From cover: In this, the latest in the Gay and Lesbian Perspectives series, researchers explore the rich history of queer Australasia, uncovering photographic records of small-town male intimacy, cases of police entrapment, the mysterious suicide pact of Charles Marks and Edward Feeny, ASIO attempts to grapple with persons' with serious character defects', and previously unexamined political and cultural expressions of gay/lesbian/queer activism over the last four decades. The result is an original and important contribution to understanding a history that is all too often shrouded in secrecy.

Ch. 1. Men together : intimacy and eroticism in pre-World War I New Zealand / Chris Brickell -- Ch. 2. `A gang of judicial assassins' : George Bateson and colonial sodomy laws / John Waugh -- Ch. 3. `Until death does part us' : male friendship, intimacy and violence in late colonial Melbourne / Amanda Kaladelfos -- Ch. 4. `Indecent and indecorous' behaviour : the police and homosexuality in turn-of-the-century Queensland / Yorick Smaal -- Ch. 5. Snippets and shadows of stories : thoughts on sources and methods when writing an Australian history of sexuality / Lisa Featherstone -- Ch. 6. Missing the lesbian and the missing lesbian : a study of the forgotten lesbian in 1970s Australian cinema / Sophia Davidson Gluyas -- Ch. 7. Musicals are gay : a brief history of gay men, Hollywood divas and movie musicals / Scott McKinnon -- Ch. 8. `Persons with serious character defects' : homosexuals in the Commonwealth Public Service, 1953-1974 / Robert B. French -- Ch. 9. Womin loving womin : lesbian feminist theories of intimacy / Rebecca Jennings -- Ch. 10. `Our heads know, but our hearts don't understand ...' : debating the meaning of the bar scene in the 1970s gay press / Alan B. Petersen -- Ch. 11. The Adelaide Homosexual Alliance and the origins of the gay community / Graham Willett -- Ch. 12. HIV/AIDS activism in transnational context : ACT UP in Australia / Shirleene Robinson -- Ch. 13. Queer, student, activism / Jess Rodgers.

Includes bibliographical references.