Features
1750 deathbed confession includes tale of failed gay seduction
A British museum recently acquired a 1750 pamphlet detailing the deathbed confession of Thomas Mun, executed for various crimes in that year. Mun speaks candidly about various exploits including an account of a failed gay seduction. Executed for robbing a mail coach, Mun apparently handed the manuscript to his jailer on the morning of his …
For all the lovers: LGBTIQ+ Valentine’s Day love quotes
For much of history, Valentine’s Day remained off-limits to all but heterosexual lovebirds. Indeed, most societies excluded romantics of diverse genders and orientations from the public celebration of their love. But times have changed in much of the world. So here are some LGBTIQ+ Valentine’s Day love quotes for all the lovers, however, and with …
Shelley the Magnificent: PFLAG+ National Spokesperson retires
Shelley Argent stepped down this month as PFLAG+ National Spokesperson. In that position and others, she advocated tirelessly for LGBTIQ+ rights over more than two decades. Shelley Argent, however, told QNews she will continue to advocate behind the scenes. “I’m a mother. Mums don’t retire. It’s a job for life. As the mum of an …
Dr Albert W Noll: The Fairy, the Fire Fiend and the Fiddle
The author came across Dr Albert W Noll while researching the recent publication COON: more holes than swiss cheese. The young Boston dentist enjoyed notoriety for his appearances on the Boston stage during the 1890s. He usually performed in drag, either as a white woman or in blackface as a ‘mammy’ caricature. Born into Boston …
Happy Birthday Ned Kelly, though we never knew you at all
Although a national icon, Ned Kelly remains something of an enigma. The most famous bushranger of them all stares out at the world through a slit in his armour plate helmet and everyone makes of him what they will. Despite Red and Ellen Kelly not registering Ned’s birth, documentation indicates a December 1854 birthdate. In …
How a long-forgotten ‘confirmed bachelor’ informs our history
When Robert Herbert and John Bramston sailed home to England after six years in the new colony of Queensland, John’s younger brother remained. A ‘confirmed bachelor’, Henry Bramston played a prominent role in Brisbane life but was quickly forgotten after his death. Robert Herbert, private secretary to Sir George Bowen, arrived in Brisbane in November …
Herston: the companionship that dared to speak its name
In the century when ‘the love that dare not speak its name’ became a euphemism for homosexuality, Queensland’s first premier and his longtime male companion enjoyed a companionship that not only spoke its name but bequeathed it to posterity. Robert Herbert and John Bramston combined their two surnames into one and named the home they …
Vintage Gay Panic Defence – The Cooyar Tragedy, 100 years ago
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of The Cooyar Tragedy, perhaps Australia’s first example of gay panic defence. The newspapers of the day gave that name to the murder north of Toowoomba in 1920 of David Frederick Hawes (Fred). The man charged with the murder, Henry Arthur Dale (Harry), pleaded Not Guilty based on what we …
Pompo and Christie Palmerston: how statues sometimes lie
As #BlackLivesMatter protests continue across the world, statues commemorating divisive historical figures come under fire. At Milla Milla on the Atherton Tablelands, a statue commemorates two people, one white and the other Aboriginal. The white man is Christie Palmerston, a noted explorer, and the Aboriginal is his ‘companion’ Pompo. Milla Milla sits at the top …
Gene Saint aka Jean Delmonico, legendary Brisbane Drag Queen
Smiling postie by day, legendary Brisbane drag queen by night, Gene Saint lived a long full life. The elder of Brisbane’s Rainbow community passed away peacefully last week aged almost 93. I met Gene in the early 70s at one of Dame Sybil Von Thorndyke’s annual Queen’s Birthday Balls. I thereafter received invitations to his …
