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Guides and Resources

Bibliographies, subject guides and databases

Resources for researchers investigating Australian LGBTIQ+ history.

A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects, by Graham Willett et. al., 2021(pdf, 8MB)

Commissioned by Heritage Victoria to highlight the history of queer communities in Victoria and to demonstrate how these communities are reflected in the places, objects and landscapes that surround us.

Bibliography of Australian Lesbian History, by Lucy Chesser, 2008 (pdf, 134KB)

A list of writing that deals in some significant manner with Australian lesbian history.

Australian Lesbian and Gay History: A Bibliography, by The Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, 1999 (pdf, 71KB)

A list of books, articles, chapters, theses, films, etc., that deal with historical events about same-sex desire and activity in Australia.

Melbourne’s Queer History: a short bibliography, by Graham Willett and Gary Jaynes, 2011

A selection of  publications relating to the gay/lesbian/ queer history of Melbourne. It includes memoirs, scholarly publications, exhibition catalogues and fiction set in or substantially about Melbourne. Published in the Latrobe Journal No 87

Archiving the Aboriginal Rainbow, by Andrew Farrell, 2014-2020

A blog that collects and shares links to material highlighting the diversity of Australia’s Indigenous LGBTIQ, Sistergirl, and Brotherboy communities.

Transgender related materials, by Anne Rowlands, 2018

A list of transgender-related items on Trove made for collection development and research, curated by Anne Rowlands.

Intersex related materials, by Anne Rowlands, 2018

A list of intersex-related items on Trove made for collection development and research, curated by Anne Rowlands.

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Material Survey, by Kate Davison, 2006

Heritage report produced for the State Library of Victoria and Museums Victoria which surveyed collections held by: Museum Victoria, Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, State Library of Victoria, National Archives of Australia, ScreenSound Australia, National Library of Australia, local government collections and material held by community groups for LGBT-related material.

Homosexuality and the University of Melbourne , by Graham Willett and Kathy Sport

A subject guide for holdings at the University of Melbourne including the Julian Phillips collection, the Victorian Women’s Liberation and Lesbian Feminist Archive, Melbourne Student Union and Students’ Representative Council collections and other University of Melbourne Archives collections.

Reason in Revolt

Primary source documents of the Australian movements, institutions, venues and publications which aimed to make society more equal, emancipate the exploited or oppressed and sought to influence Australian society.

Writings from the Australian Gay Left, by Liz Ross, 2006

A library of articles by socialists and the left wing of the lesbian and gay movement, with an emphasis on Australia.

BlackWattle Press publications, 2010

BlackWattle Press published 27 LGBTIQ+ books and cargo magazine between 1987 and 1997.  Some of the publications are available as free-to-download e-books.

Papers

A collection of papers documenting key aspects of LGBTIQ+ Australian history.

Peopling the Empty Mirror: The Prospects for Lesbian and Gay Aboriginal History, by Wendy Dunn/Holland and others, 1994 (pdf, 4.9MB)

An examination of the neglect of Australian homosexualities in literature; contemporary Aboriginal attitudes towards homosexuality, gay racism and the tension between racial identity and sexual identity; and a review of the reliability and information in older literature on Aboriginal homosexualities.

Towards Homosexual Equality in Australian Criminal Law: A Brief History, by Graham Carbery, 2014 (pdf, 226KB)

A history of Australia’s anti-homosexual laws, and the people and events that drove homosexual law reform in each state of Australia.

Australian Anglicanism and homosexuality in the 1970s, by Graham Willett, 2000

Explores and explains the markedly divergent Anglican attitudes to homosexuality in the Sydney and Melbourne dioceses.  It originally appeared as the chapter ‘Into the Present: Anglicanism and Homosexuality in the 1970s’, in Colin Holden (ed), A People of the Past? The Culture of Anglicanism in Melbourne and Anglicanism in Melbourne’s Culture, History Department, University of Melbourne, 2000, pp. 41-64.

The homosexual history of the University of Melbourne 1960-76, by Graham Willett, 2002 (pdf, 400 KB)

A queer history of Melbourne University during the emergence of homosexual/gay politics.

La Trobe Journal Issue No 87 May 2011

Queen City of the South – A special edition of the La Trobe Journal showcasing fourteen essays about LGBTIQ+ history in Melbourne.

Digital History

Explore Australia and International LGBTIQ+ history in digital forms.

Australian Queer Archival Films

A collection of LGBTIQ+ films from the 1910s through to the present day.

Darwin gay history walk

Take a tour through NT’s queer history with activist and academic Dr Dino Hodge

Queers of the Desert

A record of the LGBTIQ+ history of Alice Springs and surrounding areas.

