This page features computer generated text of the source audio. It may contain errors or omissions, so always listen back to the original media to confirm content. You can search the text using Ctrl-F.
My name's Gareth. I'm Roger. And together we're Roger and Gareth. And welcome along to this Rainbow Walk tour brought to you by pride NZ dot com and walk tours dot NZ. Um, this tour [00:00:30] is looking at some specific geographical locations within Wellington, but we're also going to be talking about kind of broader, um, rainbow themes. So you get a bit of a background to, uh, Rabo history in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Now, the tour lasts around about an hour, and we're going to start at the city, um, gallery in Civic Square, and I'll show you where that is shortly. But first, we should say thank you to Dr [00:01:00] Alison and Hugh Young, upon some of whose research this tour is based. So thank you to them for that. Great. So just to give you an idea of where we are today, let's just take a look at this map and we are just with the yellow dot is so that's kind of in the civic centre in Wellington, just zooming up a wee bit further. So we're quite close to the waterfront as well, and our first [00:01:30] stop is actually the Michael Fowler Centre. So we that yellow dot is on the left. Yes. So the building on the left is the Michael Fowler Centre. And, um, Wellington has been really fortunate in the last few mayors to have really supportive, uh, mayors of the rainbow community. That hasn't always been the case. And Michael Fowler, uh, for who the Michael Fowler Centre is named, Um, is one case in point now, Michael Fowler, [00:02:00] uh, run for the 1977 mayoralty race against Carmen Rupe. Um, came and didn't win. Michael Fowler did. Um, and within a few years, he was embroiled in a bit of a rainbow controversy. Uh, when um there was advertising that he vetoed on Wellington buses that bore the dangerously inflammatory slogan, uh, lesbians contact your local community and then gave the PO. Box address of the Lesbian [00:02:30] centre. Now, um, the City Council's transport committee had decided that the ad was, um to be rejected so as not to encourage deviations from the norm. Uh, and Michael Fowler himself vetoed the advertising on the grounds that a little boy might ask his mother what a lesbian was. Well, um, this action prompted swift, um, protests both in Wellington and interesting in San Francisco when Sir Michael visited there in July 1981. [00:03:00] Um, but even if Michael Fowler, uh, wasn't particularly rainbow friendly, his buildings have become so really, um, he was by profession architect. He didn't design the Michael Fowler, though, but he did in the early 19 sixties, designed the Wellington Overseas passenger terminal, um, now luxury apartments on the waterfront and that was used for one of the Rainbow Devotion dance parties in the early 19 nineties. And then in 2016, the Michael Fowler Centre was lit up in rainbow colours to [00:03:30] show solidarity with those killed in the Orlando nightclub massacre. Uh, then, in March 2018, following a vigil in Civic Square for Zeena Campbell, who died in a Valley, the then Mayor Justin Lester lit up the building in the colours of the trans flag. And those colours are blue, pink and white. Uh, and then in March 2019, the Michael Fowler Centre hosted the 40th LGA World Conference, seeing hundreds of rainbow delegates from around New Zealand and around the world. [00:04:00] In fact, descend on Wellington. I've got to say it is really amazing when you see, um um buildings like the Michael Fowler Centre lit up in, um, the transgender colours or the rainbow flag colours. Um, it really is is quite something. When you have a mayor of Wellington, mayors of Wellington doing that and and you feel that kind of support coming from, uh, civic leaders, it it's it's quite quite special. [00:04:30] Forgot to mention at the start that actually, we are live streaming this on YouTube. So we're not actually logged into YouTube because our computer is a bit slow. Um, but if you'd like to get in contact with us, the email address is down the bottom of the screen there walks NZ great to hear from you. Great to hear that you're tuned in. Just if you want to say hi or if you want to contribute, um, you're more than welcome to get in contact. We We'll see the notifications come up. Um, yeah. [00:05:00] So our next stop is actually just a wee bit further to the right, and this is Wellington Town Hall, and the Wellington Town Hall is where the yellow dot is. And in 1985 in April 1985 an anti homosexual law reform rally was taking place here. And one of the main speakers was MP for Invercargill. Norman Jones. He was a national MP. He was very, [00:05:30] um, really rabid against the homosexual law reform bill. And, um, right from the get go at this rally in April, um, he was telling the crowd it was mainly an antireformers that were in the crowd. But there were some pro reformers there, and he was telling the pro reformers to quote, go back into the sewers and he also said to the general crowd, Turn around and look at them. But don't look too long [00:06:00] or you might catch AIDS. So AIDS and homosexual law reform are really entwined in New Zealand. Um, So the first, uh, media, um, exposure with AIDS happened in 1981 when the CDC put out a report in 1981. But it wasn't until 1984 in New Zealand, we had our first AIDS related death. So there's a good couple of years between what was happening in [00:06:30] the US and what was happening in New Zealand. Homosexual law reform in New Zealand was happening 84 85 86. Um, Fran introduced the bill in 1985. And so right from that introduction, uh, both the pro reformers and the antireformers, uh, were using a IS as as a key argument. So the pro pro reformers said that [00:07:00] we needed to decriminalise homosexual activity because people could then go and get health services. Um, education campaigns could be run in terms of safer sex. And the antireformers were saying, uh, no, this is going to just legalise the spread of AIDS and and in fact, that's the words