“A Fully Formed Blast from Abroad”? Australasian Lesbian Circuits of Mobility and the Transnational Exchange of Ideas in the 1960s and 1970s

Abstract

Australasian lesbian circuits of mobility and the transnational exchange of ideas in the 1960s and 1970sIn 1973, three Australian women -Kerryn Higgs, Robina Courtin and Jenny Pausackerreturned to Melbourne having spent two years in London. Later the same year, New Zealander Alison Laurie arrived home after a nine-year stint overseas, which included periods of time living in England, Scandinavia and the USA. The return of all four had a catalytic effect on lesbian politics in their home communities. Pausacker, Higgs and Courtin were credited with precipitating a physical and ideological shift away from mixed gay politics toward a feminist perspective on lesbianism. With Laurie's arrival it appeared that "lesbian feminism hit Aotearoa New Zealand as a fully formed blast from abroad, but fell on fertile ground, among many of the lesbians from gay liberation for starters." 1 Contemporary accounts certainly present the return of all four women as agents of change. To a certain extent their impact can be explained by the personalities of the women themselves. All were intelligent, creative women who continued to shape ideas throughout their lives. As Jenny Pausacker noted: "Kerryn published the first lesbian novel for adults in Australia. I published the first lesbian novel for young adults in Australia, and Robina's the venerable Robina [a Buddhist nun]. So we were all quite strong personalities, with quite a public focus." 2 Laurie co-founded Sisters for Homophile Equality (SHE) which was the first lesbian organization in Aotearoa New Zealand, pioneered the Lesbian Community Radio Programme on Wellington Access Radio, and brought lesbian studies into the Women's Studies program at Victoria University in Wellington. 3 However, the impact the four women had can also be traced to their respective experiences of travel. It is clear from other women's memories of the Melbourne trio that their trip to London was perceived as crucial in exposing them to a radical feminist perspective on lesbianism which helped to shape Australian models of

Queer trans-Tasman mobility, then and now

“…Yet surprisingly little has been written about the historical and contemporary geographies of queer people and their trans-Tasman mobilities (but see Johnston 2005; Jennings and Millwood 2016). We use 'queer' to denote sexual and gender minorities, such as lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and trans (LGBT) people, while acknowledging queer also has a deeper conceptual purchase that contests heterosexual/homosexual and man/woman binaries.…”

“…This follows Puar's (2002) use of 'circuits of mobility' to denote specifically queer movements across and between tourist spaces. These queer travels are not limited to leisure-based activities: they have wider political and social purchase (Jennings and Millwood 2016). Queer mobilities, in the past and present, have been bound up with political and social marginality and the need and desire to explore new identities, practices, relationships, ways of being and communities through movement, displacement, replacement and even placelessness (Knopp 2004).…”

“…This mobility has a specifically queer cast: some nineteenth-century travellers explored their desires on opposite sides of the Tasman, as did their twentieth-century counterparts. By the 1970s the gay liberation movement -and the bright lights of Sydney more generally -lured New Zealanders to Australia (Jennings and Millwood 2016), as did the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras of the decades that followed (Johnston 2005). A reverse movement began in 2013 as the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in New Zealand encouraged Australians, denied the same right at home, to cross the ditch (Nguyen 2015).…”

‘A meeting of different tribes’? Travelling women and mobility between European and Australasian women’s lands

“…In the post-war period, these women often utilised and participated in emerging (predominantly white) lesbian subcultures and networks, such as those around lesbian magazines, organisations and bars. 12 In the 1970s, feminism increasingly provided a framework within which women could make contact with others, drawing on connections with mutual friends, or simply relying on a shared political perspective to provide an introduction into feminist and separatist communities in different cities and countries. 13 By the end of the decade, oral history interviews suggest that common circuits of mobility had been established, which drew both on long-standing imperial and cultural relationships between countries and more recent shared cultures of feminism.…”

The place of geography in lesbian history

“…“Diffuse and ephemeral networks which crisscross cities” characterised the social networks of lesbians in many places, including Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona (Browne & Ferreira, , pp. 14–15), while exploring transnational networks can reveal the reach of key documents and the physical mobility of women who travelled to seek out community, to join political movements or to attend conferences (Gil‐Gómez, ; Jennings & Millward, ; Millward, ). Immersed in feminist archives, present‐day researchers may experience a profound sense of connection with the lesbian and bisexual activists of the past whose documents they are reading, leading to a reflection on the ways in which space and subjectivity are co‐created both in place and across time (Boulay, Gamache, Millward, & Portillo, ).…”