From protest to party: Sydney’s Mardi Gras route added to the national heritage register

Protesters who marched along Oxford Street in Sydney’s first Mardi Gras parade in 1978 urged hundreds of spectators to join them with the rallying cry: “Out of the bars and onto the streets.”

The route of those marchers, known as the 78ers, who sparked the long-running Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, is going from the streets into the history books in recognition of the parade’s immense historical and cultural significance to Australia.

On Thursday, the federal government will announce it has added the two-kilometre Mardi Gras route through inner Sydney to the National Heritage Register, alongside the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, days before more than 10,000 people march in the 48th annual parade on Saturday.

The listing traces the approximate path of that first march, which was marred by police violence and arrests, as well as the contemporary Mardi Gras parade route from Hyde Park to Moore Park.

It also includes parts of Oxford Street, Flinders Street, William Street, Anzac Parade, Darlinghurst Road, and the old Darlinghurst Police Station, which is home to Qtopia Sydney, an LGBTQ museum.

Federal Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek said it was “fantastic to see the Mardi Gras route finally receive the national recognition it deserves”.

“This listing acknowledges the pain, violence and discrimination the 78ers fought against, and the celebration of love and diversity at the heart of Mardi Gras every year,” Plibersek said.

Sydney’s first Mardi Gras parade took place on June 24 in 1978. The event was organised by the Gay Solidarity Group to support gay rights and peacefully protest oppression and discrimination.

But the march – which was planned to move from Taylor Square to Hyde Park, the reverse of the current route – turned into a violent clash with authorities as police arrested 53 LGBTQ protesters.

It sparked a movement that gathered momentum over decades to become the world-famous parade along Oxford Street to celebrate diversity and protest ongoing discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Activist and 78er Dianne Minnis remembers “a light-hearted mood of celebration” as crowds gathered at Taylor Square for the first march. The group had a permit, but police later started to move protesters on, eventually stopping the parade’s lead sound truck and seizing the keys.

“Then it got very, very fraught. Someone said, ‘Let’s go to the Cross’. It was electric,” Minnis said.

She was among those who followed the vans transporting activists to Darlinghurst police station, where they sang and chanted outside as they listened to protesters getting bashed inside the cells.

“One of the songs we sang was We Shall Overcome, and I guess, to some extent, we did.

“I’d like the parade route to be remembered as a time when our community came together to have fun, but then responded to police oppression and fought back, and ended up changing the laws, and the culture in Australia,” Minnis said.

Police formally apologised for their actions at the 1978 parade in 2016.

Federal Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt said the listing was the nation’s highest heritage honours, and meant the route’s values would be protected under national environment law.

“Since 1978, the parade has offered an opportunity for all Australians to come together and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and reflect on the past.”

A federal government spokeswoman said businesses along the route would not be impacted by the listing, and road maintenance works and changes to buildings on the Oxford Street strip were “highly unlikely” to have a significant impact on the heritage values.

“The listing is largely intangible, focused on the association of the place with the historical events of 1978, and the 78ers, as well as the ongoing annual parade,” the spokeswoman said.

The route was designed to capture the history of the 1978 protest in highlighting inequality for LGBTQ people, and the parade’s role as an enduring cultural event in Australia, as well as its role at the epicentre of the marriage equality movement.

A government statement said the route “remains a place for cultural celebrations and political demonstrations, advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights and influencing social change within Australia, and continues to be a beacon of tolerance, inclusion and social activism”.

The NSW Heritage Council nominated the route for inclusion on the national heritage list in 2024.

NSW Environment and Heritage Minister Penny Sharpe said members of the LGBTQ community had been treated as second-class citizens, and the 78ers had bravely refused to accept inequality.

“Today, Mardi Gras is a time to celebrate the progress we have made while committing to the ongoing fight for equality, but we must never forget the shoulders we stand on.”

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.