they were using. They were saying that, um, decriminalising homosexual acts would legalise the spread of AIDS. Some other quotes from Norman Jones Um, he said [00:07:30] in an interview that it would be better for people with AIDS to die sooner rather than later to actually help prevent law reform. So really nasty stuff. Nasty stuff. He actually died. Um, just a year after law reform. Um, he had a brain tumour and and passed away in 1987. Well, to counter the venom of MP Norman Jones At that meeting, um, two activists stood up. They were Julie Mosner and [00:08:00] Maxine Wilkinson, and they stood up in the middle of a packed town Hall and began to have a passionate kiss which caused an uproar in the, um in the meeting and what it did was it reframed the whole event for the media. So this is an image from the Dominion or evening post the next day, the newspaper two men embrace. At last night's meeting, in fact, it was two women. Um, but what a courageous thing to do to [00:08:30] stand up in a in a meeting. That was, um so so anti, uh, homosexual law reform. Well, all of this was around the 85 86 homosexual law reform bill, which was introduced by Fran we. But that wasn't the first attempt at introducing law reform into Would you believe into New Zealand? Um, there've been a number of reform attempts, uh, through parliament in the 19 seventies, following, uh, years of, um, activity by activist [00:09:00] groups, um, seeking equality, and, in fact, the city gallery in what is now a city gallery in Wellington. When it was the Wellington Public Library, uh, was the venue for a public meeting set up by the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform Society. Um, and that was in July 1967 And the interesting thing about that date is that it's, um, pre seeds stonewall by a couple of years, a couple of years in New York. So things were happening in New Zealand well before [00:09:30] stonewall in terms of trying to get law reform getting back to Fran Wild's bill. It was in two parts. The first part set out to decriminalise homosexual activity between adult consenting males. That was part one, and that passed on the ninth of July 1986. But the second part of the bill, that was the bill that dealt with discrimination that was lost. Now, discrimination could be against, um, anyone based on their sexual orientation. So it was perfectly [00:10:00] legal, even after law reform in New Zealand to discriminate against, um, Rainbow people in three areas. And Gareth I wonder if you can tell me what three areas those were. Well, Roger, um, they were, uh, accommodation. So you could refuse to rent a property to someone or have somebody in your flat, uh, in employment. Uh, they could, uh, the employer could turn around and say, No. I don't want any gays, um, in this workplace and also in services so you [00:10:30] could be not served at a restaurant or any other kind of service. So quite, um, I mean, it's hard to believe that that was the case, but it did happen. It did happen. It did happen. And just interestingly, going back to the U SI mean? It's just recently been this year that the Supreme Court in the US has outlawed discrimination in terms of employment for, um, Rainbow people and that that that's like 51 years after Stonewall [00:11:00] 2020 2020. So, um, in those three areas where it was illegal to discriminate, um, that was overturned by the Human Rights Act of 1993 where discrimination in that way was outlawed. Well, we're going to move to our next stop now, and we're going from the red dot which is where the Michael Fowler Centre is. And we're just going northwards a wee bit to the yellow dot and that is Harris Street [00:11:30] and Harris Street. This is a view of Harris Street. You can see to our far left is the Michael Fowler Centre. To our far right is the current Wellington City Library and right smack bang in the middle of the image. That kind of structure is actually what was the old city library? Um, and is now the city art gallery. But the time we're going to talk about is actually when that was still the city [00:12:00] library. And just to give you an idea that on the right hand side So where that yellow dot is down past the library, a wee bit was a public toilet. And in the 19 seventies, it was a cruising spot for men who have sex with men so they would go there for anonymous sex. And our story is about an MP who got caught. Um, [00:12:30] and and the the the the charge of homosexuality was used as a political weapon. So the date was in July 1975. And the member of Parliament we're talking about is Colin Moyle. Now, Colin Moyle, Uh, he was a labour MP, and he was standing outside the city library at 11 o'clock, uh, one night and a police officer came up to him and said, You know what? What are you doing here? And he [00:13:00] said he was waiting for a friend coming out of the library. Now, unfortunately, the library closed at nine o'clock. So he'd been there for what, Two hours? He then told another police officer that he was actually, um, meeting someone to discuss Vin Young's homosexual law reform bill, which was going through parliament at the time we jump forward to 1976. And in parliament, the National Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, [00:13:30] outed Moyle in Parliament by saying that he had been picked up for homosexual activity. Now being called a homosexual or, uh, anything to do with homosexual activity was, um, really bad. It was really bad in the seventies, you know? And, you know, some people mainstream society thought it was really bad. Um, it was not something to be proud of in terms of the legality in terms [00:14:00] of being a parliamentarian holding an office. Um, yes, it wasn't a good thing at all. Unfortunately, um, mole kept changing his story. Um, a wee bit like he told parliament that it was, um, he was trailing a cat burglar. Um, he told the inquiry which followed, um that it has something to do with spying. Long end of the long end of the stick. Um, cutting this story [00:14:30] short, I should say um, he actually resigned from parliament. He didn't need to resign, but, um, in a later