Australian CAMP Pioneers

MAY 2010

“Camp”. What does it mean to you? A theatrical or extravagant style, a temporary residence characterised by tents, a group of people with a common ideology. Yes, yes, yes. But to a GLBTQ Australian, it has a much more important and historical meaning.

CAMP is regarded as having been the most influential Australian queer organisation prior to legalisation, having paved the way for significant progress for GLBTQ rights. It was an Australian network of queer activists, foundered in Sydney in 1970 by a student named John Ware, and a public servant named Christobel Poll.1 By the following year, it had grown to be a national organisation with branches in most capital cities and at most universities.2 CAMP was the first national specifically queer-rights organisation in Australia whose queer members would publicly identify themselves.3 Other GLBTQ groups had existed, but they were smaller and tended to have a narrower or a social focus and be somewhat covert, due to lack of broad social acceptance and homosexual sex being illegal. The homophobic climate of the time has been illustrated by journalist David Marr, who said that in the era before legalisation, many gay writers and artists fled Australia, effectively becoming “sexual refugees”.4

Along with women and other minorities who gained increasing rights in western culture in the late 1960s, the GLBTQ communities in the UK5 and USA at that time were becoming more confident and assertive. Probably inspired by this foreign activism, CAMP was formed here to likewise push for greater rights and acceptance. CAMP was initially named Campaign Against Moral Persecution, and their action plan was for members to contact the media to complain when homosexuals were portrayed in a poor light.

Their mission was brave, groundbreaking and not without repercussions. Prominent CAMP member Peter Bonsall-Boone, was dismissed from his job as a church secretary in 1972 due to having unashamedly discussed his homosexual relationship (with MQ graduate Peter de Waal) on national television.6 Likewise, in 1975, CAMP secretary and one time MQ grad.7 Mike Clohesy was dismissed from his job at a Catholic school after advocating decriminalisation of homosexuality, on TV8. By the mid 70s, CAMPs focus was more on counselling and social gatherings than activisim9, but the early members continued to be a force for change. CAMP member Ron Austin together with Margaret McMann came up with the idea of a Sydney Mardi Gras.10 Lance Gowland, another key CAMP member, arranged the permit for that first march, and then drove the lead float. He was the first participant arrested by police that night.11 Also at that event, CAMP member and later MQ Phd student Jim Walker arranged for the hospital access for participant Peter Murphy after Peter suffered a violent police arrest.12

Historians have portrayed Camp and similar organisations as energetic pioneers. The university branches of Camp had names such as Campus Camp, and often broke new ground. The branch at Sydney Uni is believed to have been the first student gay group in the country13 and their counterparts at Queensland Uni are believed to have been the first politically-oriented gay organisation in QLD14. Historian Graham Willett states that when the local secretary for CAMP spoke at the University of Melbourne in 1971, it was the first time that an openly homosexual person had spoken in Melbourne on behalf of homosexuals.15

Dr Jeremy Fisher told us that when he joined Macquarie University as a student in 1973, members of MQ's Gay Liberation group were often also affiliated with CAMP and there was a degree of cross-over. Macquarie Uni never had a branch of Campus Camp16, but did have a branch of the similarly prominent Gay Liberation organisation, which likewise fought for Gay & Lebian rights. Dr Fisher attended protests and social occasions organised by these groups and held the position of treasurer for MQ's Gay Liberation group. He was a teenage student living on campus at (the strict Anglican) Robert Menzies College until the master discovered his sexuality and presented him with a choice of vacating or “going straight”. Fisher stuck to his principles and chose the option to vacate. Publicity ensued, along with protests and even industrial action when the Builders Labourers’ Federation (BLF) banned building work at the Uni. until Fisher was invited back. He had become such a hot potato that the NSW Police Force's Special Branch began tracking him and even forwarded details to ASIO.17

Despite appearing as heroes from the point of view of GLBTQ-rights advocates today, Dr Fisher says that his aims, and the aims of many similar activists at the time were simply to be true to themselves.17

In May 2010, the 40th anniversary of CAMP and in fact the birth of the GLBTI Rights movement in Australia, were celebated with the Break the Silence IDAHO event in Paddington.18




All web references are from May 2010.
1 The website of the Gay & Lesbian Couselling Service of NSW: http://www.glcsnsw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44&Itemid=192
2 The Dictionary of Sydney, author(s) unspecified; http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/lesbians
6 Anglicanism and Homosexuality in the 1970s by Graham Willett, as reproduced at http://web.stpeters.org.au/ausanglican/sexuality.shtml
7Email from Peter de Waal, May 2010
8 http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/gayleft/international.rtf author(s) unspecified. From Liz Ross' "Writing's of the Gay Left" library hosted by on the Australian National University website.
9 University of Queensland Library catalogue notes regarding CAMP: http://library.uq.edu.au/record=b2282500
10 Pride History Group (Sydney) website: http://www.pridehistorygroup.org.au/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=index&topic_id=34&page_id=19&ppart=3
11 Pride History Group (Sydney) website: http://www.pridehistorygroup.org.au/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=index&topic_id=34&page_id=19&ppart=11#section11
12 Pride History Group (Sydney) website: http://www.pridehistorygroup.org.au/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=index&topic_id=34&page_id=19&ppart=16#section16
13 Pride History Group (Sydney) website: http://www.phg.cust.obsidian.com.au/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=index&topic_id=36&page_id=11&ppart=2
14 Sunshine and rainbows: the development of gay and lesbian culture in Queensland, by Clive Moore, as reproduced at http://books.google.com.au
15 THE HOMOSEXUAL HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, 1960–1976, by Graham Willett, as reproduced at http://www.huu.unimelb.edu.au/pdf/camp.pdf
16 Robert French of Pride History Group, Sydney. Email 12/May/2010.
17 My phone interview with Dr Fisher 12/May/2010.

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