Government provides funding for Australia’s lesbian and gay archives
Image: Federal MP Kelly O'Dwyer making the announcement at the Archives this week.
THE federal government has provided funding for the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives (ALGA) to help it digitise the outtakes from a classic documentary about the events leading up to and including Sydney鈥檚 first Mardi Gras.
Liberal MP Kelly O鈥橠wyer announced the $14,975 grant under the government鈥檚 Community Heritage Grants Program at the Archives in Melbourne this week.
鈥淚 congratulate the Archives on receiving this funding, which will be used for the digitisation of its audio-visual collection, helping to preserve a wealth of nationally significant archival footage and sound recordings,鈥� she said.
鈥業鈥檓 particularly delighted that the Archives is in my electorate of Higgins.
鈥淭he Archives is a wonderful volunteer-run organisation that is home to the largest collection of historical material about the lesbian and gay experience in Australia including tapes, films, photographs, speeches, and broadcasts.鈥�
The grant will help the Archives to digitise the outtakes of Digby Duncan鈥檚 documentary film 鈥榃itches and Faggots, Dykes and Poofters鈥� from 1979.
Duncan donated the outtakes which focus on the historic events in New South Wales in 1978 around Sydney鈥檚 first ever Mardi Gras that saw queer people attacked by state police.
The personal experiences of LGBTI people are revealed through interviews, highlighting the many ways in which gay people suffered discrimination at the time.
The Community Heritage Grants Program helps non-profit community organisations preserve and ensure locally held, nationally important cultural heritage collections across Australia.
Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield said the government was pleased to provide $415,000 in grants for the program between 2016-17 as a means to support 77 projects across Australia.
