TRANSCRIPT:
Here at the Imperial Hotel in the Sydney suburb of Erskineville, it's time to celebrate.
Heritage Minister Penny Sharpe says the hotel has just been listed on the New South Wales Heritage Register.
"The State Heritage Register gives special recognition to buildings but also to places. And what it does is it tells the story of what has been important to various communities. It's not just about old buildings. And the listing... of the Imperial Hotel really recognises its very rich queer history."
That important history is vast and varied.
To begin with, the Imperial Hotel features in the beloved 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
A live drag show inspired by the film is performed here every Saturday night.
But the hotel has been at the heart of Sydney's LGBTIQ+ community for decades, since it was taken over in 1983 by local businesswoman Dawn O'Donnell, a year before the state decriminalised homosexuality - at the urging of then Premier Neville Wran.
"I think we've been dodging the issue. We've got to bring our laws in NSW into line with the other states."
Performer Miss 3-D once worked for several years for Dawn, before Ms O'Donnell's arrival in the inner west, as the fight for rights kept expanding.
Miss 3-D says she wasted no time in transforming the hotel into a vibrant hub for the LGBTIQ plus community.
"Apparently it was quite a working class pub before she took it over. And she really changed the whole face of the gay scene, Dawn did. On Oxford Street and here as well."
Sydney MP Tanya Plibersek says the listing celebrates the hotel's significance as the longest-running queer-friendly venue outside Oxford Street.
"It's an iconic Sydney venue that tells a very important story about how our city has changed... This goes along with the Commonwealth's support for the listing of the original 1978 Mardi Gras route on the Commonwealth heritage list. It's so important to tell the story of all our communities in Sydney and in Australia, and the history of the LGBTIQ plus community in Sydney is an important to tell and to preserve."
Besides its community significance though, Night Time Economy Minister John Graham hopes the listing will bring tourism dollars to the city - which some say still needs a boost after COVID.
"Sydney's night time economy is bouncing back. This is a big moment to market. We've lost some of our music heritage recently. I'm thinking about the Burwood home of the Young brothers from AC/DC. Demolished actual notes, to be replaced by a development. We really need to market better; that's why today is so significant. It's part of a broader plan to represent our music history, our venue heritage, across Sydney."
That means, when all is said and done, the Imperial Hotel will be recognised and preserved for future generations - so says miss 3D.
"The whole of Oxford Street and this place really started taking off right through the 80s. And now, it's bigger than ever."
