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Queer-ways: Retracing Queer Footprints

Explore the queer history of Yarra, guided by voices and music from the local queer community.

Explore the queer history of Yarra, guided by voices and music from the local queer community.

Queer-ways maps the queer cartography of Australia, combining the queer stories and voices of past and present into a permanent, interactive record.

In Yarra, this project is made up of a mural and an audio tour.

Mural

The Retracing Queer Footprints mural on Little Smith Street in Fitzroy provides a timeline of Melbourne's queer history. The mural does not share the whole story of queer history but is a summary of some of the significant events in the LGBTQIA+ community.

The mural gives context to the locations and events covered in the Queer-ways audio tours, so that listeners can understand the political and social changes that have impacted the LGBTQIA+ community through time.

Audio tours

The Retracing Queer Footprints audio tours introduce you to locations and events of significance to the local LGBTIQA+ community.

There are 3 audio tours to choose from, where you can listen and follow along as Queer-ways artists LUCIANO and Georgia Keats take you on a spoken journey through Yarra. The tours are also narrated by members of the local LGBTIQA+ community and feature music produced by Maize Wallin and Jennifer Loveless.

2 tours start at the mural and 1 starts at Melbourne Polytechnic in Fairfield, which used to be the site of the Fairfield Infectious Disease Hospital and the main site for treatment and research for HIV/AIDS in Victoria.

You can listen to the audio tours and download tour maps at the Queer-ways website.

Retracing Queer Footprints has been made possible through the support of Yarra City Council through Yarra City Arts, City Heritage, Community Partnerships and Yarra Libraries, Midsumma for Melbourne Pride - A Road to Pride and the State Government of Victoria.