WestPride Archives

About organisation

WestPride Archives (formerly the Gay and Lesbian Archives WA or GALAWA) was registered as an incorporated association in 1998. WestPride Archives preserves and curates a collection of historically significant materials relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and gender diverse, intersex, queer, Brotherboy and Sistergirl and Asexual (LGBTIQA+) Western Australians. WestPride Archives collections are currently held in the Special Collections Library, Murdoch University, Western Australia.

Acknowledgement

Preamble to the WestPride Constitution, adopted 21 September 2023
WestPride Archives recognises the diverse Aboriginal communities who are custodians over the lands upon which we live. We appreciate the histories and identities of Aboriginal LGBTQIA+ people that existed prior to colonisation and acknowledge the impact this ongoing process has had on Indigenous/Queer communities across the continent. We celebrate the peoples and communities who extend our stories back into the deep histories of this continent, and with whom we, with pride, share a common future, and acknowledge the inspiration and work of the original Gay And Lesbian Archives of Western Australia (GALAWA) established in 1998 and to whom WestPride Archives is the successor.

WestPride Archives in Western Australia collects and curates diverse materials including personal papers and organisational records, photographs, posters, costumes and clothes, banners, books, and other ephemera which helps interpret the lives of homosexuals in WA from the Second World War, through to LGBTIQIA+ contemporary life in 2024.

While many milestones in the history of LGBTIQIA+ people in Western Australia can be seen to be similar, and connected, to those across Australia, the isolation of the West and its large regional areas has meant that Western Australian LGBTIQIA+ people had their own unique experiences. This archive is significant in its aim to, and value, documenting these similarities and differences.

WestPride Archives Specialist Collections include:
- The Lespar Library of Lesbian books, magazines, taped broadcasts and documents
- The Gerald Glaskin Collection, author of 'No End to the Way', Western Australia's first gay novel
- The Gay Museum Collection, significant objects and oral histories, curated by Jo Darbyshire 2003
- The CAMP (Campaign Against Moral Persecution) Collection
- The James Rendell and Abbey of the Black Swan, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Collections
- The Pride WA (fmr. Lesbian and Gay Pride WA) Collection, including records, minutes and posters
- The Acceptance and Max Karnaghan Metropolitan Community Church Collections
- Newspaper and magazine collections, West Side Observer and specialist publications
- Costumes and posters

Access
Collection items are frequently displayed at LGBTIQA+ events, and the archive is open by appointment to visitors and researchers.

Collection Software
WestPride archives uses a relational database 'History Database' for small museums. It is used by seven organisations and has a built-in function to reconfigure data suitable for bulk upload to Collections WA.
Please contact WPA for more information.

Collection

Collection overview

Collection Overview

The WestPride Archives collections began informally being collected in 1996 by people with an interest and a passion for understanding the histories and preserving the heritages of LGBTIQIA+ communities in WA, and which lead to the creation of the archives as a legally incorporated association in 1998.

WestPride Archives hold two intact collections, which are of national significance: the Gerald Glaskin Collection, the author credited with writing the first Australian ‘Gay’ novel, No End To the Way (1965) and the unique Lespar Library, the first feminist and lesbian lending library in Australia, which operated from 1978-1994.

A number of oral history interviews made in the 1990s, and early 2000s with key members of the WA LGBTIQIA+ community, many now deceased, are some of WestPride’s most significant documents; an important resource for future research and of significant social and rarity value.

WestPride Archives also hold significant organisational records of Camp Inc WA, Pride WA, the Gay and Lesbian Counselling Service WA (GLCS) and the Gay Activities Group (GAGS), a fundraising group created to support the WA AIDS Council and many others.

The Archives also collects regional LGBTIQIA+ material. This material is mostly connected to regional Pride festivals, with other material that reflects being Queer in remote and regional areas in WA.

Collections

All Items (2790 items)