Tote bag

Red screenprint on pink bag
Material: 100% heavyweight cotton canvas
Size: 42cm x 42cm. Gusset width 9.5cm. Strap length 72cm.
Care Instructions: Hand wash cold separately. Do not bleach. Line dry in shade.

The sticker sheet featured on this tote was produced in 1978 to promote the 4th National Homosexual Conference, where the Australian Queer Archives were founded. Designed by Bruce Dickinson and Gary Schliemann, the graphics draw on works by various artists, including David McDiarmid and Mark Lyndon Matheson.

An unscheduled workshop was held on the morning of Sunday 27 August 1978 at the 4th National Homosexual Conference in Sydney in the Ballroom of the Paddington Town Hall. It was attended by Graham Carbery and Robert French, and, amongst others, Marie McShay, of the National Archives of Australia and Gay Librarians Group members, Liz Ross and Don Baxter, who had both been active in efforts to encourage libraries to acquire materials that reflected a more enlightened approach to homosexuality.

Graham Carbery presented a one-page document, “A Proposal for an Australian Gay Archives”. The workshop discussed the proposal, and a motion was submitted to establish a gay archive. At the final plenary session of the conference a resolution to formally establish the Australian Gay Archives was adopted.

A$30 (A$25 to AQuA members), plus A$XX postage within Australia. Price includes GST.