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Welcome along to this rainbow walk tour. My name is Gareth, and I'm Roger. And together we're Roger and Gareth or Gareth and [00:00:30] Roger, whatever you prefer. It's so lovely to to have you on this very special walk tour. Uh, roger and I have been doing these, uh, tours, Uh, physically since 2017, Uh, but because of the, uh, covid situation, we can't, uh, obviously have groups at the moment. So we thought a great way of doing it would be to do it as a virtual walk tour. And today is even more special because, um, this is, uh, especially for the, uh, MB Rainbow Network. [00:01:00] And, uh, just a huge thank you for, uh, inviting us along, uh, to do this, uh, presentation. Uh, for you. Um, we're not actually logged into YouTube. We have got quite a slow computer here, and so, um, we're not quite sure we know it's broadcasting, but we're not quite sure. Um, if you're actually there, So if you do want to contact us, please use the email address below that walks at dot NZ. Uh, you're more than welcome to, [00:01:30] um write in and say hello or share your thoughts. Uh, we had one just before we came online, Uh, which was from Paul. Who says what does he say? He says, um uh, you guys are cracking me up. Hilarious. Um, we weren't We weren't trying to, uh, but there you go. Um, yeah. So maybe just a couple of thank you, first of all. Yeah. Well, thank you. First of all to you for coming along [00:02:00] on this tour with us, Uh, but also to Alison Laurie and Hugh Young, who've done quite a lot of research into Rainbow History of Wellington. And we've drawn on some of that for this tour. Great. So the tour is going to last around about, um, 50 minutes. And as I say, you're more than welcome to, um, say hi as as we go along. But to get things started, let's just give you an idea of where we are located. So the tour is [00:02:30] beginning, uh, in a in Wellington, the inner city suburb of of of a with the yellow dots. The whole tour, in fact, takes place within, uh, A and a means the facing, and it was thought to have been named by a local iwi uh, one of the local iwi NWA, in reference to facing Mount Taranaki from where they travelled. The Maori settlements dominated Wellington up until the arrival in 18 40 of the New Zealand company. [00:03:00] Now the New Zealand company's objective was the systematic colonisation of New Zealand, and they began dividing up land for European settlement was one of the early areas to be settled because it was flat and there still exists now quite a collection of historic buildings at the top end of Cuba Street. Um, which date from the early settlements, Um, from about the 18 sixties, some of the buildings But we start our tour with the yellow Dotter here [00:03:30] outside this building, um, which has a lovely, uh shop window display window at the front. There it's from a bit later. It's from about 1919 101 and for its first few decades, it was a dry cleaners in Wellington and then had a variety of occupants. Um, up until the 19 seventies, when it was occupied by Carmen Rue and Carmen had her Carmen's curios here, and you can see [00:04:00] that display window as it was in the seventies with Carmen's shop, and it has the wonderful window surrounds their sort of, um, Arabian knights. Exotic surrounds for the window is very reminiscent of the, um, design for Carmen's International Coffee Lounge, which we'll hear a bit more quite a bit more about a wee bit later. And that was in Vivian Street. But who was Carmen Roe? Well, Carmen was a performer, a sex worker, an entrepreneur as well as being an activist, particularly around [00:04:30] HIV causes, um, and anti discrimination. Um, there's a great photo here of Carmen from the 19 sixties titled Kiwi Carmen. Carmen was born in in 1936 and she later lived in both Auckland and Wellington. Um, she first began drag performance while she was in the military doing compulsory military service in the 19 fifties. And you may wonder what the connection is between the military and drag. Um, but in fact, the New Zealand armed forces [00:05:00] have quite a history of, um, drag performance, particularly with the various concert parties that entertained the troops in the Second World War. And later here's a great image of Ralph Dyer, also known as Malena. Heat Rash performing in New Caledonia in 1943. Now there are a number of other performers. Um, that would still have been talked about when Carmen was doing her military service in the 19 fifties. So after her military service, Carmen moved to Sydney's Kings Cross and became Australia's [00:05:30] first Maori dr performer. And from that time on, she identified as transsexual. In 1967 she moved back to Wellington, um, and established her International Coffee Lounge. So B Cabaret, an Egyptian tea room just down the road, a massage parlour and a brothel. She also established the curio shop that we're at the front of now. Um, now Carmen's life was filled with curios, and there's a wonderful shot here of [00:06:00] her living room when she was in Sydney a wee bit later, Um, showing all her knickknacks. It's such an amazing collection of just Carmen, Um, it's quite quite incredible. Quite a number of those in that image, um, have ended up at Papa Carmen Hand selected some items and then gifted them to Papa before she died in 2011. Well, one of, uh, Carmen's [00:06:30] many achievements was winning a landmark court case in 1966 which was about the right to wear, um, female clothing in in public. So prior to this time prior to 1966 New Zealand newspapers are peppered with stories about people being taken to court for just simply wearing female clothing in in public. Well, January 1966 Carmen was arrested in Auckland with behaving [00:07:00] in an offensive manner. And the offensive manner was that she was wearing a skirt, um, stockings and high heel shoes. Um, but she wasn't really having a bar of of of that charge. And she said she was going to go