Driving force 78er dies

Driving force 78er dies

Lance Gowland, the truck driver at the first Mardi Gras and subsequent founder of the organisation, died on Monday aged 72 after a long battle with cancer.

Community members remembered Gowland as the man who drove through the police line after officers cut short the planned protest route in 1978. He was the first arrested and the first bailed out by the crowd.

He was a driving force in keeping Mardi Gras going, Ron Austin said. He was a beautiful man, very outgoing, very forthright. He was so adamant about gay rights.

Gowland was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the original Mardi Gras organisation for his ongoing involvement in turning the historic clash at Kings Cross into a yearly celebration.

In a 2006 interview with the Pride History Group, Gowland said he had pushed for Mardi Gras to move away from the usual street march to become more celebratory and colourful. However, he lost his position on the organising committee in 1984.

Although Gowland withdrew from active involvement in gay politics after his time with Mardi Gras, he maintained his activism in other causes including communism and the treatment of refugees. In protest at the Howard Government’s Pacific Solution he sailed his yacht to Nauru with the Flotillas of Hope in 2004.

Gowland spent his final four months at St Vincent’s Hospice and died peacefully, surrounded by his three children, Geoff, Vanessa and Christopher.

After separating from his wife Norma in 1969 and joining the gay solidarity movement, he continued to visit his Down’s syndrome daughter in hospital every day, Austin said. He was a wonderful father, and he remained friends with Norma.

Gowland joined the CAMP NSW counselling service in 1972 and was involved in everything at that time. When the Gay Solidarity Group formed in 1973 he joined that too.

Austin said he remembered kissing and holding hands with Gowland at bus shelters as political statements.

We heard about the demonstrations and parades in New York and San Francisco. We had the idea of celebrating who we are, so Lance ran with the idea, Austin told Sydney Star Observer.

He got permission from police to use the street and got the truck, because we only had the one vehicle, and the rest is history.

The next year he really kept it on the street. It was his efforts and those of a few other people who kept Mardi Gras going.

New Mardi Gras sent flowers to Gowland’s bedside but declined to comment on his impact on the organisations.

His partner was Dr Jim Walker, who died several years ago of AIDS, and was best known for his work helping gay people through his Leichhardt clinic.

Gowland developed prostate cancer almost 10 years ago. His son Christopher returned from overseas and lived with him for the last four years. He moved into St Vincent’s Hospice four months ago when radiation treatment failed.

A memorial is being organised and will be advertised on the Sydney Star Observer website when details are available.

Poll: Should a memorial to the Mardi Gras 78ers be erected on Oxford St? Vote at www.starobserver.com.au

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10 responses to “Driving force 78er dies”

  1. I feel slighted that I only hear of this man now he has passed. A little ashamed that as a gay man who has been around Oxford St since those days I have rarely been involved on such personal levels with the activism on the street (Mardi Gras from 1979 to 90 and a few after that, A handful of Quilt Events, candlelight remembrances, and the anti Nile rally in ’89 is about the extent of my meagre contribution). As mentioned, some public/permanent record or memorial of Mr Gowland and the ’78ers would be most appropriate. It is, in fact, sorely needed to serve as a powerful reminder to us oldies, and educator to the bubs, of the dignity, determination and fellowship that flourished back then. Qualities that can be restored to our streets in the face of resurgent violence and apathetic disunity – despite the ongoing efforts of a few.

  2. Some permanent memorial to honour the event and the people would be great … but then I am biased! But we really need to record “our stories” and the other events. I was lucky to see Lance a few weeks before he died when I was visiting Sydney. His sense of humour was still there. He was “charmed” by a male nurse who was fussing over him as he took him to the toilet and then cleaned him. He kept saying: “He’s nice!” Nothing was going to stop Lance. There was a sense of childhood that was always there with Lance. And while I was not one of his “inner circle of close friends”, we often ran into each other. As I have said elsewhere, Lance was not your usual Cammunist-Manifesto bashing type (he was after all born a Communist) and he had a genuine respect towards people of all races and women especially lesbians … never condescending. I shall miss receiving his regular emails setting out what he has been up to. May he rest in peace. Joseph Carmel Chetcuti

  3. What sad news indeed … we should take a dat off to attend this service.
    Lance fought for us – we should show our respects to him.

  4. Yes yes yes to a memorial – and the sooner the better
    Something super in your face so the bastards who come to Oxford St to beat the crap out of us are forced to look at it.

  5. We should all take a moment to think of Lance and remember what he and his brothers and sisters did for the gay movementin this country.
    Without bravery like his we would not enjoy the life we have today.

  6. What a great idea PJ!
    Yes, some kind of walk of honour … plaques set into the footpath with the names of each of the ’78ers on them. That way everyone who walks up and down Oxford St – even those who bash us – will be confronted with the cold hard facts of that day in 1978.

  7. How sad – in losing Lance we are losing yet another part of our history.
    I am pleased the ’78ers got to march at the front of this year’s 30th anniversary Mardi Gras for their ranks are starting to thin.
    I think the poll is great though – yes .. absolutely … there should be some kind of memorial to the ’78ers on Oxford St. Our community needs to remember them at all times of the year, not just during the festival.
    Perhaps a ’78er walk of honour – like the Hollywood Walkf of Fame – though not using stars … something a little less tacky and more dignified.

  8. A memorial is an excellent idea, one that can also tell, in part,the story of being Lesbian and Gay in 1978 and how very brave those people, like Lance Gowland, were.