interview, he was saying that the whole incident just made him feel sick, and he and he resigned. Um, but this is like one of the first times that homosexuality had been used as a political weapon. Um, the other time was around the same period when Marilyn Waring was outed as a lesbian. Um, by the truth. Tabloid newspaper. Hm? [00:15:00] I know we're moving on to our next stop now. Um, and we're actually going from, uh, the red dot to the yellow dot So it's just a hop, skip and a jump, Really? And the yellow dot is on the corner of Victoria and Harris Street. And so this is or was the site of an establishment called, Which was the balcony, which was set up by Carmen Rupe. [00:15:30] Now Carmen Rue is a performer as well as being an activist, particularly around anti discrimination causes, and HIV a I DS an entrepreneur and a brothel keeper. Carmen was born in 1936 grew up in in the central North Island and relocated to Auckland and Wellington. First began drag performance while doing compulsory military service. Uh, then moved to Sydney's Kings Cross in the late 19 fifties and became Australasia's first Maori drag performer and [00:16:00] from that time lived as a woman, came back to Wellington in 1967 and established the International Coffee Lounge and this venue here, Um, it was on the corner there of Harris and Victoria streets, as we said, and it was above the hurry up. Shoe repairs is a great sort of a sketch from the time um, it was an entertainment establishment, and it catered to mixed audiences and could accommodate up to 400 people. So it was quite a substantial enterprise. It was a variety nightclub [00:16:30] and included strip tease shows. And according to the late Dana Demilo, it was never advertised as such. But it was widely known to be, uh, a transgender review. We've got a Playbill here from why this is a photo, a great photo of what it was like back in the day. Um, and this is a Playbill from one particular night in the 19 seventies, and on this night you could see the Paris by night review, which included the jungle slave girl and you could see the routines. School girl expels [00:17:00] Spider Woman and go, go Fantasia. So just to give you a taste of the sort of things that you could see there, um now, as we mentioned before, Carmen ran for Wellington's mayoralty in 1977 against, uh, Michael Fowler and lost, um, Carmen had the backing of, uh, the Wellington entrepreneur Bob Jones and her campaign slogan was Get in behind Well, part of her campaign. [00:17:30] She advocated for legalised brothels and gay marriage and was well ahead of where society was. This is 1977. Remember, law reform wasn't until 1986. Prostitution reform only happened in New Zealand in 2003, so she was way ahead of her time. OK, we're moving on to our next stop now, and that is going from the red dot to the yellow dot So we're actually going into Wakefield Street, and this is a really [00:18:00] interesting location. The location is where that yellow dot is, and that's the doorway going into the sun. Sauna. So the sun sauna was an early sex on site venue here in Wellington, right from the 19 sixties. Uh, remember like as Rod was saying that homosexual law reform didn't happen until the mid eighties. And so to actually have a six on site sauna in Wellington, Um, from [00:18:30] the sixties, uh, is quite something When it first started, um, it was very much on the down low. So if you knew, you knew and if you didn't, it was just a sauna. But in the 19 seventies, two entrepreneurs Brett Shepherd and Tony Kato from the Alti Empire in Auckland, uh, purchased the the sauna. So Brett and Tony, they had a myriad of, um, of rainbow businesses. [00:19:00] So they had a a, um, a tour business. They had a video mail order business. They had saunas. Uh, they had bars. Um, quite remarkable. They had the out magazine, uh, right from the 19 seventies. And they really challenged, um, censorship laws in New Zealand and really pushed the envelope in terms of the visibility of of kind of queer culture in New Zealand. They took over the Sun sauna here in the 19 [00:19:30] seventies and really made it much more overt as as to what it actually was in 1981. Uh, there was a raid here at the Sun Sauna, which followed a raid on the west Side sauna in Auckland And the police. I'm not quite sure why, but they were going to these venues. These, you know, you had to pay to get into the venue. So it wasn't like a, um, open to the public as such. But they raided both the saunas, [00:20:00] which prompted a number of protests in Auckland and Queen Street. There was about 600 people marched against the police persecution of the people that were in the saunas, and they made arrests, you know, they arrested people and charged them. Um And you think Surely you must have must have something better to do, not just harassment. Um, it was really interesting on one of our walk tours we had a participant talking about [00:20:30] in the sixties and seventies and early eighties. Um, gay men never gave their last names to each other. So you met people, and it was always first name only because just in case you got picked up by the police, you couldn't then inform on anyone else because you actually didn't know their their identity. Um, and that just gives a kind of a glimpse into, um I guess the fear and and also the persecution that was happening [00:21:00] for, um, Rainbow communities at the time. We're going to move from here and we're going to go. Let me just bring this up for us. Um, we're going from the red dot to the yellow dot and that's just at the lower end of Cuba Street. And Rod was saying about how the homosexual law reform happened in 85 86. Well, one of the things that happened were quite big street marches. And this is, [00:21:30] uh, the Lower Cuba Street. And walking up the street in, uh, May 1985 was this pro pro, pro law reform march. And this image is taken by David Henley. And it was for the Pink Triangle Collective, which was a collective that that put out a magazine that had a lot of, um, material around law reform. And so this march, uh, wound its way up Cuba Street [00:22:00] and ended