LGBTQIA+ SEA: Collecting Australian Queer Water Stories

1 MARCH 2024

Collecting Australian Queer Water Stories

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is widely celebrated every year. This year the Australian National Maritime Museum is launching a research program to highlight queer maritime histories.

This program will explore the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people living and working on our seas, rivers, lakes, and waters.

The Museum is inviting people to share their stories (anonymously if preferred) for our archive and for an exhibition in 2025.

They could include experiences in the navy, merchant marine, travel and tourism, on wharves and ports and in surf-lifesaving, swimming and sailing communities.

Project curator Will Mather said, ‘The LGBTQIA+ experience is under-represented in our collections and exhibitions and we’d like to change that. We know that the stories are out there, we want to hear and share them.’

If you have a story to tell, or images to share please contact the project curator on curator@sea.museum.

For more information, go to:

www.sea.museum/tell-us-your-story

ENDS

For images go to: Media images

Image: Scott Gustetter: swimmer, 2002. ANMM Collection NC701231, © Paul Freeman. Reproduced courtesy of Paul Freeman

For further information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Alex Gonzalez                  alex.gonzalez@sea.museum                     phone 0401 545 778