By the time they reached King’s Cross nearby, the police had decided to try to break up the march-resistance turned into a brawl. Slowly they made their way down to the CBD, but were blocked from entering Hyde Park at its heart though there was some support from the sidewalks, many gawkers hurled insults at the “poofters” as they passed. They were carrying banners: “END DISCRIMINATION” read one, “LESBIANS ARE LOVELY” another. In lieu of the elaborate floats with which it has become synonymous, the first march consisted largely of a group of 1,000 or so people rallying around a flatbed truck, a vintage stereo system blaring 'Glad to be Gay' by the punk Tom Robinson Band.
The afternoon had been full of protests and meetings come evening, it was time for a parade. It started as a protest on a chilly winter night in June 1978: A handful of locals gathered in Taylor Square, in downtown Sydney, at 10 p.m., to commemorate the New York Stonewall riots.
