Australia’s Homosexual Histories Conferences

The Australian Homosexual Histories Conference brings together members of the LGBTIQ communities, academics, professional and independent scholars, researchers and students within the broad field of sexuality and gender studies. The Conferences have generated some pioneering and innovative work on the histories of LGBTIQ life, politics and culture in Australia – with selected Conference papers published in the Gay and Lesbian Perspectives [https://alga.org.au/shop] series.

Conference history

The Archives established the Conference as part of its twentieth anniversary celebrations in 1998, and as part of a growing determination to celebrate Australia’s very queer histories, not merely to collect and preserve it, drawing some sixty people from across Australia listening to some twenty papers – covering everything from Gay Liberation, nineteenth century passing women, the Uniting Church, Mardi Gras, PFLAG, AIDS, lesbian feminist activism, media panics, the Australian pop charts, homosexual law reform and more!

Since then, it has grown with fits and starts to become a key annual event, organised in different cities around Australia, generating and celebrating Australian LGBTIQ histories.

A comprehensive listing of the papers presented at each conference is located at: https://alga.org.au/files/AHH-papers.pdf; only a selection of papers are held by the Archives.