Guest contributor Diane Minnis looks back at news file footage of the seminal lesbian and gay rights protests that followed the first Mardi Gras in Sydney, 1978.

Ten News file footage of a gay rights demonstration that saw 300 people march from the fourth National Homosexual Conference at Paddington Town Hall to Taylor Square and Hyde Park in Sydney, 27 Aug

Please note: this clip contains descriptions of violence and some scenes of violent arrest. The last three minutes of this clip are silent.

Ten News file footage of a Gay Rights demonstration and and anti-abortion demonstration that took place at Hyde Park on 27 August 1978.

File footage of a Gay Rights protest from 15 July 1978 that went through Sydney CBD, William Street, Kings Cross, outside Darlinghurst Police Centre to Hyde Park.

An interview with members of the Gay Liberation Quire broadcast as part of Gaywave's Stonewall Special in 1981.

In this public service announcement, Sydney drag queen Joyce Maynge (Shane Pascoe) hilariously dances on the rooftop balcony of their Potts Point apartment building to Robyn’s 'Dancing on My O

This episode of Sydney Stories with Warren Fahey offers a social history of Kings Cross entertainment from the high life to the low life, and explains why the suburb remains such

This episode of Sydney Stories with Warren Fahey recounts stories about the wild gangs of Sydney including the cabbage tree mob, larrikin pushes and later youth tribes.

Starting From Now explores the lives of four Sydney lesbians as they struggle to work out who they are, find a place where they belong, and maybe even find someone to love along the way.