to court and defend it. So Carmen turns up at court, and the police say, go home and change into male clothing. And she said, No, no, you caught me as a woman, and I'm going to court as a woman and, um, yeah, quite quite a remarkable stand. [00:07:30] Um, So the judge in this case, uh, justice McCarthy, um, not only dismissed the case, but also in his decision. Notes said quote he was quite unable to find anything in our law which says that it's unlawful for a male to tie himself in female clothing and that was a real watershed moment here in New Zealand. So Carmen was a Trailblazer. Um, And she also was, I think, kind of well ahead of her time. [00:08:00] She advocated for homosexual law reform, which happened in 1985 1986. But she was talking about that in the early 19 seventies. And she also in the 19 seventies advocated for, uh, prostitution law reform, which happened in 2003. We're going to be talking a wee bit more about prostitution law reform at our next stop on the tour. But I should just say that, um, we've had some correspondence. Um, Robert says, [00:08:30] uh, yes, you are live and still hilarious. Thanks, Robert. We not doing. We're not trying to be hilarious, but thank you. Um, but let's move on to our next stop quickly. Um, so we're at the red dot and we're going to the yellow dot, which is just a couple of doors down. Yes. So, uh, this sort of fairly unremarkable looking building was, in fact, the first location of the New Zealand Prostitutes collective who opened there in 1988. [00:09:00] Now the collective was formed in 1987 by a diverse group of sex industry workers, and they had the aim of providing support and education. Shortly after forming, they were contracted by the Ministry of Health to provide a range of services focusing on HIV A I DS prevention. Um, the collective shared the space, uh, with the national people, people living with AIDS Union um which was based here from 1988 until the early 19 nineties. And it was also the home of Wellington's [00:09:30] first needle exchange programme. Now, right from the start, the collective was a driving force for prostitution law reform. Uh, that and that call was taken up by the Labour MP Tim Barnett, who introduced the Prostitution Law Reform Bill into parliament in 2000. The purpose of the law reform was to enable sex workers to have the same rights and protections afforded to other workers in other industries. In June 2003, New Zealand became the first [00:10:00] country in the world to decriminalise sex work prior to the sex work hadn't been explicitly illegal. Um, but there were a range of offences surrounding this that could be committed in association with acts of prostitution. Um, including the 1908 act, which said that, um, from that time, any anyone who was, um, keeping a common body house, uh, for the purposes of prostitution [00:10:30] along with its tenants was liable for two years imprisonment with hard labour. Uh, now, the reason we got a little bit lost there was because, um, I was trying to delete something on one computer, and I was obviously having the wrong keyboard, and it was on the keyboard on the image that you were seeing on the screen. So I apologise for that. Um, and we're just trying to get the image back up on the screen that will work. Um, just a question that's coming from Michael was Where is [00:11:00] Carmen buried? Is she buried in Wellington? My understanding is that she's buried just out of Sydney, Australia. Um, yes, it's either in Sydney or just outside of Sydney. That's that's where she died. And I think she's buried there, too. Well, um, just getting back to prostitution reform and surprise surprise. Even though prostitution was illegal, it still happened. Um, that's true. Um, so [00:11:30] sometimes quietly, but also sometimes quite blatantly and an example of that is Carmen's International Coffee Lounge, which was on Vivian Street, just next door to the Salvation Army citadel. Um, great. Great neighbours. Um, so the, uh, Carmen's International Coffee Lounge was two stories on the ground floor. We had the coffee lounge and upstairs we had the, um, the rooms for sex work. And what would happen is that clients would come in and have a cup of cup of coffee [00:12:00] or tea with Carmen downstairs and depending on how they placed their cup and saucer, um, told Carmen what kind of liaison they were interested in. So a cup, um placed, um on its side was for a transgender liaison, Um, a cup placed upside down was for a heterosexual liaison, and a saucer placed on top of a cup was for a homosexual liaison. And then Carmen could work out what [00:12:30] kind of liaison was required and, uh, would arrange with the six worker who would go upstairs. And then the client would actually leave the coffee lounge, go outside and go up a back entrance. Um, apparently, Carmen had a really fantastic line for male patrons who were giving her a bit of jib. Um, she would say Do you want a fuck or a fight? Because I can give you both. Great line. Great line. OK, we're going [00:13:00] to move now. Oh, just before we do, I'm just going to take you back to, uh the image of where the prostitutes collective, Uh, was, um, that was built in 1920 on the outside there, that the outside of the building behind it is a real lovely gem in Cuba Street. And, um, it was built in 18 60. And it's this wonderful two story cottage, and it's the oldest building in the Cuba street area. And [00:13:30] what we're looking at here is Cuba Street is behind this building. So we're looking towards Cuba Street. A lovely hidden gem. Um, came up on the, um the the open market a couple of years ago. And this is where that that image is from OK, moving on to our next stop. Now, um, we're going from the red dot and we're going up to the yellow dot so we're just going northwards a bit, so we've just crossed state highway one. and the bypass there. The bypass [00:14:00] was responsible for the movement of a number of historic buildings up the top end