When Colin Longworth started studying at the WA College of Advanced Education (WACAE), now Edith Cowan University, in1988, Western Australia was on the cusp of decriminalising homosexuality.
Public debate was often openly hostile; some politicians opposed reform, linking homosexuality to the AIDS epidemic, spread damaging myths about gay people, and even warning others that legal change could destroy civilisation.
While university students were at the forefront of advocating for legal reform, discussions about supporting and working with people of diverse sexualities were still emerging in the classroom.
After finishing his Bachelor of Arts In 1993, Colin went on to study a Bachelor of Psychology at ECU.
By this stage, he had been volunteering at the Homosexual Counselling and Information Service, now Living Proud, for over 10 years (since 1981).
His peer support work during the HIV/AIDS crisis, and his role in mentoring volunteers inspired Colin to pursue psychology so he could better serve the community he had long supported.
Amid his growing academic focus, one moment from his psychology training remains particularly vivid.
Colin remembers sitting in a large lecture theatre when one of the senior lecturers asked the class to put down their pens and notebooks.
“He then began reading excerpts from Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling,” Colin recalls.
“After he’d finished reading, he explained how the Duckling’s experience reflected that of many lesbian, gay and bisexual people,” Colin says.
“We grow up expecting to settle down with an opposite-gender partner, much like the baby swan raised among ducklings, believing it would grow into a duck. But instead, it becomes a beautiful swan.”
This unexpected moment of recognition, quietly woven into the fabric of classroom teaching, stayed with him, not only because it acknowledged lesbian, gay and bisexual experiences at a time when it was not talked about so openly, but because it helped students reflect on identity, belonging and the realities of coming out.
These fragments, moments passed between students, staff and community members, reflect an era of change. But like so many queer experiences in tertiary education, they were never formally recorded. They existed only in memory, in personal archives, or in stories retold years later.
And that is precisely why the ECU Queer Archives Project matters.
Preserving ECU’s LGBTIQA+ past
With a history spanning more than a century, ECU, including the WA Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), and its predecessor institutions have long played a vital role in shaping education and community in Western Australia.
Generations of students, staff, performers, researchers and activists have contributed to an institution known for creativity, innovation and social progress.
Yet, like many universities across Australia, there remains a significant gap in how LGBTIQA+ experiences are formally recognised and preserved.
Too often, queer histories have been underrepresented, overlooked, or documented only in fragments, through personal collections, fading memories, or stories passed on informally.
Without intentional preservation, these histories risk being lost to time, leaving future communities without access to the knowledge, voices, and cultural legacy that shaped their present.
Launching the ECU Queer Archives Project
Supported by WestPride Archives, ECU is launching a long-term project to collect, preserve and celebrate queer experiences across the university and its predecessor institutions.
WestPride Archives, formerly GALAWA, is Western Australia’s queer archives, dedicated to preserving local LGBTIQA+ histories through documents, objects, oral histories and ephemera. As a support of this project, they will catalogue and securely store ECU-related contributions in their Special Collections Library at Murdoch University, ensuring these materials are preserved and accessible for future generations.
To launch the project, ECU is hosting its first Queer Archives Collections Day on Sunday 7 December, inviting staff, students, alumni and the broader community to help build a more complete record of ECU’s LGBTIQA+ history.
The project spans all ECU campuses, including predecessor institutions and seeks materials that capture queer life across generations, from moments of activism and celebration to everyday experiences of connection and creativity.
The archive welcomes photographs, posters, clothing items, programs, zines, creative or academic work, artworks, digital projects, personal mementos and stories about LGBTIQA+ life at ECU. Together, these contributions illuminate how queer people lived, learned and connected during their time at the university.
The drop-in event will run from 11am–4pm at The Living Room (Building 12), ECU Mount Lawley Campus. Even those without items to contribute are encouraged to attend, view a selection of LGBTIQA+ materials and enjoy a final wander through the Mount Lawley Campus before ECU moves to the City Campus in 2026.
For enquiries or to share stories, contact Stevie Lane at equity@ecu.edu.au For more information and to register your attendance head to TryBooking.
OUTinPerth Co-editor Graeme Watson is an employee of ECU.
