A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects Graham Willett Angela Bailey Timothy W. Jones Sarah Rood MARCH 2021 If you would like to receive this publication in an alternative format, please contact the Australian Queer Archives email: [email protected] © Australian Queer Archives and the State of Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, 2021 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the Australian Queer Archives. The licence does not apply to any images, photographs or branding, including logos. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN 978-0-6451287-1-0 (pdf/online/MS word) ISBN 978-0-6451287-0-3 (print) This publication may be of assistance to you but the Australian Queer Archives and the State of Victoria do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Design and layout by Green Scribble Cover images listed in the image credit section Funded by Heritage Victoria, Department of Environment Land, Water and Planning. Ministerial Foreword History shapes our identity and reminds us of who we are. For the LGBTIQ+ community, the past can be a difficult place. Today in Victoria, LGBTIQ+ people enjoy the positive transformations hard won by the 1970s Gay Liberation Movement and its public demands for equal rights. But being ‘queer’ is a something that people have often kept hidden. In Victoria, prior to decriminalisation in 1981, men could be sentenced for up to 15 years in prison for having consensual sex with other men. Same sex attraction and gender non-conformity have been treated as mental disorders and LGBTIQ+ people have often led closeted lives for their own safety. While there is still work needed to advance the legal and cultural status of LGBTIQ+ people, there are many achievements of which we can be proud. In 2021 we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the In this report, Victoria’s LGBTIQ+ community decriminalisation of homosexuality. In this context proudly claims and tells its history. It is one of it is timely for this report to be released. Written by struggle, resilience, love and commitment. Some the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA) stories are familiar, others have only recently been (now the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA)), this revealed. In some instances, this history has been study is the first of its kind in Australia. It identifies hidden in plain sight – significant events have 100 places, objects and collections of significance occurred in the places we walk past every day. Our to the LGBTIQ+ community in Victoria. It includes LGBTIQ+ past is important and understanding places of gathering, punishment, ‘treatment’, it enriches us all. Importantly, this history is part political activism, social life, recreation, health, of Victoria’s broader history and reminds us that from different eras and regions of Victoria. Some of diversity is part of the fabric of our state. these places are already included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) or in Heritage Overlays The Hon. Richard Wynne, Minister for Planning in planning schemes. Others, such as treasured objects and archival records, are held in museums, archives and private collections. i Acknowledgement of Country We acknowledge Victorian Traditional Owners as the original custodians of Victoria’s lands and waters, their unique ability to care for Country and their deep spiritual connection to it. We honour and acknowledge Ancestors and Elders of yesterday, today and tomorrow, whose collective and individual knowledge and wisdom have ensured the continuation of culture and cultural practices. We also acknowledge the inherent entitlement of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples to self-determination and constitutional recognition. We recognise that there is still much to be done to recover the histories of marginalised communities within LGBTIQ+ heritage, particularly the stories of Sistergirls, Brotherboys and other LGBTIQ+ Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this report may contain images, or names of deceased persons in photographs or printed material. A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects Words from the Australian Queer Archives’ Patrons How to make a history, for a long time an This report promises the history of LGBTIQ+ unwanted one, come alive again? How Victoria in 100 places and objects, but in fact to find the imprints of desire, individuals, it does much more. Reading it is to muse on communities, in darkened side streets, the ways in which queering the history and ‘friendly’ cafes and pubs, busy commercial geography of Victoria opens up a series of streets? How to portray the journey from love questions about the shared history of us all, held close, to public proclamations? In objects, Indigenous and settlers alike, who live in the maps, love letters, cabaret signs, women’s lands we still name after a dead British queen. suffrage petitions, banners and so much more, all carefully kept for such a time as this. In The authors of the report have taken places Victoria’s major cities and in country towns, and objects as their starting point, but have LGBTIQ+ people – sometimes under duress, used these imaginatively, so that they go far sometimes in joy – created their culture. While beyond a historical version of the gay guides these artefacts are Victorian-centred, they that were so popular in the days before the will also deepen the nation’s understanding of internet. Yes, the obvious places are here, but itself, of resistances to erasure and of complex so too are such unexpected and significant cultural intersections. Every time an LGBTIQ+ entries as the Circus Women’s Memorial person suggested one of these places and Bench and Arthur Groves’s book of verse. objects for this public moment, it was an act of Every reader will find their own mixture of the trust, of belief in their right to have a history. familiar and the unknown in this collection. JOAN NESTLE Melbourne is fortunate to house one of the top five queer archives in the world, and this report Joan Nestle is a historian and a writer and a shows the richness of materials that need to founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, New be preserved and treasured. Most importantly, York. She describes her work of archiving history as it is a work that one can read with sheer critical to her identity as ‘a woman, as a lesbian, and as a Jew’. pleasure at the stories of struggle, love, lust and accomplishment that the report uncovers. DENNIS ALTMAN Dennis Altman is a writer and activist who has been researching and writing in the fields of gay history, HIV/AIDS and US politics for 50 years. iii Acknowledgements The Australian Queer Archives working party for We would particularly like to acknowledge the this project would like to thank the many LGBTIQ+ contributions of Jean Taylor, John Willis, Michael Victorians, friends and allies who contributed Kelly, Bryan Andy, Crusader Hillis, Roland Thomson, to this history. It is a product of and for our Jamie Gardiner, John Hall, Lib Fullard, Bruce Rolfe, communities, a testament to our history, and a Peter Waples-Crowe, Geraldine Kirby, Allison Toby, step towards an expanded recognition, recovery Peter Sherlock, Gary Jaynes, Richard Peterson, and acknowledgement of the significance and Craig D’Alton, Yorick Smaal, Daniel Marshall, value of sexual and gender diversity in Victoria’s Clare O’Hanlon, Nick Henderson, Richard Keeble, history. Hundreds of people contributed to the Geraldine Fela, Deb Dempsey, Alan Miller and consultations that led to the selection of the 100 especially Way Back When Consulting Historians for places and objects in this document. Numerous their professional guidance and significant editorial others contributed details or helped with the role. We also recognise the work of the Archaeology drafting of the citations. Team at Heritage Victoria for their contribution. iv A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects Contents Julian Phillips Collection, University of INTRODUCTION 6 Melbourne Archives Background 6 Women’s Cultural Palace 32 Corner Moor and Fitzroy Streets, Fitzroy Aims 6 Sybylla Press and Correct Line Graphics 34 Definitions and terminology 7 193 Smith Street, Fitzroy Heritage and significance Queer heritage The Hub 36 Historical LGBTIQ+ language 142 Adderley Street, West Melbourne Methodology 10 Gays in Indonesia: Selected Articles from Project inception Print Media 38 Working Party and Reference Group Australian Queer Archives Community engagement Selection and report writing The Floral Clock 40 Queen Victoria Gardens, St Kilda Road, Report structure 11 Melbourne Lesbians and Gays for Reconciliation Banner 42 Australian Queer Archives ACTIVISM AND PROTEST 12 Bifocal Newsletter 44 Australian Queer Archives Skorus Books 14 Program of the Inaugural Australian Rear, 151 Acland Street, St Kilda GLBTIQ Multicultural Conference, The Chapter House, St Paul’s Cathedral 16 2004 46 197-203 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Australian Queer Archives Gay Liberation Centre 18 23 Davis Street, Carlton North and 259 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy Whitehall Guest House 20 231-237