of Cuba Street. Um, including this two story industrial commercial building, uh, there, which this is a photo of it back in the day. Um, and actually, uh, it's on the other side of the road from where it was, um, and it was moved in the construction of the bypass. And there's actually a wonderful image. So this is what it used to look like. And you'll see that there's the single story on the left [00:14:30] hand side. This is where it is now. So the obviously the two story buildings on the left But those single story buildings are on the right, and that yellow dot is one of the buildings, and that yellow dot actually is Carmen's Egyptian tea room. So Carmen had lots of businesses up this end of town. Um, the reason why I wanted to draw your attention to the commercial buildings there. The ones on the left, the brown ones There are They are typical of the kind of architecture [00:15:00] from around the turn of the century. Turn of the 20th century. Um, they were designed by the architects Thomas Turnbull and his son William, who were very prominent architects in Wellington. Um, at the turn of the century, Thomas was born in Scotland, um, in 18 24 but eventually made his way to New Zealand. And, um, he and his son designed a number of buildings around Wellington, which still exists. Um, and we'll see a few more of them on this tour. [00:15:30] Um, probably one of the most notable notable buildings. Uh, is this one here? This is Turnbull house. Um, and it's on Bowen Street. It's a particularly beautiful sort of historic residence. Really? Um, and you may be thinking, Ah Turnbull house. Is that named after the architects? Uh, no, it's not. In fact, it's named after the owner, Alexander Turnbull, and in fact, the Turnbull Architects and Alexander Turnbull. The families were not related at all. [00:16:00] And you may also be going Ah ah ah for um um, Alexander Turnbull. Because a photo of a very dashing shall we say, um, Alexander Turnbull. Great moustache. Um, now he was a merchant and book collector and he was born in Wellington in 18 68 but moved to London with his family in 18 75. But then he returned to Wellington in his early twenties, which I find quite quite interesting. [00:16:30] Um, in 1915 Turnbull house was built as his residence and as a place to store his large collection of books, Uh, documents, manuscripts, photographs, 55,000 items. Um, approximately in, in, in total. Um, unfortunately, Alexander died in 1918, just a couple of years after Turnbull house was built. And he died after complications following, um, surgery on his Sinuses. [00:17:00] Before his death, he bequeathed his entire collection to the nation. And this is where we get, uh, the first national collection in New Zealand, the Alexander Turnbull Collection, which is now a part of the National Library. Uh, the Alexander Turnbull library. Now, apparently, um, in early gay circles, um, Alexander was known as to be a screaming queen. Um, but I, I think other biographers have not [00:17:30] been able to find any evidence that he was a screaming queen. Um, although I I'm not sure what evidence you'd need, what the smoking gun would be. He never married. He never. That's good enough for you. I don't know. That's good enough for us, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Let's move on. Um, OK, so we're moving on from Alexander Turnbull. Um, and we're actually moving northwards up Cuba Street. And so on the red dot is where we are, and we're going [00:18:00] to the yellow dot which is northwards. And it's the People's Palace And the People's Palace is this wonderful four story building on our right now. This was built by the Salvation Army. And, um, this building has a number of construction dates, uh, 19 04, which is on the left hand side. It's the smaller part on the far left and then 1916 and 2003. Now, [00:18:30] the Salvation Army built people's palaces in both New Zealand and Australia in the early part of last century as a way of offering, um, liquor free cheap accommodation. Um, to quote from the army, um, it was to assist the fallen and suffering brothers and sisters and to rescue outcasts. Now, if we had been staying, um uh, there in 18 94 we wouldn't have seen the structure, but we would have seen an earlier structure [00:19:00] that had again been built by the Salvation Army. And that was the Paulina rescue home. Um, and if we'd been staying there in 18 94. We could easily have come across, um, a young Eugene Fein. And here's a Here's a police mugshot of Eugene. Yeah, the fact that there is a police mug shot, in fact, of Eugene tells a bit of a story, and we'll get on to that in a moment. Uh, Eugene was born in 18 75 in Italy and came to New Zealand at the age of two with his family, and he [00:19:30] was the eldest of 22 Children, 17 of whom survived into adulthood. So it was a huge family. Eugene was working at Murphy's Brick Works in Taranaki Street when he was taken to court for Impersonating a man. Now, around the age of 21 he ran away to sea in 18 95. Um, he was raped multiple times by the ship's captain and had a baby in Sydney in 18 98. Staying in Sydney. He changed his name to Harry Crawford [00:20:00] and married twice and was, uh, one of those wives that he was charged and eventually convicted of murdering uh, in 1920. Now, the evidence for the murder conviction is pretty circumstantial by today's standards and the evidence is pretty flimsy. Nevertheless, he was convicted and imprisoned. Um, he died sadly, in 1938 after being released from prison and then stepping out off the pavement [00:20:30] and accidentally into the path of an oncoming car. We're just a wee bit further down. Um, from the people's palace, Uh, we're at the red dot and we're just going to the corner, which is the yellow dot and that is now, uh, you You may be familiar with that, Um, but back in the day, it was built in 1922 and back in the day, it was called the Morgans Building. And the Morgans building [00:21:00] has had a