Queer Today, Gone Tomorrow: Queer History Walking Tours
Sunday 26 March 2023 from 12pm to 1pm Sunday 26 March 2023 from 11am to 12pm Sunday 2 April 2023 from 11am to 12pm Sunday 16 April 2023 from 11am to 12pm
Led by artist and historian Christine Dean, this series of walking tours weave through the Oxford St precinct to uncover the hidden histories of key venues for the parties, nightlife, and club cultures that have shaped Sydney’s LGBTQIA+ community.
The tour will begin at Paddington Town Hall, a pivotal venue for Sydney’s sexual and cultural liberation. From there we will walk down Oxford St rediscovering the early bars and nightclubs of the 70s, 80s, and 90s including The Albury Hotel, Ruby Reds, The Midnight Shift, and The Exchange Hotel, concluding at 33 Oxford St, the old site of Patchs.
Christine Dean’s practice navigates issues related to gender, sexuality, abstraction and formalism, and since her gender transition, she has been researching transgender histories. For THE PARTY, Christine presents an early work ‘The Long Voyage’ which features an abstract map of Taylor Square and a part of Sydney’s LGBTQI+ community where the “long voyage” has begun and ended for many. Christine has also revisited this work and produced a new wall painting that substitutes the original colours with those of the transgender flag; the streets now lined with the names of trans and gender-nonconforming personalities from Sydney.
Presented in conjunction with THE PARTY, a landmark exhibition celebrating LGBTQI+ party culture in Sydney from 1973 to 2002. Exhibition continues at UNSW Galleries until 23 April 2023.
This program is supported by Woollahra Council,