up at our next stop, which is, uh, a park. Three days before this march, the veteran activist Alison Laurie gave her impassioned visibility speech at the Bigger Busters rally in the Wellington town hall. Now she talked about dealing with multiple oppressions self-determination and why it's important to be visible. She said that a closet is a very dangerous place to be for two reasons. Society can pretend that you don't exist and the mental [00:22:30] pressure that you suffer. She went on to say that the more visibility we have, the safer, the stronger our community will be. So come out now, be visible. Tell everyone you can be blatant, be as gay and as lesbian as you can all the time. This photo, um, also shows you can see Norman Jones on the left hand side at the back. And Jeff Bray, who was a Labour party MP. And he opposed law reform as well. And this is Alison [00:23:00] speaking into the into the microphone just before we leave this location. Um, let's just go back. This is Park, and this is where that street march ended up. But the yellow dot we just thought we would point out The yellow dot is Trojan House. And when the Sun sauna moved from Wakefield Street, it also changed its name to Wakefield sauna. Um, it actually moved into Trojan House. Um, which is just, [00:23:30] uh, looking out onto a park. OK, we're just moving along now to our next stop. So we're going from the red dot which is park, and we're going to the yellow dot and that's a very special yellow dot because it is, um, Wellington's Rainbow Precinct And Wellington's Rainbow Precinct was championed by former Mayor Justin Lester and [00:24:00] in 2018 on Carmen Rue's birthday, when she would have had her birthday. She actually died in 2011, Um, but on her birthday in 2018, um, the launch of New Zealand's Second Rainbow Crossing and Roj, can you tell me where is New Zealand's first rainbow crossing? I think I can tell you that, um, it's not, although it does have a rainbow crossing occasionally, [00:24:30] but only occasionally. Uh, no. It's actually in Queenstown is where the first rainbow crossing was. Absolutely. Yes, yeah, yeah, Well, in Wellington, um, the transport Authority, our our national transport authority, actually opposed this crossing. They said that quote there is a high risk of confusion and a dazzling and distracting effect. The police can see dazzled, dazzled? [00:25:00] Absolutely. Um, the police also opposed the crossing saying that, um, you know, there would be injuries from it, Um, you know, from crashes. And I guess if people are dazzled by the colours, um, I haven't heard of any accidents on the crossing so far. And it's been two years. Um, but yeah, also in this rainbow precinct, we have, um, Carmen Rupe, who is immortalised on our pedestrian traffic lights. [00:25:30] And you can see that the pedestrian traffic lights are where the pedestrians are kind of standing. Um, when they turn green, there's a wonderful image, a silhouette of Carmen, and that was championed by former former Mayor Celia Wade Brown in 2016. We're just staying here now, and, um, I was going to point people to the building on the left, which is barkers now, but that's the site of, um, [00:26:00] a drapery shop that was set up by, uh, Mary Taylor, which she set up with her cousin in 18. 49. Uh, now, Mary came out from England in 1945 when the population of Wellington was only 4000, and she came out sort of following her brother, um, wearing Taylor, who has a street named after him. Uh, in the CBD. Now Mary was the lover of famous English writer Charlotte Bronte, and Charlotte wrote [00:26:30] that Mary had more energy and power in her nature than any 10 men, and Mary and Charlotte had met in 1931 when they were in 1918 31 when they were at school together. And Bronte was a visitor to the Taylor's home, and she described the Taylor family's company as one of the most rousing pleasures I've ever known. Bronte died in childbirth in 18 55 without ever seeing Mary again, and in 18 59 unable to find anyone in New Zealand [00:27:00] really that she felt that she had anything in common with Mary. Returned to England, she sold her store to her assistant, who then sold it on to James Smith, the same James Smith who had the big department store on the corner of Manor Street and Cuba Street. Now Mary was a staunch believer that women should be allowed to work for money in order to guarantee their independence rather than being forced to find a husband and have the husband earn the money. And they are then forced to just look after [00:27:30] the husband and the family and not be independent of independent means. It's also worth remembering that, um uh, Mary must have been in Wellington during the 14 years where there were three major earthquakes. So she would have experienced the magnitude six Wellington Earthquake of 18. 46 and the Marlborough 7.4 earthquake in 18. 48. And then the big one, the wire up of the 8.2 magnitude earthquake [00:28:00] in 18 55. So maybe that's why she decided to leave. Could be I. I don't think I'd I I No, I wouldn't have stuck around it. Those those big earthquakes in that short space of time transformed the landscape of Wellington to really what we know of it today. Well, around this whole area, um, there have been kind of numerous clubs and bars associated with rainbow people over the last, um, four or five decades. [00:28:30] Um, probably one of the biggest ones in particular, was, um, the Royal Oak Hotel and the Royal Oak Hotel is in the foreground here, and it actually stretched. Um, quite a long way. It went right back down to te ao Park and it did the entire block and you can see now. So where that yellow dot is is where the royal oak used to be. And now it's called the Oaks complex. I [00:29:00] actually prefer the original building myself myself. Um, but you can see we've got the rainbow crossing. So we're looking, um, kind of eastwards now through Wellington. But, yeah, it was such a huge, huge, um, hotel. It had a number of bars that were known as meeting places for rainbow people in the fifties, sixties and seventies. And then the Oaks complex was built in the