“Why is the parade going THAT way?”, my colleague and friend, Sam asked me last night, as we tried to make our way through Surry Hills. We were both a bit discombobulated, after taking part in the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. Even though I have lived in the area for almost thirty years, we had both completely lost our sense of direction. “This is like the 90s in terms of crowd size all over again”, I said to Sam to explain my directional confusion.… Read the rest “Mardi Gras / World Pride (Part Two)”
About 10.45am on Friday, I received the following text message from a friend and former colleague. “Watching you on tv xxx move out from behind Nat where do I buy merch?” Shortly afterwards, she added, “Ps I’m in WA forgot time difference”. If you look closely at the video below, you’ll see me as a “backdrop” to a live cross on ABC News Breakfast.
I’m part of a staff group at the ABC called “ABC Pride”.… Read the rest “Mardi Gras”
“It’s all going so fast”, I said to my colleague to the left of me.
We were walking / marching / dancing along Oxford Street, as part of the “ABC Pride” float in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Even though ABC Pride is a staff-led initiative (it was not an “official” ABC float), it was awesome to have Managing Director, David Anderson on the float, and ABC Chair, Ita Buttrose came along to meet and greet everyone, before making her way to the party at Taylor Square.… Read the rest “ABC Pride in the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade”
Having spent a few years in the early 1990s, living in Wagga Wagga, I was well aware of the story of Captain Moonlite, the bushranger, and the hold-up at nearby Wantabadgery Station in 1879. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Moonlite
What I wasn’t aware of until the mid 1990s, was the suggestion he had been involved in a same-sex relationship with James Nesbitt, a member of his gang. Though there’s some debate about the nature of the relationship, and whether or not it was a same-sex relationship in the modern context of the term, or whether it was a “close friendship” in a more historical content, it’s an interesting story, nonetheless.… Read the rest “Captain Moonlite and James Nesbitt”