Sydney Star Observer stock photographs

This collection contains stock photographs taken by photographers associated with the free gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender magazine the Sydney Star Observer (previously known as The Sydney Star and The Star). There are separate collections for the work of key photographers for the magazine who have provided permission for access. 

The photographs were donated to the City of Sydney in 2011 by SSO Media who were selling the magazine at the time. The publication subsequently moved to an online forum and is known as The Star Observer.

The subject content ranges from Mardi Gras parades and Fair Days, DIVA awards, fundraising events, protests, media campaigns, book launches, promotional images for films and theatre productions, celebrations, parties, pub and nightclub culture.

The earliest photographs belong to the Michael Glynn collection and date from circa 1979-1984. Michael Glynn founded The Sydney Star magazine in 1979 and was the first editor. He sold ownership of the paper in 1984. The City would like to thank the executor of the Michael Glynn estate.

The majority of the collection are from the Sydney Star Observer and date from circa 1985-2011. They were arranged alphabetically by subject into manila folders. Copyright of the photographs remain with the photographer. For permission to use, please refer to the Public Access Note in the photograph items.  

Very little descriptive information accompanied the photographs. Archives volunteers have recorded what was available. Some information has been crowd sourced from photographers or the LGBTIQA+ community. The City of Sydney welcomes additional information such as dates, places, names and events. Once logged in and you find a photograph item, you can select the suggested edits function on the TOOLS menu.

It is unclear which photographs were published in the magazine, although some have percentage signs (%) indicating the photograph size planned for publication. It is difficult to match photographs to the publication issues. Some photographs from the stock photograph library were culled by editors at various times so the collection is not complete.

There are approximately 30,000 photographs in total. Only selected photographs have been digitised and released by the City Archives. For further information please contact the City Archives. Further photographs will be added to the collections as they are processed and permission is obtained from photographers.