late seventies. Also in this vicinity, too, [00:29:30] uh, was the location of the Alfie two nightclub. There. Go just at those steps there you can see the rainbow crossing and up the steps there to Alfie's two nightclub. It was inspired by the Alfie nightclub in Auckland, uh, set up by again by Brett Shepherd and Tony Kato. The thing about was that it had a full alcohol licence and you could just walk in off the streets rather than early private clubs like the [00:30:00] Dorian Society, where you needed to be a member in order to get in. Uh, we're around about halfway through our walk tour today. Um, if you are looking at this on YouTube now, please send us an email. Um, we're not actually logged into YouTube, but if you've got any questions or if you would like to just say hi, our email address is walks at ta dot NZ. You are more than welcome to, um, say hello. It'd be great to great to hear from you. We're moving to our next [00:30:30] stop now, So we're going from where Alphie was, and we're going to cross Victoria Street. So we're going Westwood, and we're going to the yellow dot And the yellow dot is, uh, just around Edward Street. And that is the site of Casper's and Caspers Bar was a bar in Wellington from about 93 to 1997. It was a very popular bar. Um, and just you can probably tell from [00:31:00] the the the the the image quite a small, narrow bar where the two people are standing. That was one of the exits. And then there was another entrance. Um, just a bit further along in the same vicinity. We had the escape nightclub. Um, and that was famous for dudes, dances and dudes was an acronym DOO DS. Um, and that stood for [00:31:30] out of debt. And it was a really great community initiative to fundraise for, um, people that were in financial difficulties. Um, and so they happened there in the 19 nineties, and that was at the Edri Street Cafe. Well, just a block over from where we are now, uh, into Willow Street was the fourth and final location for the Dorian Society. Now the Dorian Society. Oh, there we go. It's the yellow dot there, and that's, [00:32:00] um the main right there that you can see is water street. There we go. Uh, Roger Walker designed, uh, village. Uh, it was the first New Zealand organisation for homosexual men. This is the Dorian Society, established in 1962. Um, and it was in the street village here from about 1980 through to 1988. Um, now as an organisation, even though, um, homosexuality was kind of really at its core, it wasn't mentioned [00:32:30] in the club rules or minutes. Its stated objective was to promote among its members an honest desire to serve the development of friendship, mutual respect, and tolerance in all its aspects. Um, it was primarily a private social club, and it avoided political action. But in 1963 it took the first steps in New Zealand towards law reform by forming a legal subcommittee which collected books and other resources about homosexual law reform. So this led to the formation of the New Zealand Homosexual Law Reform [00:33:00] Society. Now the Dorian had a number of different locations around Wellington, including at one stage, it was on, um, Lampton Quay just up by cable car lane. There, um, it had an all male policy For some time now. Lesbians weren't accepted as members or even guests, but by the time it got to the Willow Street Village, it was open to all. Well, let's move to our next stop now, which is we're going from the Willis Street Village with the Dorian Society. [00:33:30] Um, and we're going to B Cott Street. So the yellow dot from the red dot to the yellow dot and we're going there and you can see that there's a majestic tower now that's called the Majestic Centre. We're going to talk about two things here. Um, one is the lovely wooden building on the corner. But before that, um, we have the building on the right. Now, this is a photo from the 19 seventies. Um and I'll just point out that the lovely building [00:34:00] on the corner, uh, was actually transplanted from that corner, and its original location was actually just a bit further up Boco Street. So that's the building on the left. You see, to the right of that, we had the bull Cott Street chambers and now this was a really, uh, interesting and pivotal, um, location for rainbow activism in the seventies and eighties because it was the, um, uh, the location [00:34:30] for a number of different organisations. For instance, uh, it was the site of the Women's Resource Centre, the Heck Women's Health Collective, the Lesbian Centre, the Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Centre and the Gay Community Centre. So all these different organisations were occupying this one building, So the gay community centre was the location of Wellington's gay phone switchboard. And this is at a time, um, pre [00:35:00] Internet, pre cell phones. So there's no social media um, no Internet. Um and people could call up this this phone number and get support get counselling, get information. Um, again, This is a time when homosexual activity was still illegal. Um, and so it was a confidential service. Um, and that's where it started from. It was in the basement of Of Of this centre at six [00:35:30] Street. On the third floor of the same building was the lesbian, uh, centre. And that was the first of its kind in New Zealand. And that opened in 1980. And also on the third floor was the Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Centre. And that was a real focal point for law reform. They amassed a lot of material around law reform, um, educational, uh, information information about health. [00:36:00] Because, of course, um, aids was was coming onto the scene. Um, and it was it was a real focal point. And here's an image, actually, of, um, uh, this is the Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource Centre. In about 85. I think it was this again. This is another David Henley image, and actually, David is the one in the centre of that image. Um, so a lot of planning went on there. [00:36:30] So why do you think, Rod? It was important to have our own kind of library, Our own resource centre, lots of different