Rare Footage Of The First Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Found

Almost 50 years after the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, rare footage of the historic night has been unearthed by the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), bringing to light a powerful visual record of the event for the first time in decades.

The discovery comes ahead of this years Mardi Gras celebrations that are set to light up the streets of Sydney this weekend.

Rare Mardi Gras footage uncovered

This year will mark 47 years since the first Mardi Gras, which began as a protest in the streets of Sydney in 1978. Now, nearly 50 years later, rare footage of the event has surfaced.

The footage, originally filmed by Ten Eyewitness News in 1978, was uncovered as part of an ambitious NFSA project to digitise thousands of hours of archived news tapes.

Video released shows crowds of revellers marching in the streets adorned in colourful outfits, however the footage also shows the darkness of the night.

The second half of the footage shows police cars arriving on the scene as they begin to arrest participants with others fighting back against the police officers in the street.

NFSA curator Nick Henderson was instrumental in identifying the lost footage and recognising its significance for the LGBTQIA+ community.

“There were about 9,000 items, and I went through a process of identifying some of the film and came across this material and saw it as an opportunity to showcase it and bring it back to the public,” Henderson told the ABC this week.

Previously, much of what was known about the first Mardi Gras came from written accounts and still photographs.

This newly surfaced film offers an unprecedented moving image of the night, providing a stirring connection to the event for modern audiences.

“For a lot of people, it might have just been a word on the page or a static image, but being able to see that moving image of the events of that night enables them to get a real sense of what it was like,” Henderson explained.

The rediscovery of the footage comes just in time for this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, allowing a new generation to see history unfold as it happened.

The NFSA’s digitisation project has been instrumental in reviving long-lost stories, with this footage standing out as one of the most significant finds for Australia’s LGBTQIA+ history.

Ken Davis, one of the original organisers of the 1978 march, was among those to view the footage, speaking to the ABC he recalled the events of that night in 1978.

“At night, I wasn’t sure anyone was going to come to Taylor Square, and people turned up late, it was very cold, we had one truck with one banner,” he recalled.

The NFSA’s discovery highlights the importance of archival work in preserving queer history, particularly as early records of LGBTQIA+ activism were often not prioritised or properly maintained by mainstream institutions.

Now, with the footage digitised and accessible, it stands as a vital resource for education, reflection, and commemoration for future generations.