‘Moments In Time’ Series Celebrates Iconic Queer Australian Stories
Image: Australian Queer Archives/supplied
Gay bushranger romance, a 1940’s homosexual-friendly church, and a trip to a lesbian bar to celebrate a hundredth birthday are just some of the stories captured within the Australian Queer Archive’s latest short video collection Moments in Time.
The collection, spanning across 39 two-to-three minute videos, launches online on Friday, and draws on a wealth of history in queer archives to celebrate the people, places and events that shaped LGBTQIA+ culture in Australia.
Moments in Time was originally written for Melbourne’s Brother Sister in the 1990’s by historian and former AQuA president, Graham Willett, and produced by Australian queer media giant, Bill Calder.
The episodes were also broadcast on LGBTQIA+ community TV program QTV in Melbourne and Geelong on Friday nights over 2019 and 2020.
“I picked up the camera as my retirement project,” said Calder.
“The goal was always to have them available for conversation starters, potentially educational, or any other forum.
“If people wanted to pick up a topic, they could use them just to give a quick overview of some aspect of queer history
Stories from over 100 years of history
The series introduces engrossing LGBTQIA+ people from history, including the all-female run proprietor Alice Anderson, and Florence “Florrie” Cox who experienced intersex discrimination more than 100 years ago.
It revisits events that changed queer history, such as the Black Rock beat raids in the 1970s that highlighted police harassment, Melbourne’s first Gay Pride Week, and the Sorrento Radicalesbians conference that unleashed a new voice for change.
Iconic venues are highlighted such as Pokeys in St Kilda, Val’s Coffee Shop in the Melbourne CBD, and The Hub which was Melbourne’s first pride centre.
AQuA Committee Member, Nick Henderson emphasised the importance of community control when it came to preserving and documenting queer history.
“While there are other institutions, say, the state libraries or National Library to preserve material relating to electoral campaigns, that can be a bit hit and miss and the engagement of queer community,” he said.
“I think there is a different framing when we see the sorts of material that might come in, or the sorts of commentary that will receive in addition to that material.”
All 3 seasons of Moments In Time are available to watch on the Australian Queer Archives YouTube channel
