2025 Spring Edition Newsletter
This newsletter was written and produced on the lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We are deeply grateful to those who have preserved the rich history of Aboriginal custodianship of these lands.
Pride History Group’s next general meeting will be online on Monday 17 November 2025 at 6.30pm. We currently meet online on the third Monday of each month. Membership details can be found here https://www.pridehistory.org.au/membership
For the Record: Capturing LGBTIQA+ Life Stories with Oral History
Pride History Group, in collaboration with Oral History NSW, is hosting a free public event focused on LGBTIQA+ life storytelling. Your invited to attend to For the Record: Capturing LGBTIQA+ Life Stories with Oral History on the evening of the 27 November 2025 from 6:30pm. are welcome. This is a not to be missed event for anyone with an interest in oral history, LGBTIQA+ storytelling, diverse histories and creating positive change through sharing untold stories. Whether you are an oral historian, librarian, activist, academic or thinking about undertaking a community history project or recording your family history – this is a great chance for beginners to learn about oral history and for those already undertaking oral history interviews to hear our panelists discuss the value and significance of diverse LGBTIQA+ histories.
This is an inclusive event for LGBTIQA+ people and allies on unceded Gadigal and Wangal Lands. Fully accessible venue with Auslan interpreters.
Get your free tickets at the link below (or select to make an optional donation to support event costs).
Get your tickets here: TICKETS
Pride History Group at Parramatta Pride
Pride History Group members Trevor, Stephen and Sarah recently shared a stall with the 78ers at Parramatta Pride Picnic. The event included fabulous entertainment, food and activities for LGBTQ+ folk, our families, friends and community allies. We had lots of chats about the importance of community history and made many new friends.
Spotlight on research
Dr Kate Manlik is a lecturer in Social Sciences at James Cook University. Kate’s work looks at the ways in which lesbian and queer women’s involvement with HIV has been portrayed and understood. In their research, Kate questions the assumption that lesbian and queer women are at low risk of acquiring HIV. Kate notes that lesbians are remembered as altruistic activists and as caregivers for men living with HIV and AIDS. She aims to make lesbians and queer women visible by examining the ways in which they are portrayed in the broader narrative of HIV. Kate records lesbian and queer women’s own accounts of the Australian AIDS epidemic, questioning the image of lesbian-as-caregiver. These stories shine a welcome light on the complex and diverse experiences of lesbian and queer women during the HIV & AIDS epidemic. If you’d like to know more, contact Kate at kate.manlik@jcu.edu.au
Our patron Dr Meredith Burgmann
Dr Meredith Burgmann, former President of the New South Wales Legislative Council, is an active patron of Pride History Group and a long-term civil libertarian and activist for LGBTIQ+ human rights. Meredith marched in the first Mardi Gras in 1978, and in 1992 became one of the first members of the New South Wales parliament to march in the parade. She was a vocal supporter of equal marriage during the postal survey of 2017. Meredith has been arrested 21 times for her activism. Nevertheless, in 2020 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). Most recently, Meredith supported Pride History Group’s successful grant application to Inner West Council. We are very grateful for Meredith’s ongoing assistance and encouragement.
In brief
We are thrilled to announce that Pride History Group has been awarded a 2025/26 Community History Grant from Inner West Council for our oral history project on queer families in the Inner West. Watch this space for more news about the project.
Congratulations to Dr Geraldine Fela, for winning the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Australian History for her book 'Critical Care: Nurses on the frontline of Australia’s AIDS crisis'. We featured Dr Fela’s book in our last newsletter.
A big thank you and congratulations to ACON who recently marked their 40th year. You can view some of ACON’s history at: https://acon40.org.au/about/acon-40-our-timeline/
Pride History Group Hunter Rainbow History News
“Gay Newcastle” is the latest project of the “Stories of Our Town team of Newcastle film makers. This is the link to their work. https://storiesofourtown.com/watch-our-films/.
