A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects Graham Willett Angela Bailey Timothy W. Jones Sarah Rood MARCH 2021 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. 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 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 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to re-use the work it is timely for this report to be released. Written by struggle, resilience, love and commitment. Some under that licence, on the condition that you credit the Australian Queer Archives. The licence does not apply to any the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA) stories are familiar, others have only recently been images, photographs or branding, including logos. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creativecommons.org/ (now the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA)), this revealed. In some instances, this history has been licenses/by/4.0/ 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 This publication may be of assistance to you but the Australian Queer Archives and the State of Victoria do not to the LGBTIQ+ community in Victoria. It includes LGBTIQ+ past is important and understanding guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and places of gathering, punishment, ‘treatment’, it enriches us all. Importantly, this history is part therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any political activism, social life, recreation, health, of Victoria’s broader history and reminds us that information in this publication. 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 Design and layout by Green Scribble Heritage Register (VHR) or in Heritage Overlays The Hon. Richard Wynne, Minister for Planning Cover images listed in the image credit section in planning schemes. Others, such as treasured objects and archival records, are held in museums, Funded by Heritage Victoria, Department of Environment Land, Water and Planning. archives and private collections. i Acknowledgement Words from the of Country Australian Queer Archives’ Patrons We acknowledge Victorian Traditional Owners How to make a history, for a long time an This report promises the history of LGBTIQ+ as the original custodians of Victoria’s lands and unwanted one, come alive again? How Victoria in 100 places and objects, but in fact waters, their unique ability to care for Country and to find the imprints of desire, individuals, it does much more. Reading it is to muse on their deep spiritual connection to it. We honour and communities, in darkened side streets, the ways in which queering the history and acknowledge Ancestors and Elders of yesterday, today and tomorrow, whose collective and ‘friendly’ cafes and pubs, busy commercial geography of Victoria opens up a series of individual knowledge and wisdom have ensured the streets? How to portray the journey from love questions about the shared history of us all, continuation of culture and cultural practices. 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. We also acknowledge the inherent entitlement of suffrage petitions, banners and so much more, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples to all carefully kept for such a time as this. In The authors of the report have taken places self-determination and constitutional recognition. Victoria’s major cities and in country towns, and objects as their starting point, but have We recognise that there is still much to be done to LGBTIQ+ people – sometimes under duress, used these imaginatively, so that they go far recover the histories of marginalised communities sometimes in joy – created their culture. While beyond a historical version of the gay guides within LGBTIQ+ heritage, particularly the stories these artefacts are Victorian-centred, they that were so popular in the days before the of Sistergirls, Brotherboys and other LGBTIQ+ will also deepen the nation’s understanding of internet. Yes, the obvious places are here, but Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. itself, of resistances to erasure and of complex so too are such unexpected and significant Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples cultural intersections. Every time an LGBTIQ+ entries as the Circus Women’s Memorial should be aware that this report may contain person suggested one of these places and Bench and Arthur Groves’s book of verse. images, or names of deceased persons in objects for this public moment, it was an act of Every reader will find their own mixture of the photographs or printed material. 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. A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects iii Acknowledgements Contents The Australian Queer Archives working party for We would particularly like to acknowledge the INTRODUCTION 6 Papers relating to the Victorian this project would like to thank the many LGBTIQ+ contributions of Jean Taylor, John Willis, Michael Transsexual Coalition 30 Victorians, friends and allies who contributed Kelly, Bryan Andy, Crusader Hillis, Roland Thomson, Julian Phillips Collection, University of to this history. It is a product of and for our Jamie Gardiner, John Hall, Lib Fullard, Bruce Rolfe, Background 6 Melbourne Archives 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, Aims 6 Women’s Cultural Palace 32 and acknowledgement of the significance and Craig D’Alton, Yorick Smaal, Daniel Marshall, Corner Moor and Fitzroy Streets, Fitzroy value of sexual and gender diversity in Victoria’s Clare O’Hanlon, Nick Henderson, Richard Keeble, Definitions and terminology 7 history. Hundreds of people contributed to the Geraldine Fela, Deb Dempsey, Alan Miller and Heritage and significance Sybylla Press and Correct Line consultations that led to the selection of the 100 especially Way Back When Consulting Historians for Queer heritage places and objects in this document. Numerous their professional guidance and significant editorial Historical LGBTIQ+ language Graphics 34 193 Smith Street, Fitzroy 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. Methodology 10 Project inception The Hub 36 Working Party and Reference Group 142 Adderley Street, West Melbourne Community engagement Selection and report writing Gays in Indonesia: Selected Articles from Print Media 38 Report structure 11 Australian Queer Archives The Floral Clock 40 Queen Victoria Gardens, St Kilda Road, Melbourne Lesbians and Gays for Reconciliation ACTIVISM AND PROTEST 12 Banner 42 Australian Queer Archives Skorus Books 14 Rear, 151 Acland Street, St Kilda Bifocal Newsletter 44 Australian Queer Archives The Chapter House, St Paul’s Cathedral 16 Program of the Inaugural Australian 197-203 Flinders Lane, Melbourne GLBTIQ Multicultural Conference, 2004 46 Gay Liberation Centre 18 Australian Queer Archives 23 Davis Street, Carlton North and 259 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy Whitehall Guest House 20 231-237 Ocean Beach Road, Sorrento St Mary of the Angels Catholic Church 22 136-148