Monday 10 June 2013

The early Sydney GLBTQI scene, Oxford St Collage and Mardi Gras 2012 and 2013. Original music on this video is from samples by Annette Schneider, produced by Albert "MC Fade" A-Yeboah, at the recording studios set in the beautiful countryside at Jerrangle, NSW near Canberra, Australia.  http://www.phattrackentertainment.com.au


Kate and Annette became lovers in 1978 at high school and then moved to Sydney to live together and study. We were active in the Queer social and political scene. We were members of Gaysoc at UNSW and the Gay Rights Lobby.
We participated in the Stonewall March in 1979 and the Mardi Gras and other GLBTQI events in the early '80s before we moved to the country to build our rural business and family. Annette designed the "Outrageous Gay Mardi Gras" poster in 1980, the National Gay & Lesbian 1980 Conference Poster and, with Bob Hay, a lot of the Gaysoc posters.

As a professional artist, Annette has had a stalls at Fair Day, participated in a lot of Mardi Gras festival art exhibitions and has a listing in Liz Ashburn's book,"Lesbian Artists". Together with our children we have also participated in the Mardi Gras Festival equestrian event, "Mardikhana". "The Pink Triangle" was a Gay Food Stall which Kate and Annette ran at Taylor Square (in the tobacconist alcove next to the pawnbroker) and at the Queen St Fair in the 1980s.

Kate and Annette and their family celebrated the 35th anniversary of their relationship by having a float or "moving installation" in the Mardi Gras Parade.  Their son, Lee, drove the family truck in the parade. (Lee participated in the 1991 parade as a baby in a backpack) Our children, relatives and friends, both GLBTQI and straight, joined in a celebration of an 'out and proud' farming family. Kate is a horse breaker and riding instructor and Annette is a visual artist.

Our "moving installation" celebrated our history and rural lifestyle with farm animals, dancing, light art performance, a bunch of happy people and a fabulously decorated truck.
For images of Annette's art please have a look at her website
www.mobilemagicbook.net We started our relationship with major involvement in the Sydney GLBTQI scene so it was exciting to celebrate our joint anniversary with this family float.

The float was our own medium rigid Mitsubishi Dual cab tabletop with stock-crate, decorated with symbolic representations of our country life (The truck's name is "Anything's Possible") Our family and friends, in costumes of their own choice, shared the celebration in this lavishly decorated stock-crate. There were disco lights, original dance music based on farm noises, rainbow tinsel, rideable horse sculptures, rainbow bread-bag sheep sculptures on fake grass, flying and dancing birds overhead; the whole truck was transformed. The sculptures and costumes made from remnant, recycled or found objects is reflective of our ethics and lifestyle.

We were absolutedly amazed when we won a Mardi Gras Gold Show-stopper award for our family float.

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