number of occupants. And here's a photo from the 19 seventies just showing, um, the kind of the corner of the building. Um, just to point out that on the ground floor, um, from 1937 was Anthony Janni, a hairdresser. And you may, if you are from Wellington, you may recall, um, George, Janice and George. Janice has had multiple hair salons in Wellington [00:21:30] over the decades and is a really well known business person in Wellington. Well, George started here in 1953. Um, with his father, and I've got to say I'm so looking forward to a to a haircut. I'm so looking forward to a haircut. I think this is, um this is the longest I've had without hair. Like we've got six weeks anyway. Anyway, back to, um, the sign. Um also, uh, we [00:22:00] have on the first floor, Um, the strip tea sign and the strip tease sign here is advertising um, a a strip tease called club Exotic, uh, later to be known later to be renamed Club. Exotic. Yeah. In fact, that sign was there for years and years, actually, long after it was a strip club. But club exotic was owned by Emmanuel Papadopoulos. And the famous New Zealand actor and entertainer and [00:22:30] percussionist Bruno Lawrence used to work there, and he would accompany the girls stripping, um, not stripping himself. He would, um, perform fat fairs and drum rolls, Um, and accompaniment to their stripping. Um, Carmen worked here from the 19 sixties, and Georgina Baer worked here from the 19 seventies and talking about this, uh, a few years ago. Georgina said of working at the club exotic, um, the only queens that got to work in clubs [00:23:00] and do the full on stripping had to be extraordinarily good looking and uns spring. The exploitation was horrendous in lots of ways, but better to be inside a strip club on a cold, wet, windy Wellington night than stuck out on the corner trying to pick up a client. She also said, um, I'd finished doing a spot up at the club Exotic race downstairs in my bra and panties and perhaps with a fabulous cape on and sort of fly across Vivian Street to get to the purple onion [00:23:30] to fill in and do a spot there. Now the purple onion was Wellington's 1st 1st drag club. Uh, and it was located, uh, just next to where the subway shop is on Vivian Street. Now, uh, just before we go on as well, um, again, Just reiterating if if you would like to say hello or you have a question, um, please feel free to or or if you have a story, um, please feel free to email us at walks dot dot NZ. And I think I've got my keyboards sorted out now, so I won't I won't delete [00:24:00] the slides. Oh, God. Um Georgina Georgina buyer. Now, Georgina has had an amazing life story. Um, thus far, here's a lovely photo of Georgina from the 19 nineties. Um, Georgina was born in Wellington in 1957 and, uh, she lived in the Wellington region for some time before moving with her mother and brother up to Auckland. So while in Auckland, um, and [00:24:30] at high school, she discovered acting and drama, and she won the College Cup for drama in 1972. And then, uh uh, pretty soon after that, um, actually left school and came back to Wellington and then worked in the the Cuba street area in the, um, sex and entertainment industries. Um, in the mid eighties, she was nominated, um, in the National Film and Television Awards for best actress in a dramatic role. And then in the 19 [00:25:00] nineties, she moved into politics, and this is where that photo comes from. Um, this is, uh, Georgina when she, uh, was elected mayor of Carterton district. So the Carterton district, just north of Wellington, and it was significant both nationally and internationally because, um, Georgina was the first openly transgender person in the world to hold a Marty, which is really fantastic. In the late nineties, she moved into national [00:25:30] politics and again became the first openly transgender person in the world to become a member of Parliament. And, um, again, this is, uh this is really fantastic and a trailblazing, um, trailblazing. So Georgina, while in parliament, fought for civil unions and also prostitution, law reform. And both of those things happened in 2003, 2004. Um, and and so [00:26:00] it was great to get that legislation through. There's one other thing that we just need to say before we move on to our next stop. And that is, um, there's lovely, lovely traffic lights on Cuba Street. Um, with the iconic image of Carmen in on the green pedestrian traffic light. And they were, um, uh, put in place by former mayor uh, Celia Wade Brown in 2016. [00:26:30] So there are a number of places on Cuba Street when you go to to cross as a pedestrian. Um, you get to see, uh, Carmen, and it's just such a lovely thing. Every day to come down and and see Carmen kind of blazing out like that, we're just gonna move on to our next stop now, And, uh, just a content warning that our next stop is, uh, dealing with a local hate crime and, um, is a little bit graphic. Um, but we're going from the red building up to, [00:27:00] uh, we're going eastwards to the yellow dot and that is, uh, it looks like a car park there. In fact, it's the, uh, service station on Vivian Street. Well, early in the morning of the eighth of May 1999 14 year old Jeff Whittington is sitting on the curb of this petrol station. He's had a night out, he's drunk and he's high. At 4 20 a MA police officer talks to Jeff. He says he's OK. And so the officer leaves [00:27:30] were also out. Drinking that night were two men in their twenties, Stephen Smith and Jason Meads. And by chance, they drive by Jeff here at the petrol station. Now he's a complete stranger to them. The two men stop and start talking to Jeff and all three eventually wind up a short drive away in the Arrow Valley smoking a joint. Now it's here that Stephen and Jason beat Jeff to death. The pair boast to acquaintances later that they've beaten [00:28:00] up a faggot who'd been wearing makeup. Um, they told their acquaintances they'd never seen anyone bleed from