Image: Peter de Waal in front of a Pride Seat dedicated to him and his late partner Peter Bonsall-Boone. Image: William Brougham.
Join Peter de Waal, special guests the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir and presenter and journalist extraordinaire Jeremy Fernandez at an exclusive signing event for Peter’s memoir, It Wasn’t Dutch Courage.
It Wasn’t Dutch Courage is a queer story about how pain can be rehabilitated through purpose and kindness. Peter de Waal’s childhood was in Nazi-occupied The Hague. Through the significant struggles of the war and then in the discovery that he was ‘different’, Peter suffered loss, loneliness and confusion. His subsequent journey to Australia and travels helped begin the healing process, but it was in finding purpose and community in activism that he found a path to the reclamation of his lost childhood, love and peace. As one of the key founders of the early movement for equality, Peter’s story is a significant piece of queer history. But it is also a window into the broader Australian experience of migration, of discrimination, and our coming of age as a more enlightened nation.
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When: April 4, 2025 6pm
Where: Balmain Town Hall, 370 Darling Street, Balmain
Tickets: Free, or $39.95+ booking fee for a copy of It Wasn’t Dutch Courage
Accessibility: Balmain Town Hall is wheelchair accessible.
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