Ron Smith interviewed by James Waites in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras oral history project [sound recording]
- Bib ID:
- 5716565
- Format:
- Audio
- Author:
- Smith, Ron, 1951-, interviewee
- Online Access:
- National Library of Australia digital collection item.
- Access Conditions:
- Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
- Description:
-
- 2011
- 4 sound files (ca. 354 min.)
- Series:
- Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras oral history project.
- Summary:
-
Ron Smith talks about key associations with Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras (MG); 1970's 'acid' (LSD) culture; MG workshops, Peter Tully; James Mollison, National Gallery of Australia; his mother's creative influence; family background; schooling; living conditions; art school; Bert Flugelman; a community cultural development project, an important theme in his life; influential exhibitions at Art Gallery of NSW (1967?); attending National Art School (East Sydney Technical College), life drawing; Kim Hilder's Art School Film Club; David Humphries; Christo; functioning of the early Parades; committee's initial lack of interest in the Mardi Gras Workshop until later; police and roads authority; venue The Roxy - for living, creating and partying, shop downstairs; Romy Hart; theatre productions, band playing in shop window; papier-mache stage; Silvia & the Synthetics; the Purple Onion; homosexuality legalised (1984); Wendy Bacon; Neville Wran; communists; Land Rights protests; the Riley Street house, availability of drugs; Ellis D. Fogg; Taylor Square; sleeping in Centennial Park, night people; attending public demonstrations; (Kings) Cross; Gay Rights; the Punk scene and the Punk-Queer-Glam scene; the first Mardi Gras Parade (1978); Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP), Gay Lib(eration).
Smith discusses the arrival of AIDS and the role of MG in combating public's fear of AIDS; Aids Council of N.S.W. (ACON), funded by Mardi Gras; an Australia Council grant to Peter Tully; working with David Humphries in Haymarket; taking part in Mardi Gras Workshop between 1983-88 and later; working on (1981-2?) Sydney Festival and murals in old (Paddy's) market building; his costume creations; volunteers; the discussions to cancel 1985 Parade due to AIDS scare; Sleaze Ball (1986); Mardi Gras has an Executive Director (1987) for the first time; Doris Fish; the Bicentennial year (1988); the evolving Mardi Gras, crowds; his workload; David McDiarmid; bureaucracy; Cath Phillips; (Christian) Festival of Light, Fred Nile; Mardi Gras Board; MG bankruptcy (2002); not seeing the Parade for many years, but has noticed many of the old skills had been passed on, community group involvement; the emphasis nowadays, on Gay marriage.
- Notes:
- Recorded on 6 and 10 September 2011 in Woonona, N.S.W.
- Index/Finding Aid Note:
- Timed summary (15 p.) and uncorrected transcript (typescript, 185 leaves).
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Waites, James, 1955-2014, interviewer
- Related Records:
-
This belongs to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras oral history project.
This collection contains 21 records. - Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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- Reason for copyright status:
- Until 2081 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Sound Recording
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 2011
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