the places that he bleed from. Well, Stephen and Jason admit to punching and kicking him, but they deny stopping on his head, and they say that they never meant to kill him. Jeff suffers severe brain damage, has boot marks on his skin and has a ruptured bowel. A woman finds him alone lying in a puddle at 4:40 a.m. and he dies in hospital the next day. Well, the jury [00:28:30] convicted both Stephen and Jason of of murder, Uh, and they were sentenced to life imprisonment. Jason was released from prison in 2013, and Stephen was freed on parole in April 2017. Now he's been released on three previous occasions and recalled to prison each time. Well, the, um, horrific murder of of Jeff happened just eight months after, um, the killing of Matthew Shepherd in Wyoming in [00:29:00] the USA and both, uh, murders had, um a really marked impact on a lot of people, including, uh, local playwright Ronald Treo Nelson, who wrote the play corner 4 a.m. in, um, looking at the events around, uh, Jeff's death a few years ago. Um, Ronald said in an interview that, um the first season or the only season of the play which happened at Bats Theatre [00:29:30] in Wellington, which is quite an intimate theatre. I think it holds about 100 people. Um, that season they invited both Jeff's family and the perpetrators families, and he was saying that that that they all attended. Um, but just what a tense night of of theatre it was I. I can't imagine what that would have been like. Um, yeah, yeah. Uh, we've had a question in from Richard, Uh, who [00:30:00] is asking, uh, do we know when the oldest gay bar or meeting space opened in Wellington? And that's a really good question. Um, we are going to be talking about the Dorian society a little later on, um, which might have been one of the early groups. Um, that met, um, and there were certainly public bars that were people were meeting at in the sixties and seventies and coffee lounges. So, for instance, things like cars, coffee shop, um, [00:30:30] coffee lounge. I should say, Um Yeah, so we'll talk about the Dorian Society a bit later on, but I can't think of any specific examples. There are probably early pubs and things that were known as meeting places, but not specifically gay bars or whatever. Um, yeah, thinking of around the Midland Hotel sort of era. And I think in those earlier times, So we're talking, you know, 19 forties and fifties. [00:31:00] Um, there would have been a lot of dinner parties in private houses, so I think it was a lot more private. Um, and the the bars understanding is that the bars were happening in the sixties and seventies, um, coming out of meetings and coffee lounges, Uh, and things like that. And also remember that that bars at that time were a lot more restrictive in terms of, um, hours and and sale of sale of liquor. [00:31:30] So we'll move to our next stop now, which is going from the red dot um, we're going northeast to the yellow dot and the yellow dot is on Willow Street and the yellow dot being Saint Peter's Church on Willow Street. A lovely, lovely church. And, um, this church was actually built by Thomas Turnbull, the architect who we've been talking about earlier on, um, it was built in 18 79 but there was actually an earlier church structure that [00:32:00] was on the site just seven years after European settlement. So in 18. 47 um, this is the first Saint Peter's Church, and the part on the left is the original church. The part on the right, um with the circular window is built in 18 66. So this church Saint Peter's, um, pretty much as soon as it was built, um, was used as temporary accommodation, uh, following the devastating Marlborough 7.4 [00:32:30] earthquake in 18. 48. By the 18 seventies, the church had, um, seen a lot of modifications and, um, was described in 18 70 as a large, straggling disproportionate, shapeless, hideous deformity. And so a replacement, um, church was planned. And this is where we get, um, this one from the 18 18 seventies, late [00:33:00] 18 seventies. Well, the reason that we are here, uh, is that in June 1967 the Reverend Godfrey Wilson delivered a sermon highlighting the negative treatment of homosexuals. Now, this was a radical call for acceptance and inclusion at that time when you think about it. That was 20 years before homosexual law reform in New Zealand and so many people of the time in the late sixties, um, would have thought of homosexuality as a perversion and not [00:33:30] a matter of human rights. And on that note, um, here's a clipping from the 19 sixties about the same time. 1967. It's a newspaper article from Detective Superintendent FA Gordon or fag for short. In it, he says, he asks the people of Christchurch, Do we want our cities overrun with pimps, pots, pansies, pussyfoots [00:34:00] and perverts? Well, today the answer to that could probably be yes, but in 1967 the answer would have been a resounding no. Now the Reverend Godfrey's sympathetic sermon was broadcast on national radio, and it was probably the first sermon of its kind in New Zealand. The core of the sermon was about a man named John who's talking to a prison chaplain. John is in prison, uh, because of his homosexuality, John says to the chaplain. If you fall in love and marry, [00:34:30] well, that's fine. But if I fall in love and want to share it, that's perversion, and it must be persecuted and punished. Well, in 2017 to mark 50 years since that landmark, uh, sermon, um, it was repeated by the Reverend Annette Cater. And at the end, she blessed the rainbow banners that you can see here in the church. And some of these banners included ones that were made from materials given to her by her mother, who makes [00:35:00] clergy vestments. Reverend Cater said in her blessing. We know that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in it. And God said, it is good, all of it. And so in that spirit, may these banners be a symbol of that all encompassing, generous, amazing, unending love for all that. All who see it