Oxford Street & the First Mardi Gras Route (1978)

Around 10pm on June 24, 1978, a crowd gathered at Taylor Square and set off down Oxford Street — a night-time celebration-protest marking Stonewall's anniversary. Police seized the lead truck, the march diverted to Kings Cross, and the night ended in violence: 53 people arrested, held in the Darlinghurst Police Station, several beaten in the cells. The Sydney Morning Herald published the arrestees' names, outing many with ruinous consequences. The marchers came back the next year, and every year since: the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is now among the world's great LGBTQ festivals, and the survivors of that first night — the 78ers — lead the parade to sustained ovations. NSW Parliament formally apologised to them in 2016. What you see today: Oxford Street remains gay Sydney's spine, with the permanent curved rainbow crossing at Taylor Square (installed 2019, repainted in Progress Pride colours 2024) as the route's marker. There is no single 78ers plaque — the crossing, and Qtopia in the police station where they were held, carry the memory. Walk the route: Taylor Square, down Oxford, and end at Qtopia.