Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 1978-2022 Timeline

SATURDAY 24 JUNE 1978

Sydney's newly-formed Gay Solidarity Group developed a day of events culminating in the first Mardi Gras street festival. They intended to raise local issues such as decriminalisation of homosexuality, mark the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising in New York, protest the Australian visit of homophobic Festival of Light campaigner Mary Whitehouse, and promote the forthcoming 4th National Homosexual Conference.

The first Mardi Gras march ended in violence, but the police crackdown fired up a community who would no longer be silent.

On Saturday 24 June 1978 at 10pm, several hundred gay and lesbian people and their supporters – some in fancy dress and some simply rugged up against the cold – gathered at Taylor Square and followed a truck with a small music and sound system down Oxford Street to Hyde Park.

"Out of the bars and into the streets!” they yelled. “Stop police attacks on gays, women and blacks!”

As more revellers joined in along the route, the police harassed the lead float. Then when the march stopped in Hyde Park, police confiscated the lead float truck and arrested the driver Lance Gowland.

Angered by this, 1,500 revellers diverted up William Street to Darlinghurst Road in Kings Cross, where the police swooped and violently arrested 53 men and women, many of whom were beaten in cells at Darlinghurst Police Station.

Later that week, the Sydney Morning Herald printed the names, occupations and home addresses of those arrested, outing them and leading some to lose their jobs.

But the authorities' attempts to keep Sydney's gay and lesbian citizens in line backfired hugely. Mardi Gras had become a defining moment in the nation's gay rights history. Our people were out of the closets and into the streets.

1979 | POWER IN THE DARKNESS

For its second year, Mardi Gras expanded from a one-night march to a full-week festival which included a Gay Alternative Fair Day in Hyde Park, a collection of film screenings and the beginning of a great tradition – the fundraising dance party.

The first Mardi Gras dance party filled Balmain Town Hall at the beginning of the week’s festivities, generating the cash needed to fund the licenses and permits for the parade.

At the time, membership of the Mardi Gras Task Group was open to "any gay man or lesbian who supports the idea of a gay festival in the streets of Sydney either for political reasons or because they think it could be a lot of fun."

On the morning of 20 June 1979, the Gay Solidarity March set off from the Town Hall on George Street, marking the 10th anniversary of New York's Stonewall riots.

1979's Mardi Gras organisers were prepared for another possible police confrontation. Planning included an emergency bail fund for anyone arrested for the still-illegal act of male homosexuality.

3,000 people attended on the night, and despite a large police presence, no one was arrested.

1980 | OUTRAGEOUS GAY MARDI GRAS!

Mardi Gras expanded in 1980, introducing Parade marshals and revising the Parade route – gathering at Bathurst Street, going down George Street, left onto Liverpool Street, up past Hyde Park South and onto Oxford Street, finishing at Paddington Town Hall for the post-Parade Party.

It was a bitingly cold evening, so attendees were rugged up rather than glittered up. As a result it was decided the festival would move from winter to summer. Separating itself from the anniversary of Stonewall signalled a broader move away from the activism of the 1970s gay rights movement and towards a more community-based celebration.

Based on the Village People, this is one of the first-ever large dressed up Mardi Gras floats.

By 1980, disagreements among Parade marchers had emerged - some said the event had become too political, while others believed it was too frivolous.

"What is the goal of Mardi Gras?" the Mardi Gras Task Group asked itself. "Is it a political demonstration to demand Gay Rights, or is it a celebration of COMING OUT, with its only political goals being to demonstrate the size and variety of the gay community and to establish its right to be?"

1981 | WE ARE THE PEOPLE OUR PARENTS WARNED US AGAINST

Mardi Gras decided to move the Parade to summertime, but torrential rain on the original date of Saturday 21 February meant it was rescheduled to 21 March – the first and only time terrible weather has made Mardi Gras postpone its showcase event.

A group of marchers had been confused about the date and gathered in Moore Park a day early. The Sydney Star reported that they were forced to flee when fired upon by a man with a rifle from a nearby balcony!

The crowd at 1981's Parade neared 5,000, a sizeable increase on the 2,000-3,000 of previous years.

"It started around the barracks in Paddington, wound down Surry Hills near Belmore Park, went up George Street and ended in Hyde Park," photographer William Yang remembers.

The move to a warmer month, along with the creation of an independent and elected organising body, and the efforts to enlist non-activist groups, were landmark changes that shaped the Mardi Gras Parade and Festival as we know it today.