may be overwhelmed by the power of that love and know, God, that you are a God of love. [00:35:30] It's a really lovely church. If you haven't been inside, it's a really lovely church to go in it. It's got this lovely, warm wood, um, intimate feel. Um, yeah, it's absolutely gorgeous. OK, we're going to move to our next stop, which is just a bit further up Willow Street And so we're on the red dot at the moment and we're going to the yellow dot And that yellow dot is where once was Baptist house. And now it's called Strategy House. [00:36:00] And years ago, there was a, um, a Bible, um, shop on the ground floor, and apparently a lot of Russian seamen would would come in and and buy their their Bibles, um, at at the store. But now it hosts a variety of organisations. On the second floor is the, um, lesbian lending library lilac, and we'll talk about that, Um, just in a in a minute. But on the first [00:36:30] floor is the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, Athena Centre and the Athena Centre not only offers testing for HIV syphilis and other SDIS, um, but also offers some counselling services as well. Um, but this is not the first, uh, location of Athena. It was originally in Newtown in and and it kind of was established in the late 19 eighties. Um, it's not [00:37:00] the first HIV clinic centre in New Zealand. The first was actually in Auckland, and it's called the Burnett Centre. And this is a lovely photo of, uh, Bruce Burnett, who it was named after. So if we go back to the early 19 eighties, um, it was 1981 in the US when the CDC um, started putting out reports saying that, um, there were these of young gay men that were getting, [00:37:30] um, really rare cases of of pneumonia. Um, and that was 1981. It wasn't until 1983 that we actually had our first AIDS related death in New Zealand. And so we were a good 2 to 3 years, um, behind what was happening in the US. Well, somebody that was in the US was Bruce Burnett. Um, he was originally from Auckland, and he moved from, uh, he moved to Europe. And then he moved [00:38:00] to San Francisco in 1982. And, uh, in 1982 he was volunteering, um, as part of the shanty project in San Francisco. And so this, uh, offered both emotional and practical support for people with chronic illnesses, including those, uh, that that had AIDS in 1983. Um, sorry. In 1984 Bruce came back to New Zealand, and he single [00:38:30] handedly started a one person road trip around New Zealand, uh, trying to educate at risk communities. Um, about AIDS. And in Palmerston North, he held a workshop and then publicly came out as somebody who had AIDS. And that was really, um, courageous at the time, because, um, there was so much kind of stigma and discrimination going on. Um, you know, people were saying things like, Oh, you know, if you go on the same swimming pool or [00:39:00] if you eat food, um, you know, you'll get AIDS with someone else. Um, so all of that's completely untrue. And, um, but this is the stuff that that that Bruce was having to deal with. And, um Bruce not only, um, to these, um, this roadshow, but also went on to national media and talked really passionately about, um, safer sex practises. So, along with this, um, this [00:39:30] road trip that Bruce was doing, um, he was also, um, with other people forming the aid support network, which was, um, established. It was a community driven, Um um um, network. And it was there to offer support to people. Um, so that was being formed in 1984. So Bruce worked right up until a couple of weeks before he died. So he, um, um, finished work in May 1985 [00:40:00] and he died in the first of June 1985 at the age of 30. And so this year would be his 35th anniversary of his death. Um, but remarkable that he worked right up until pretty much up until he passed away. After his passing, the AIDS support network got funding from the Ministry of Health. And, um, this is where the New Zealand AIDS Foundation was born. And so the AIDS support network [00:40:30] morphed into the New Zealand AIDS Foundation. And it's really lovely that the, um, AIDS Foundation still has, um, the name of Bruce on the Burnett clinic up in in Auckland. Hm. Uh, just the, uh, getting back to Lilac, the lesbian library on the second floor. Now that was built in, um, well, that that was established in 1994. It's been in a variety of locations. It's completely volunteer. Um, lead and run. [00:41:00] And, um, it is the largest single, um, accessible. Uh uh um collection of of lesbian articles and books, um, in New Zealand. And it's remarkable that as a collective, it's been able to go since 1984 which is which is really fantastic. OK, we are going to our next stop now, and our next stop is just a bit further up Willow Street. We're at the red dot and we're going to cross to [00:41:30] the yellow dot, which is just a bit north. So this is the street village, which was designed in the late 19 seventies by the Wellington architect Roger Walker. Uh, it was the fourth and final location for the Dorian Society. Now, we mentioned the Dorians just, uh, a little bit earlier. Um, the Dorian Society here occupied a space just to the back. You can't quite see it from this image, um, in the top [00:42:00] left hand corner. And it was there until, um from when the village opened to the Dorian Society, closed in 1988. The Dorian Society was established in 1962 and it was the first New Zealand organisation for homosexual men. Although homosexuality wasn't mentioned in the club rules or minutes, its objective was to promote among its members an honest desire to serve the development of friendship, mutual respect and tolerance [00:42:30] in all its aspects. But It was primarily a private social club that avoided political action. But in 1963 it took the first steps in New Zealand towards law reform by forming a legal subcommittee that collected books and other resources. And directly from this was formed the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society. Now