reasons. One is to collect materials, I guess, for, um, law reform, but also, um, traditionally in libraries. It was awkward, Shall we say, if you're looking for books on homosexuality, because, um, often they were not held on the shelf, but behind the desk, you need to ask for them. Or if they were on the shelf. They were classified [00:37:00] via the Dewey Decimal system, which classified them amongst, um uh, mental health issues. Uh, which, um, it's quite no, it wouldn't have been a positive experience. I mean, if you're looking for yourself, um, it would not have been a particularly positive experience, so yes. And the other thing is that because it was illegal, homosexual activity was illegal. Um, people didn't want to really tell their personal [00:37:30] stories because, actually, you know, you didn't want to be outed as such. Um So the Lesbian and Gay Rights Resource centre started gathering all this information and became a focal point not only for the activists, but also for arsonists. And the centre was firebombed twice once in 1985. So that's during law reform. But actually. Then, after law reform had passed, it was firebombed again on the 11th of September [00:38:00] 1986. And here's a photo another David Hiley photo. And this shows Phil Parkinson, who was heavily involved in the centre, uh, looking through the damaged remains of the centre and just to make sure we kind of knew the thinking behind the arsonist, um, they twink fag into the wood. Now, they never actually caught the arsonist or arsonists. [00:38:30] Um, but, uh, one thing that it did do was it really prompted the community to think about How can we securely store our memories? Our archives, our, um and this is where the formation of the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand kind of came from. And the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand are now housed within the National library. Um and so it's in a in a more secure space. [00:39:00] It's still a community archive, but it's more securely held. Yeah, I know. Well, let's turn our attention now to the lovely wooden building on the corner of Walcott and Willow Streets. Uh, that's now a popular bar and cafe, but, uh, in the past, it's been uh, when it was up to the hill a bit further, As Gareth mentioned, it was a brothel, Um, but it also was a family home, and that's how it started. It was built in 1902 [00:39:30] and it was the house of Doctor Henry Pollen and his family, including his daughter. If, um, now if he was born in 18 79 and she's mainly remembered these days as, uh, the long for her long term relationship with the New Zealand poet Ursula Bethel. Uh, they were together for over 30 years. He's a lovely shot of Ursula and Pussy Cat now the two met in London in 1905 and they lived overseas for many years. They didn't return to New Zealand to live [00:40:00] until they were in their forties, when Poland returns to New Zealand before follows, and the two lived together from 1919 in Christchurch. Although because of the social um, mores of the time, uh, they didn't want to be known to be together as such, So when they ventured out into the public, if they took a tram into town, for instance, they'd take the same tram, but they wouldn't sit together, which [00:40:30] is kind of a sad indictment, really. Anyway, if he, um, kept house and supported Ursula so that she could write, um, and Ursula, Bethel wrote most of her poetry during this period describing their life together their house and their friends. Um, a few days after Bethel's 60th birthday party in 1934 Pollen complained of severe headaches. Um, she went to bed and died three weeks later of a brain haemorrhage. [00:41:00] Now, um, the distraught Bethel wrote openly of her grief for pollen and letters. And in the six memorial poems composed on the anniversaries of Pollen's death in the sixth and Final poem, Spring 1940 she asks God to match spring with vision, spirit or beauty. Bring with your persuasive love to the inward eye awakening least looking on this life to count what time has taken. I cannot bear the pain. [00:41:30] Yeah, yeah, yeah. We should, um, just say hello to Michael Moore, who is with us this afternoon, which is really lovely to see you or hear from you, Michael. Um, Michael was one of the founding people of Gap, the Gay Association of Professionals here in Wellington. which has turned into, uh, in the last couple of years, maybe 10 years. I can't remember when, um rainbow Wellington. Um [00:42:00] and so Michael was saying in his email that he needs to, um I must write some history up for you to share, and that would be amazing. Thank you, Michael. Um, yeah, no, it would be great to incorporate that into into these tours. We're going to go for a lovely little walk now in our minds, and we're going from the red dot all the way up Willow Street and then into Lampton Quay. And we're [00:42:30] at the yellow dot And so that yellow dot is here. And the reason why we've picked this photograph is because there is an earlier photograph from 18 73 taken from pretty much the same location. And that's 18 73 on Lambton Quay. And what we have here is, uh, almost in the middle is Saint Andrew's Church. [00:43:00] Now. Saint Andrew's church nowadays is on the terrace. Uh, but for a time, Saint Andrews was here on Lampton qua to the right of it. We have the Supreme Court and then to the right of that which we can't see in the image is Henry, Britain's chemist. Now the reason we're talking about Henry Britton and his chemist shop is that in the 18 seventies, a very young Robert Gant was [00:43:30] working there, So he was training to be a chemist. He had come from the United KD and was training to be a chemist. And, um, one of the things that Robert Loved was theatre, and he also loved photography. But in theatre, uh, he was a female impersonator, and his stage name was Cecil Riverton. And here's a lovely photo of Cecil on the right. And [00:44:00] The Evening Post in 18 81 declared that Cecil had achieved a pronounced success on the part of Little Butter Cup in the production of H MSP. But probably nowadays, Robert is more