Sydney's Pride History Group was established as the first volunteer community group dedicated exclusively to preserving the history of

LGBTIQ Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as genitals, gonads, and chromosome patterns) that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

predominantly through the collection of oral history interviews. The Group's origins date from discussions held at the Sydney Pride Centre in between 2003 and 2004. The Group's Patrons are Sydney Lord Mayor

Clover Moore Clover Margaret Moore (née Collins, born 22 October 1945) is an Australian politician. She has been the List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of Sydney, Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney since 2004 and is currently the longest serving Lord Mayor of Syd ...

, artist William Yang and

Meredith Burgmann Meredith Anne Burgmann (born 26 July 1947) is an Australian politician and Labor Party member and a former President of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Early years Burgmann was born in July 1947 at Beecroft, New South Wales to pare ...

History

By August 2003, Sydney's Pride History Group had incorporated as an Association, and now operates out of the suburb of

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

. Australian LGBT rights activist, historian and political scientist

Lex Watson Alexander "Lex" Watson, (29 January 1943 – 6 May 2014), was an Australian LGBT rights activist, historian and political scientist. Born and first educated in Perth, Western Australia, Watson spent most of his life working for and then later th ...

served as President of the Group between 2010 until his death in 2014. Other Presidents include LGBTIQ activist Robert French who had previously served as Convenor of the New South Wales Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby and Vice President of ACON and current President, Shirleene Robinson, an academic historian and marriage equality activist with

Australian Marriage Equality Australian Marriage Equality (AME) was an advocacy group driven by volunteers who came together to pursue the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia. AME partnered with a diverse range of organisations and supporters across the country to ...

Activities

The main activity of Sydney's Pride History Group involves the collection of oral histories. The bulk of interviews have been collected as part of the 100 Voices Collection, which includes memories dating back to the 1950s. The 100 Voices Collection also includes interviews about what would become known later as

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest such festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the ...

, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, decriminalisation and the marriage equality movement. The 100 Voices Collection was launched in 2013 at Paddington Town Hall by New South Wales Governor

Marie Bashir Dame Marie Roslyn Bashir (born 1 December 1930) is the former and second longest-serving Governor of New South Wales. Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, Bashir graduated from the University of Sydney in 1956 and held various medical positio ...

and Sydney Lord Mayor

. The Group has also published a number of books. These include ''Camp as a Row of Tents: The Life and Times of Sydney's Camp Social Clubs'', ''Camp Nites: Sydney's Emerging Drag Scene in the '60s'', ''New Day Dawning: The Early Years of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras''. and ''Out and About: Sydney's Lesbian Social Scene, 1960s-1980s''. The Group was the auspicing organisation for the electronic publication of Unfit for Publication by Peter de Waal, which documents cases of sodomy and buggery which were prosecuted in New South Wales between 1796 and 1930 The Group is also mentioned as a community-driven LGBTIQ historical organisation of significance in a number of books, including Garry Wotherspoon's ''Gay Sydney: A History'' (2016) and Rebecca Jennings' ''Unnamed Desires: A Sydney Lesbian History'' (2015). The Group is currently also working on an LGBTIQ Pioneer Names Project, which was launched by Lord Mayor Clover Moore and aims to record the individuals who played a role in shaping LGBTIQ Sydney. Most recently, the Group launched PridePod, a podcasting series about Sydney's LGBTIQ history.

Partnerships

Sydney's Pride History Group works closely with the City of Sydney, as well as a range of other organisations, including groups representing the

78ers The 78ers are a group of LGBT activists who marched in the original Sydney Mardi Gras on 24 June 1978 and participated in the subsequent protests against police violence and the arrests of participants in the Mardi Gras. In 1997 a small group of ...

who marched at the first Mardi Gras, local libraries,

Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives The Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) (formerly the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives - ALGA) is a community-based non-profit organisation committed to the collection, preservation and celebration of material reflecting the lives and experienc ...

and groups from across the LGBTIQ and the broader community. Outreach has taken place in a variety of locations, ranging from libraries to talks in pubs

External links

Official site:
Sydney's Pride History Group

References

{{Reflist LGBT culture in Sydney LGBT history in Australia Organisations based in Sydney