street to hear Tracey Carpenter talk about Juanita Neilson and the battle for the heritage of Victoria Street, Kings Cross in the 1970s.

We then walked through north Hyde Park, to the forecourt of the Supreme Court to hear a young woman Aneesa talk about International Women’s Day history from overseas to in Australia. Finally, to Chifley Square, Philip Street, Sydney, to hear Wendy Bacon talk about the history of the women’s prison action group Women Behind Bars.

Rachel Evans from Green Left was the instigator of the Feminist Walking tours at the start of 2021 and was inspired by the work of Robert French. I have been an adviser to the tours as has Sherri from the Jessie Street Women’s Library in Ultimo.” – Gay Maley.

Blue Plaques

The Blue Plaques program has been developed in order to capture public interest and fascination in key personalities, events and places that are important to the stories of NSW.

The Blue Plaques will recognise key sites and encourage people to explore their neighbourhood and other parts of NSW, connecting with the amazing people and stories that have shaped our state.

Sydney’s queer histories are now being considered for Blue Plaques. For the first stage of this program, the Hon. Don Harwin MLC, Special Minister of State has invited all Members of Parliament (MP) and Members of the Legislative Council (MLC) to consult with their constituents across NSW to nominate people, events and stories associated with a place to be considered for Blue Plaques.

Find out more here: https://www.heritage.nsw.gov.au/.../lov.../blue-plaques-nsw/

Exhibitions, Places and Spaces

‘Bondi Rise’ memorial: https://www.bondimemorial.com.au/

This new monument has been dedicated to all victims and survivors of homophobic and transphobic violence between the 1970s to the 1990s in Sydney and NSW. PHG member and Historian Garry Wotherspoon was interviewed by the ABC about the significance of the Bondi Memorial:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-22/bondi-rise-memorial-honours-gay-hate-crime-victims-70s-to-90s/100559240

Upcoming Events

C. Moore Hardy: Contribution in Focus
23 January 3pm. Further details to be advised.

C. Moore Hardy has made an outstanding contribution to documenting the history of the LGBTIQ+ community through her photography. Since the 1970s, her evocative and powerful work has particularly sought to capture those who have often been excluded from the historical record.

In this upcoming event, C.Moore Hardy will discuss her work with PHG President Dr Shirleene Robinson. Further details will to be circulated closer to the event.

History Walks in 2022

There will be three walks held in the upcoming Mardi Gras season (COVID permitting!), organised by Robert French. Masks and proof of vaccination may be required:

19th February 10.30am - SPARK Youth (ie under 26) History Walk - Kings Cross to Oxford Street

27th February 10.15am - SPI History Walk - King’s Cross to Oxford Street

4th March 12pm - NSW Guide Dogs History Walk (by invitation) - Green Park to Whitlam Square.

19th February 2022 - The 1st Mardi Gras - a Community Group of 78ers also is holding a Salon 78 Forum on the afternoon of 19th Feb.

Topic: the beginnings of political diversity in the lesbian and gay community (1972-1978). This event marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of Sydney Gay Liberation and Gay Liberation Front, Melbourne.

“HIV/AIDS in the Hunter” - Newcastle Digital Library

Monday-Friday until 7 January 2022:

"HIV/AIDS in the Hunter" is an interactive audio/visual display at the Newcastle Digital Library produced by Hunter Rainbow History Group and Newcastle Libraries to commemorate World AIDS Day 2021. This story wall display shares the unrecognised tale of a remarkable community of carers, who have defended people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the Hunter NSW region from sickness, suffering and stigma, since the mid-80s, told with stories and stills drawn from the Living Histories online collection at the University of Newcastle. At the centre of this remarkable presentation are fragments from interviews conducted by oral historian John Witte, a long-time member of PHG.

https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/98173

In Focus: Matured Aged Gays (MAGS)

MAGS celebrates Thirty Years: In September 2021, Mature Age Gays (MAG Sydney Inc) had its 30th Birthday. The group attracts ageing gay and bisexual men 40 years of age and over and has done this for over 30 years. Founded in September 1991 by Steve Ostrow, an American by birth, who in earlier years was the founder and proprietor of the Continental Steam Baths in New York , where Bette Midler, Barry Manilow and Peter Allen started their respective careers. Steve started MAG, as at the time there was no other group specifically for ageing gay and bisexual men. MAG continues to be in the Mardi Gras annually and at Fair Day annually. MAG continues to be a social group meeting twice monthly (however that has been subject to the COVID lockdowns and restrictions) and a group of MAG guys meet weekly at Petersham RSL.

Do you want to help?

Members are always busy on a number of projects. Do you want to get involved?

We can always use some help to:

log oral history interviews
chase up permissions to publish interviews
scan photographs and posters
work on our Decades of Pride timeline.

Or do you have your own initiative you're wanting to work on? Get in contact!

Thanks for reading

Feel free to forward this to your friends and network. We are always happy to take inquiries for new memberships.

Become a member of Pride History Group and get involved today!

And don't forget that members are encouraged to come along to monthly meetings to find out what's going on, catch up with friends and get involved.

We meet on the 3rd Monday of each month at Glebe and hope to see you soon.

2022 Summer Edition