known for his photography. Um, he had a wide variety of photographic interests. He liked young men. Um, he liked shoes. He liked beheading. [00:44:30] Um, at the time, there was quite a fascination with execution scenarios. And so there were These aren't real beheadings. They were kind of mock beheadings. Quite theatrical. Um, but they would also do, um, kind of theatrical poses as well. Uh, So after working with Henry Britton, Robert moved northwards towards Grey Town and Masterton. And there he started taking photographs. So remember, this is the 18 eighties [00:45:00] and 18 nineties, rural New Zealand. So there's not a whole lot of people there, and it's rural New Zealand. And this is the kind of images that he was taking. So they were They weren't just, um, like, snaps. They were, You know, that they had artistic artistic merits. They were They were staged. This is probably a lot more. Um Well, it's quite blatant, isn't it? I mean, um, Robert Gant is actually the one [00:45:30] the lower of the two. So not the one without the hat. And these images here. This is, um, Charlie Hay and Charlie was the son of the great butcher. And Robert met Charlie and photographed him. Um, but then they developed a relationship, and they actually moved back to Wellington around between about 19. 05 and 19. 08. And they [00:46:00] spent I think it was around about 25 30 years together. A long a long term relationship. They lived in, um uh, together. Um, And then when robert died, his imagery was passed on to Charlie. And the reason we have these amazing images is because Charlie then passed them on to his family and then his family deposited them with the Alexander Turnbull library. Um, a a lovely, lovely [00:46:30] love story. Um, and it's just amazing one that these photographs were taken in the first place, but two that they have survived, um, all this time and are now cared for by the Alexander Turnbull Library. A lot of this material, um, can be found in a really great book by Chris Brickle, who's a historian. And, um, the book is called Manly Affections and was put out in 2012, and it's well worth a read. [00:47:00] OK, so we have moved, uh, just from Willow Street into Lampton Quay and along here in August 2000, and four members of Destiny Church marched along, uh, here towards parliament Grounds for their enough is enough rally. Now they're campaigning for a return to what they consider to be Christian moral values in New Zealand society, particularly for the sanctity of marriage between husband and wife. Now the [00:47:30] rally attracted about 7000 protesters, but also a lot of criticism with many protesters wearing black T shirts, as you can see here in black pants, prompting comparisons with Nazi storm troopers. Um, on the first of June at a destiny event called Love is greater than hate. Uh, Bishop, self appointed Bishop Brian Tamaki uh uh, said before thousands of followers that he apologised for the years of offensive remarks that he made about gay people. Um, referring to [00:48:00] the enough as a enough March. He said that if he had another chance, we do some things differently. And it has never been my intent to cause hurt or harm, he says. But one of those people that was confronting him and, um, the destiny group head on that day was Georgina Baer on the steps of Parliament. Now Georgina is born in Wellington, um, and lived, uh, early years in Wellington, then moved to Auckland and then moved back to [00:48:30] the Wellington area. Um, she's had multiple careers. Uh, in the early 19 nineties, she moved into local body politics and, um, really excitingly. She became the first openly transgender mayor in the world. Uh, and that was in 1995 and then a couple of years after that she moved into national politics, and in 1999 she became the world's first openly transgender [00:49:00] member of Parliament. Again, um, an amazing achievement. Um And so in her time in Parliament, she advocated for things like prostitution law reform, which happened in, I think, 2003, 2004, Um, and also civil unions which happened, happened around the same time. Here is a quote from her maiden speech in 2000. I'm the first transsexual in New Zealand to be standing in this house of Parliament. [00:49:30] This is a first not only in New Zealand, ladies and gentlemen, but also in the world. This is an historic moment. We need to acknowledge that this country of ours leads the way in so many aspects. We've led the way for women getting the vote. We've led the way in the past, and I hope we will do so again in the future. Well, if we jump back to August 2012, um, also marching along Lampton Quay are these people [00:50:00] here? And this is the march for marriage equality. And this happened on the day that Lewis Wall introduced the marriage amendment act. I'm sorry, Marriage Amendment Bill into parliament and right from the get go. There was a lot of young energy that was involved in this push to get marriage equality all of the youth wings in the political parties that were represented in Parliament all jointly announced their support [00:50:30] of the bill, which, um you know, when you think that New Zealand first, for instance, voted against the bill. But the youth wing, um, supported it. Um, there were other organisations like, um campaign for marriage equality, um, legalised Love and the Queer Avengers in Wellington that were also campaigning for marriage equality. And the Queer Avengers are a really interesting group. Um, they were formed in the early 2010, [00:51:00] um, because there was a lot of, um, queer homosexual transphobic violence. Um, that was going on in the streets of Wellington, um, particularly at night. And they formed as a um as a response to that now, in their submission to Parliament for marriage equality, they wrote the Queer Avengers support the Marriage Equality Act. A bill The proposed bill will alter a statute that currently discriminates against queer communities. Laws [00:51:30] should be free of discrimination. And then they went on. However, the passing of this bill will not end the fight for equal rights and an end to forms of discrimination that