the Dorian Club had a number of different locations around Wellington. Uh, including on Lampton Quay, done by cable car lane. It had an all male policy [00:43:00] for some time. Uh, lesbians couldn't be members or even guests at the beginning, but by the time it was here at the Wall Street Village, it was open to all members. Also in the Wall Street Village, uh, was a lesbian owned and operated private club called Outrage. And that was here from 1991 until 1993. So now let's move to our second to last stop. Second to last stop, Yes, two more stops. Yep. And, uh, here we are [00:43:30] on the red dot and we're going, uh, just up to the yellow dot Now, that is where the, um, majestic centre is now. And that's the shot of the street view. So what? We're actually going to be talking about is one the pollen house, which is this lovely wooden building on the corner in the centre of the shot. Um, but also about bull cot chambers and bull Cott chambers no longer exists. Um, but it was a real, um, a real magnet and, [00:44:00] uh, a hub for rainbow activism in the seventies and eighties. And in this shot, um, we have, um the Pollen house, which is now on the corner but was originally a bit further up the street that's on the left and then on the right. We have bull cott chambers and Cott chambers had a whole variety of rainbow, um, community organisations. It was the site of the Women's Resource Centre, the women's Health collective and the Gay Community Centre. [00:44:30] On the third floor was the Lesbian Centre, which was the first of its kind in New Zealand. It was set up in November 1980 also on the third floor was the Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Centre. And so the the the the purpose of the resource centre was, um, to gather information around homosexual law reform around health legal issues. Uh, human rights and and just as a way of collecting and disseminating information and also being a hub [00:45:00] of, um, activist activity. So, um, not only was it a hub, it was also, um, a target for arson. And it was targeted twice for arson once, in October 1985. And that was before homosexual law reform had passed. And this image here is actually from the 11th of September 1986. And it shows Phil Parkinson, who also was involved in setting [00:45:30] up the aid support network. Um, and Phil was involved with the resource centre and, um, looking through the damage, and this arson was done. Um, the arsonists were never found. And they, um, fag onto the wooden floor. Um, before they left. So there was an idea of, you know, what was, um what was annoying them? Well, that old wooden house, uh, [00:46:00] which we see in the back of there, um, was the pollen house as we mentioned, uh, it was moved down to the corner of the site there, Um, just after law reform. Um, in the late 19 eighties, the house was that of doctor pollen, and it was his home and surgery that he actually died there in 1918 after contracting influenza during the influenza pandemic following the first World War. Um, Doctor [00:46:30] Pollen was the Wellington port health officer, and he is believed he contracted the virus while inspecting um overseas ships in Wellington Harbour. His wife, Catherine, had died earlier in 18 94 but he lived in the house here with his two daughters, Dorothy and Effie. Now, if he was born in 18 79 and was mainly remembered is mainly remembered these days for her long term relationship with the famous New Zealand poet Ursula Bethel. That relationship [00:47:00] lasted over 30 years. He's a lovely photo of Ursula and Cat. It's a very large cat as well, a very large cat. So the two met in London in 1905 and they lived overseas, uh, for many years, not returning to New Zealand to live until they were in their forties, Uh, when pollen returned to New Zealand before followed. And there's a suggestion that for a time they might have lived together in the pollen house there, uh, on the corner of Willis and um street, [00:47:30] Um, but, uh, certainly by 1919, they were living together in Christchurch at a place called Rise Cottage. And here's a great image of the interior of Rye Cottage if he kept house and supported Ursula so that Ursula could write. And in fact, Bethel wrote most of her poetry during this period, describing their home and garden and life together, and Bethel called POA her little Raven. But even though they lived together, they were at pains to travel separately [00:48:00] on public transport so as not to arouse suspicion. Now, while they guarded their privacy, they did invite friends to visit, including members of the Rainbow community like um the Artist toss Williston and the poet Charles Brash and Walter Darcy Cresswell. Now, a few days after Bethel's birthday, her 60th birthday, Pollen complained of severe headaches. And so she went to bed and, sadly, died there three days later of a brain haemorrhage. Um, the [00:48:30] distraught Bethel wrote openly of her grief for Colin and letters and in six memorial poems that were written on the anniversaries of Colin's death. In the sixth Poem poem, the sixth poem, The final one, called Spring 1940. She asks God to match spring with vision, spirit of beauty bring with your persuasive love to the inward eye awakening least looking on this life to count what time [00:49:00] has taken I cannot bear the pain. It's a sad poem, really. Now if he is buried in Kari Cemetery And also, quite sadly, I think Ursula is buried not with EE but buried in North Canterbury. Um, just before we leave this kind of area, I just want to show you, um, one really interesting photograph we found when we were, um, working out this tour. Um, but to do that, we just need to, um, skip the [00:49:30] location a little bit. So we're at the red dot and we're going to cross over to the west of us. Kind of, um this is going to Perrot's corner, which is literally just across the road, and here we are. So the red dot is obviously the pollen house and the yellow