The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial Project was founded by a group of community activists. Over the years they raised funds and decided, with South Sydney City Council, on the site at Green Park in

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. I ...

, in

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 ...

, Australia. Darlinghurst is considered the heart of Sydney's gay and lesbian population. Green Park is adjacent to the

Sydney Jewish Museum The Sydney Jewish Museum is a history museum located in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst. It showcases exhibits relating to the Holocaust, the history and achievements of Jewish people in Australia, and issues of social justice, democracy and ...

, which ensures that the memorial retains its historic meaning. The memorial was built to honour gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and gender-diverse people who have been murdered, tortured and persecuted. It recreates symbols that were predominantly used throughout the Holocaust; a pink triangle to identify homosexual men, and a black triangle to identify lesbian women. The memorial is a "pink triangular prism, made of enameled steel, and a grid of black steel columns in the form of a triangle". The two elements form a fractured

Star of David The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the ''seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorative ...

, and was designed by Russell Rodrigo and Jennifer Gamble. The inscription reads "We remember you who have suffered or died at the hands of others, women who have loved women; men who have loved men; and all those who have refused the roles others have expected us to play. Nothing shall purge your death from our memories." It was written by queer Jewish writer Rosanne Bersten and deliberately worded in order to include gay men, lesbians, bisexual people, people who didn't use a label to describe their sexuality and trans and gender-diverse people who were persecuted for their gender expression. It was constructed over a period of months in 2000 and its dedication ceremony was on Tuesday, 27 February 2001, when the memorial was handed over to the custodianship of the Sydney Pride Centre. The dedicational speech was by Australian lawyer

Marcus Einfeld Marcus Richard Einfeld (born 22 September 1938) is a former Australian judge who served on the Federal Court of Australia and was the inaugural president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In retirement, he served two years i ...

.Dedication of the Gay and Lesbian Memorial

References

External links

Green Park, Darlinghurst - City of SydneyMonuments that honor LGBTQ history around the world
{{coord, 33, 52, 46, S, 151, 13, 12, E, type:landmark_source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title 2001 establishments in Australia 2001 in LGBT history Holocaust commemoration LGBT culture in Sydney LGBT monuments and memorials Monuments and memorials in Sydney Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany Monuments and memorials to the victims of Nazism 2000s in Sydney

See also

References

External links