Queer Histories Queer Futures Merri-bek

14 ECHOES

Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

3CR

Queer Histories, Queer Futures

Queer Histories/Queer Futures is an audio journey into the stories of our LGBTQIA+ communities in Merri-bek, past, present and future.

From pubs to squats, protests to parties, discover Merri-bek’s queer history as told by the people who shaped it. Walk the streets with us over fourteen episodes to discover the collective histories of LGBTQIA+ organising, activism and community in Merri-bek and our imaginings for the future.

Queer Histories/Queer Futures is a Lee Ellis Working Group initiative of Merri-bek Libraries. Produced for Merri-bek City Council by 3CR Community Radio.

The views expressed in this podcast do not represent Merri-bek City Council.

Annette Xiberras & Julia Adams-Xiberras

Wurundjeri Elder Annette Xiberras reflects on coming out as a gay Aboriginal woman in the 1960s and 70s, and in conversation with her daughter Julia Adams-Xiberras about their experiences as a rainbow family. Annette Xiberras is an Elder on the Wurundjeri Council, and she holds several other key positions with integral Aboriginal advisory committees and boards. Annette is also an archaeologist operating her own cultural heritage consultancy business. Julia Adams-Xiberras is currently an undergraduate at La Trobe University studying Languages and Linguistics.

Content warning: Sexual assault and hate crime.

Speakers: Annette Xiberras Julia Adams-Xiberras

Theme music: All Rise by Denim Waves Produced by nici stott

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Barricade Books and queer zines

Barricade Books was an anarchist infoshop, formerly located first on Sydney Road from 1995 to 2003, and then at Irene Warehouse, on Pitt Street until 2006. It was a space where left-wing and radical queers could meet, share information, hold events, and organise—and it stocked a range of books, comics, CDs, pamphlets, patches, posters, stickers, t-shirts, and zines.

Content warnings: Strong language; Sex themes.

Speakers: Richard Watts: Barricade Books volunteer and ‘Burning Times’ zine founder Leigh Millward: Barricade Books volunteer and Bite Collective / ‘Bite’ zine contributor

Theme music: All Rise by Denim Waves Produced by nici stott.

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Barb Wire and Brunswick drag

Barry Solomon aka Barb Wire performed working-class drag in Brunswick from about 2000 to 2020 with performances at local pubs and the Sydney Rd Festival. Barb also hosted Drag Bingo at The Retreat.

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Out Cast Theatre

Director and playwright Steven Dawson discusses the production and performances of Out Cast Theatre’s plays at the Mechanics Institute, including Love In A Cubicle and Big Dicks On Stage. Out Cast Theatre continues to stage performances in Melbourne and overseas.

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Orlando

Orlando’s Sam Elkin discusses the queer indy disco at the Victoria and Edinburgh Castle hotels and its organising collective’s activism after queerphobic violence in the Victoria Street area after one of their events.

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Street violence, beats and resistance

Activist Richard Watts discusses the local activism of Queer Nation after the murder of a gay man at the Clifton Park beat in Brunswick.

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Radical queer organising in the 2000s

In the mid 2000s, the share-houses, squats, studio warehouses and strip clubs of Brunswick were home to a flourishing of radical queer activism emerging out of the student left and so-called anti-globalisation movements, the 2000 Melbourne S11 protests, anti-war and Woomera/Baxter protests.

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Solidarity Salon

Alison Thorne from Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party discusses activism based at their queer, socialist, feminist shopfront Solidarity Salon during its many years in Merri-bek. Includes anecdotes about organising against the Far-Right.

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Queer connies and the Brunswick tram depot

Tram conductor, driver and ticket inspector Stratos Filis discusses the community, friendships and activism at the Brunswick Tram Depot, including during and after the battle against the Kennett Government’s privatisation of Melbourne’s trams.

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Pentridge Prison and LGBTQIA+ criminalisation

Queer communities have long been targeted, criminalised and imprisoned. This persecution has also led to a proud history of resistance. This episode situates Pentridge Prison as a site of queer trauma and resistance around which these issues can be centred.

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YGLAM

Project Officer Russ Pirie discusses queer, youth, theatre group YGLAM, including its performance in a spooky space upstairs at the old Brunswick Town Hall and its evolution at Oxygen Youth Services. YGLAM was founded by Jemma Mead and Vicky Guglielmo at Merri Health.

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Reimagining queer death care

Reimagining more inclusive funeral practices and deathcare by putting it back into the hands of communities and their loved ones.

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Queers against fascism

Merri-bek has a proud history of opposing fascism. In 1997 a series of monthly protests were organised outside a neo-Nazi bookstore in Fawkner. The final and most successful rally organized by a coalition of queer anti-fascist groups including the Jewish Lesbian Group of Victoria, Gays and Lesbians Against Racism and Queer Action.

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Queer Futures

Many of the guests featured in our series share their thoughts about what a queer utopia and the queer future might look like. We hear from Hinde Ena Burstin, Angela Bailey, Annette Xiberras, Sam Elkin, Leigh Millwood, Alison Thorne, Stass Jones, Alex Antunes, Steven Dawson, Mark Pendelton, Barry Solomon and Richard Watts.

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