still exist for queer communities. So they were really clear about pointing out that, yes, marriage equality is important, but it's not the end of it, and it's not everything. I mean, there were quite a number of, um, people in the queer community that didn't want a bar of marriage, But I think it was more about [00:52:00] the right to say, Yes, I want a marriage or No, I don't you know, to have that option was really important. But it was also really important to say we need health care, you know? We need safety in schools. We need help in the kind of aged care field, a whole range of things that still need to be addressed. And that's what I think the Queer Avengers were saying. But marriage equality, um, passed. It passed, um, relatively [00:52:30] easily in New Zealand. Um, the final vote was 77 votes in favour and 44 against. When you compare that to homosexual law reform, which happened in the mid eighties, that was 49 votes in favour and 44 against. So, um, the margin was a lot greater for for marriage. Equality? Well, speaking of activism, activism takes many forms from street marches like we saw just then to doing what we would be doing today [00:53:00] if we were on the street being visible, Uh, but also to things like having a passionate kiss on the street. And that's what Neil Costello was doing back in the mid 19 eighties. Now here's a lovely photo of Neil. This was taken of Neil by David Hindley again, Uh, and it was to highlight the increase in queer bashings that were happening during homosexual law reform. Neil does a lot of design work for rainbow events of the time. Uh, he's heavily involved in campaigning for law reform, and he's also doing direct individual actions like simply [00:53:30] standing on Lampton qua here, uh, in the middle of Russia and having a long, passionate kiss with his boyfriend. Shortly after passing homosexual law reform, Neil travelled overseas, and sadly, he died in London four years later, in 1990 from AIDS related complications. According to his sister, he didn't want to get tested for HIV because at the time there were very few treatments available. Um, and he was only in hospital for a short time before he died. He's remembered, uh, here [00:54:00] in this, um, New Zealand AIDS Memorial Quilt, which is now cared for by te Papa, The National Museum. Well, let's move on to our last stop. And our last stop is going from the red dot uh, to the yellow dot And the yellow dot is further down, uh, Lampton qua and we're at Midland Park and at Midland Park, there is a really lovely um, sculpture called Woman of Words. And it's by [00:54:30] Virginia King. And it really pays tribute to the life and work of one of New Zealand's most famous writers. That being Catherine Mansfield. So Catherine was born in Wellington. Um, she was born in 18 88 but at 19, she actually left New Zealand. I don't I don't think she actually enjoyed New New Zealand that much. Um, but she left New Zealand and uh went to the United Kingdom and became friends with writers DH. Lawrence [00:55:00] and Virginia Woolf. And while in London, she frequented the Cave of the Golden Calf, which was, um, a decadent nightclub. Um, where it kind of, um, paid homage to, um, Oscar Wilde. Um, it was advertised as a place of a place given up to gaiety. It's art. Subversive interiors, brazenly expressive of the libertarian pleasure principle. Well, in 1917, [00:55:30] unfortunately, um, Catherine was, uh, diagnosed with tuberculosis, and that actually led to her death at the age of 34. In 1923 Catherine had, um a number of, uh, relationships, same sex relationships, Um, both well documented. With both men and women. Um, her first same sex relationship that we know of was with, um uh, a school girl called Mata [00:56:00] Mau. And Marta and Catherine were at school together in Wellington, and, uh, Marta was a wealthy young Maori woman. Um, and they they went to school together. Mansfield wrote of Marta, I want Marta. I want her as I've had her Terribly. This is unclean. I know, but true. Well, the second relationship that we know of, uh, was with Edith, Kathleen Bendel, and Mansfield writes and posts letters to her in [00:56:30] violet ink. Um, she invites her to stay alone with her in the family. A family batch over in Days Bay and Mansel writes in her journal Last night, I spent in her arms, and tonight I hate her. Which being interpreted means that I adore her, that I cannot lie in my bed and not feel the magic of her body. I feel more powerfully, all those so termed impulses with her than I have with any man. [00:57:00] Well, we'll end this tour with another fabulous quote from Mansfield from almost 100 years ago. She wrote it on her birthday in 1922 and only a few months before her death. From tuberculosis, she writes. Risk, risk, anything. Care no more for the opinions of others. For those voices, do the hardest thing on Earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth. It's a really fantastic quote, isn't it? It's a really fantastic [00:57:30] quote, Um, and and writing that on her birthday just a year before her death, or just a few months before her death. Yeah. Yeah. Hey. Well, thank you so much for joining us on this turquoise walk tour of Wellington. Really hope that you've enjoyed it and got some useful, interesting stories from it. Um, we've really enjoyed bringing it to you. Uh, our thanks. Go to Dr Alison Laurie and Hugh Young for allowing us to [00:58:00] use some of their research in this tour. Uh, we we do, um, tours every month. In a physical sense. We go and do these as a as a walking tour in the physical sense. Um, but we're also doing these virtually as well. So, um, please make sure you check out the other videos. Um, if you are in Wellington and you would like to go on a walk tour, um, look at the website walk tours dot NZ and and find when the next physical walk tour is [00:58:30] happening. But, um, from me, Gareth and from me. Roger. Have a great afternoon bye.
This page features computer generated text of the source audio. It may contain errors or omissions, so always listen back to the original media to confirm content.
Tags