Sydney Gay Pride 1973

Extracts from the personal diary of 18-year-old nascent anarchist John Englart and photographs providing an eyewitness account of the celebration and protest events of Gay Pride week in Sydney during September 1973. It also implicitly shows the extent of homophobia in the reaction of Council officers, police, and some members of the public when confronted with homosexual relationships displayed proudly in public.

Out At A Conference: The First National Homosexual Conference

A digital exhibition of material associated with the First national Homosexual Conference, sourced from the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, University of Melbourne Archives, Reason in Revolt and Trove.

Unfit for Publication

An online archive of NSW Supreme Court, Quarter Sessions and Police Court, Bestiality, Buggery, Sodomy and other sex offences Trials, 1727-1930.

Garry Wotherspoon interviews with gay men, 1980-1990

Twelve oral history recordings recorded by Garry Wotherspoon between 1978 and 1992 held at the State Library of NSW.

Westandproud (Melbourne’s western suburbs)

The WESTANDPROUD project documents the lived-experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) individuals living in Melbourne’s Western Region. The lives and stories of eight individuals are documented through a series of short films by film maker Caitlin Bryan.

Out of the Closets, Into the Streets

Through the manifestos, photographs, flyers and recollections of those who were part of the movement, this digital story explores the ways in which gay people found their voice in Melbourne, and refused to pass as straight anymore.

Daylesford Stories

Daylesford Stories explores ideas of community, identity and belonging. It focuses on individual experiences of Daylesford and surrounds and why people call Daylesford home. The stories reveal how and why this region has become a place of meaning and significance for lesbians and gays and for those who identify as part of the LGBTIQ+ community.

Beyond Buggery: Digging Up Stories of Sex Between Men on the Victorian Goldfields

Stories of sex between men (and other “queer” activity, such as cross-dressing) in Ballarat and the central Victorian goldfields ca. 1850-1880 by Alex Bayley

A digital archive of LGBTIQ oral histories about forced migration

A proposed digital archive of oral histories of LGBTIQ persons who were forcibly displaced as well as those who did not take regular migration pathways.

Queering the Map

A community-generated mapping project that geo-locates queer moments, memories and histories in relation to physical space.

Museum of Transology

The largest and boldest display of trans artefacts and photographic portraiture ever displayed in the UK.

Queering the museum

Discover LGBTIQ+ stories hidden in plain sight in mainstream museums.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Project, Museum Victoria, 2005-2006

A survey of LGBTIQ+ material held by Museums Victoria by Kate Davison.

Queering the collection

Discover juicy facts and queer stories behind the artworks, artists and their subjects as part of Queer Art After Hours at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Gay Rights

The State Library South Australia SA Memory project narrates and provides digital versions of LGBTIQ+ material held in its collection.

LGBTIQ+ collection highlights

Highlights from the State Library of Queensland’s collection preserving the history of Queensland’s LGBTQI+ communities including photographs, recorded oral histories, posters, t-shirts, flyers, magazines and more.

Queering the Museum

The History Trust of South Australia unsettles the traditional relationships between museums, objects, people, communities and stories, and disrupts the so-called and the systems of power and privilege they support.

Museum Queeries

An interdisciplinary research group at the University of Winnipeg that prioritizes Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, and queer contributions and interventions into museums and museum studies.

Podcasts

Listen to LGBTIQ+ history broadcasts and podcasts from Australia and around the world.

Queerstories

Join some of Australia’s best storytellers for reflections on lives well lived and battles fought, pride, prejudice, love and humour, hosted by Maeve Marsden Less.

Sydney gay and lesbian history walk

A historical tour led by the colourful Sydney Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who weave their way through the streets of Sydney, recounting tales of our gay and lesbian forebears.

Queen City of the South

A historical tour of gay and lesbian Melbourne, led by the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, who weave their way through the streets of Melbourne, recounting tales of our gay and lesbian forebears.

We Weren’t Born Yesterday

Four hour-long episodes focusing on the voices of GLBTIQ people from Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic and Hindi speaking backgrounds, produced by the Queering the Air Collective at 3CR Community Radio

Transgender warriors

A Joy Radio show covering a different trans and gender diverse writer, artist, activist, musician and thinker each week.

Call Me by My Name

Conversations with Trans and Gender Diverse People in and around Melbourne, Australia.

Counting the dead: Trans day of Remembrance

Eloise Brook from the NSW Gender Centre pieces together story, memory and rumour to bring the missing and forgotten transgender dead to Sydney’s 20th anniversary of the trans day of remembrance.

Queer as Fact

Queer history podcast covering content from around the world and throughout time.

Queer STEM History

A podcast about the lives and science of queer scientists throughout history.