At last count, they have recorded five hours of interviews and there are plans for more. It will be edited down, but the makers are excited by the stories people have told and said it is difficult to cut content. Stay tuned.
Hunter Rainbow History walked in the recent October 11 Newcastle Pride parade from Honeysuckle to Nobbys, led by Hellen Gollan and her young volunteers carrying the 78er’s banner.
On October 25, Newcastle 78ers staffed the First Mardi Gras 78ers stall at Newcastle Pride Fair Day. We sold First Mardi Gras merch and some Pride History Group books. There are some history walking guides left over if any would like one (FREE!). Email John: jw659347@hotmail.com
In 2018 Gavin Harris and John Witte wrote an essay intended for the Pride History Group web site for the 40th anniversary of Mardi Gras which we’d like to think is the definitive history of the parade. We still have the files and are hoping to produce something for the 50th anniversary of the parade.
If you want to know more or can help us, email John Witte at jw659347@hotmail.com
Australian LGBTIQ+ history news
NAtional ASSOCIATION OF PeOPLE WITH HIV AUSTRALIA (NAPWHA)
NAPWHA have put together an impressive database which aims to provide a comprehensive list of the historical materials of people with HIV in Australia currently held in Australian archives, libraries, museums and art galleries. https://napwha.notion.site/tracingmemories
QUEENSLAND MUSEUM - MAKE A SCENE
Queensland Museum in Brisbane have put together an original exhibition which covers fashion, pop culture and LGBTQIA+ lived experience: Make a Scene: Fashioning Queer Identity and Club Culture in the 90s. Now on until 19 July 2026. https://www.museum.qld.gov.au/kurilpa/whats-on/make-a-scene
International LGBTIQ+ history news
Yesterqueers
Yesterqueers is a public history project that celebrates the broad expanse of queer history and actively seeks to rectify historical erasure. Hosted by Amanda W. Timpson, the website offers a huge range of videos and podcasts (with impressive lists of sources) exploring the people and events which prove we’ve always been here. https://www.yesterqueers.com
Recommended Books
Kate Rowe’s story of resilience and activism
“How the f*ck would I know?” is probably the best and most honest title for both a memoir and a mantra for living, because who really, truly knows the answers to what comes our way in our time on this earth. For Kate Rowe, this mantra underpins the thirteen stories that make up her debut memoir, charting the highs and lows of a full and full-on life. As she writes in the Prologue, which for the reader must also act as a trigger warning for what is to come, the stories range from her “troubled immediate family, to child sexual abuse, to drug and alcohol addiction, to anorexia, the experience of rape, suicide attempts, recovery, and other good stuff”. The 'other good stuff' reaches the reader in the Epilogue, where we meet Kate the survivor, the graduate, the triathlete, the musician. It’s all there. It’s a brutal testimony to what life can throw at a person. We should be grateful to Kate Rowe, who can write with clarity and bear witness to life on this earth, and demonstrates a huge, life-affirming resilience .
You can listen to Kate Rowe’s full story here: https://www.pridehistory.org.au/100-voices-by-author/kate-rowe
Shoulder to shoulder: A queer history of solidarity, coalition and chaos by jake hall
Shoulder to Shoulder is a personal and expansive examination of the history of queer activism, beginning in the 1960s. The book highlights campaigns, radical actions and coalitions, and asks the difficult questions about successes and failures in our ongoing struggle for true liberation. If you’re interested in how we got to where we are in 2025, this is the book for you.
Do you want to help?
Pride History 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
work on one of our current history projects
Or do you have your own initiative you're wanting to work on? Get in contact!
And don't forget our website www.pridehistory.org.au
Thanks for reading
Thanks to everyone who helped put this newsletter together - John Witte, Helen Caple, Sarah Midgely, Kate Manlik, Stephen Neill and Teresa Savage. Please let us know if you have any feedback about anything in this newsletter. We love to hear your views. Send your feedback to us here
Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and networks.
We are always happy to take enquiries 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 currently meet online on the 3rd Monday of each month. We hope to see you soon.