Garry Wotherspoon

Garry Wotherspoon is a former academic at the University of Sydney, former NSW History Fellow, and a leading historian of Sydney’s LGBTIQ history. His books include Being Different: Nine Gay Men Remember; City of the Plain: History of a Gay Sub-culture; and Gay Sydney: A History (NewSouth Publishing, 2016). His The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts: A History (2013) was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s History Awards. He was awarded Australia’s Centenary of Federation medal for his work as an academic, researcher, and human rights activist.

Wotherspoon is a 78er — a participant in the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras on 24 June 1978, when police broke up the march with batons and arrested 53 people. As a witness to and participant in the events of that night, his account of the march and its aftermath carries the weight of direct experience. The 1978 Mardi Gras baton charges are documented in this project as a significant institutional event in the history of NSWPF-LGBTIQ relations, occurring under Commissioner Mervyn Wood (#14).

Role in this project’s source documents:

Wotherspoon was commissioned by ACON to produce historical background material — Gay Hate Crimes in New South Wales from the 1970s (May 2017) — for ACON’s community review that produced In Pursuit of Truth and Justice (2018). The historical context sections of that report (Sections 3 and Appendix 1) are his writing, and his analysis is quoted throughout. His framing of the violence — as rooted in institutional homophobia, criminalisation, and the “greatest menace” culture established by Commissioner Delaney — underpins the report’s central argument. He is also cited extensively in Gay and Transgender hate crimes between 1970 and 2010 (Report 58, 2021) and his published work is used as secondary source material in the SCOI (Sackar Inquiry, 2023).

NSW Police LGBTQIA+ Consultative Committee:

Wotherspoon served as a member of the NSW Police LGBTQIA+ Consultative Committee — an advisory body intended to improve relations between NSW Police and LGBTIQ communities. He resigned from the committee in June 2026, following aggressive police drug raids on Oxford Street gay venues (Universal, Kinselas, Palms) on 13 June 2026 during Pride Month. In a letter to NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker, he said the raids sent a “chill.” The raids — conducted under Commissioner Mal Lanyon (#24) — resulted in 93 people searched, 42 drug detections, and one charge. Sydney MP Alex Greenwich and Lord Mayor Clover Moore filed a complaint with the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), which compelled Police Commissioner Lanyon to investigate. Wotherspoon’s resignation connected the historical record he has spent decades documenting to a live accountability story.

Sources cited in this project:

• Wotherspoon G (2017) Gay Hate Crimes in New South Wales from the 1970s [commissioned background material], ACON, Sydney. (Appendix 1 of ACON 2018)
• Wotherspoon G (2016) Gay Sydney: A History, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney.

Biographical details sourced from UNSW Press author page (unsw.press/authors/garry-wotherspoon/) and Star Observer / ABC News reporting (June 2026). Wikipedia is used for reference only where cited; substantive claims are sourced to the documents listed above.