Throwback: The emotional impact of the Australian Quilt on World AIDS Day 1992
Sydney Star Observer, November 27 and December 11, 1992
AS a way to remember and celebrate the lives of those who had passed away from AIDS-related illnesses, the 450 panels that made up the Australian Quilt were put on display at Sydney’s Darling Harbour for World AIDS Day in 1992.
[showads ad=MREC] The day closed with an emotional ceremony where NSW Law Society president John Marsden delivered an impassioned speech as the guest speaker.
“It’s easy in an Anglo-Saxon society to throw it away as a gay disease,” he said.
“It’s easy in Africa to throw it away as a disease of a poor underprivileged black nation. But it’s not. It’s a disease that it touching everyone.” (Scroll down for full speech.)
The Quilt had been on display a week prior, where school children were taken to see it as part of a community education program.
** The Sydney Star Observer is what the Star Observer was known as in 1992.
-
Page 6, November 27, 1992 edition of the Sydney Star Observer
-
Page 13, November 27, 1992 edition of the Sydney Star Observer (the former name of present-day Star Observer)
-
Page 17, December 11, 1992 edition of the Sydney Star Observer. (See enlarged text of John Marsden’s speech below)
______________________________________
PREVIOUS ‘THROWBACK’ STORIES:
WHEN THE OLYMPIC TORCH CAME TO SYDNEY’S OXFORD ST
WHEN PATRICK BROOKES WAS CROWNED MR LEATHER AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY STAR OBSERVER, FRIDAY JUNE 26, 1987
A HIGHLIGHT IN NSW’S DECRIMINALISATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY CAMPAIGN
ONE YEAR SINCE NEW ZEALAND ENACTED GAY MARRIAGE
AUSTRALIA MARKS GAY PRIDE WEEK
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: WHEN TASMANIA DECRIMINALISED HOMOSEXUALITY
______________________________________
**This article was first published in the December edition of the Star Observer, which is available now. To obtain a copy, click here to find out where you can grab one in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and select regional/coastal areas.
Read the December edition of the Star Observer in digital format:
[showads ad=FOOT]
You May Also Like
Support the Star Observer… while you still can
LGBTQIA+ media is under threat. Queer content is censored by tech conglomerates who amplify bigotry and push out AI slop — so we receive less financial support than ever.
When our community is muzzled and intolerance intensifies, we need queer media more than ever. Your donation means we can continue paying queer journalists to write queer news.
Don’t rely on the straight lies of big tech – support Star Observer instead and donate now.