dot is Perrot's corner. And the interesting thing when we started doing this tour was that we came across a photograph from the 18 sixties, and, um, [00:50:00] just remember where that yellow dot is. Now we'll go to the 18 sixties and we're on the yellow dot so the yellow dots appear corner. Um, and what struck us about this photograph was how close you are to the waterfront. Um, literally. You are just a block away from Wellington Harbour. If you know Wellington, you'll know that it's already been infilled. Um um, over the last 100 years. And, um so where there is water [00:50:30] in that photograph, we now have things like, um Civic Square, um, to, um, public library, public library. Um, and it is just quite to see the kind of natural harbour in 18 sixties. Well, we're going to go to our last stop now, and, um oh, we've already been thanked. We haven't finished yet. You can't leave. We [00:51:00] do. We've still got one more. Stop. No, stop. Don't leave us. Um, OK, Our our last stop is, um, right here. We're going from, um, pets corner the red dot to the yellow dot, which is on Victoria and Manor Street. And the building we're talking about is where that Amazon surf building is there now. So, um, [00:51:30] that site was the site of, um, one of Henry Britain's pharmacies. Now, Henry Britton arrived in Wellington from Auckland in the 18 seventies with his family. He established a number of pharmacies around Wellington, one on Lampton Quay and then this one, which is called the RO Dispensary. In 18 76. It was affectionately known as the pill box because it had an octagonal shape, and you can't really see the Octagon shape in [00:52:00] this photo. But if you see one sort of a modern photo looking down there, you can see it's it's more sort of triangular, but it has a few more sides than the triangle. Um, that interesting shape gave its nickname the Pill box. Now, if you popped in there for a medicinal remedy, you may well have spoken to a young Robert Gant, who was Britain's apprentice there for four years before he moved to Masterton in 18 82. Now, Robert Gant loved photography and theatre, but he also had a long career as a female [00:52:30] impersonator taking the stage name Cecil Riverton. Cecil is on the right there in this photo. Now, this, um uh the the the Evening Post. I should say the evening post is what I want to say. Declared Cecil is achieving a pronounced success on the part of Little Butter Cup in the 18 81 production of HMS for But I think it's, um, well, probably it's Robert's photography from the late 18 hundreds [00:53:00] that, um, still really does resonate with us. Uh, today, um, so Robert's visual interests included, uh, young men sailors, shoes. Uh, he had a bit of a thing for execution scenarios. So at the time there were, uh, there was a thing about, um, beheadings, Um, theatrical beheadings, which were were interesting. Um, he he moved up to around the Masterson area just north of Wellington. And this is the 18 eighties 18 nineties, [00:53:30] and these are some photographs that that he took so as a chemist, he could develop his own photography. Um, this is an image, uh, with actually Robert being in the centre. He's the one resting his head on on on on the head. Uh, there's another image here. Robert is the one being kissed. So Robert's, uh, uh, not the one with the hat. Um, but just really, um, unambiguous, uh, imagery for that time when you think this is rural [00:54:00] New Zealand in the 18 eighties and 18 nineties. And here are a lovely couple of images, um, of Charlie Hay. And so Charlie Hay was the son of the Greyhound butcher. And not only did he get photographed by Robert, um, but they developed and had a relationship. And in 19 05 around 19 05, they moved back to Wellington and actually lived in, um in Wellington for over [00:54:30] 25 years together. And one of the really lovely things, uh, with this story is that all these images come from two photo albums, Uh, that Robert kept. And then they were passed on to Charlie and through Charlie, they were passed through the hay family and subsequently, um, ultimately, uh, deposited with the Alexander Turnbull library. Uh, here in in Wellington. So it's that wonderful kind of, um, going down through the family [00:55:00] and being passed to a national institution. Um, and you think of all the moments in time when those photographs could have been destroyed, the albums could have been thrown out. Um, but they weren't and the images were taken. And it's a wonderful, um, entry into rural New Zealand 18 eighties in terms of our kind of our rainbow heritage. And what a lovely, um, kind of place to end and This is the end. This is [00:55:30] the end. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for, um, for for sticking with us over the last 50 minutes. We really hope that you've enjoyed, um, this walk tour through Wellington. Um, we are doing these on a monthly basis. We've got a number of tours that we do, and our next tour is going to be on Sunday, the seventh of June at one o'clock, and we're going to be doing the violet walk. I think it's the violet walk tour. We're going from parliament, um, down [00:56:00] onto the terrace and then down onto the waterfront. So, um, quite different stories. Um, please feel free to, um to join us. Um, And again, these will be, um, available on YouTube, Um, after the live stream as well, so that they can be shared and commented on if you have any suggestion, um, please feel free to get in contact with us. Um, at walks at dot NZ. And, um, just one final. Thank you. Yeah, thanks very much. Hope to see you soon and thank you to, um, Alison [00:56:30] Laurie. And probably what I mean. The thing is as well as thanking you is Dr Alison Laurie and Hugh Young for their research. So thank you. Have a lovely afternoon. Really? Looking forward to a haircut. Um, Hope it happens this week. You might You might see you have a lovely afternoon.
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