Original 78er Rebbell Barnes reflects on the birth of Sydney Mardi Gras

Rebbell Barnes was one of the lucky ones on June 24, 1978 – what later became known as the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Jailed 78er Rebbel Barnes outside the old Darlinghurst Police Station. Picture: Richard Dobson

Rebbell Barnes was one of the lucky ones on June 24, 1978 – what later became known as the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Then 16, the teenager avoided being locked up at Darlinghurst Police Station alongside other protesters who were subjected to severe brutality at the hands of the police.

“It was scary watching them be pulled around, bashed and pulled by their hair, pulled by their legs and whatever,” Barnes told The Daily Telegraph.

“We were shocked at how the girls were being attacked. We were pulling one of the police men off one of the girls. Seeing people being bashed was brutal.”

The Mardi Gras parade in 1978. Photo: Ann-Marie Calilhanna

Barnes, 61, reflected on that night ahead of the opening of Qtopia Sydney, the largest centre for Queer history and culture in the world, that has its official opening at the old Darlinghurst Police Station on Friday.

Along with others that protested that night, Barnes is an original ‘78er with the story told in the Qtopia Sydney exhibition.

He and a friend had stumbled across the protest by accident as they travelled by foot to Oxford Street from the Sydney Opera House that night.

Barnes’ family were well known in the Sydney bar scene as managers of The Golden Sheaf in Double Bay.

He was in Year 10 of igh school at James Cook Boys High School in Kogarah.

“I wasn’t an activist at all,” he said. “It was pretty brutal, which is why we tried to help and they grabbed us basically and took us to the station.”

There, Barnes and his friend were sat in the foyer while police contacted their parents. Other protesters were arrested and detained in the cells below.

Since then, Barnes has been involved in Mardi Gras and is on the First Mardi Gras Committee.

“We have got a long way to go but I think we are one of the luckiest countries in the world when it comes to the progress that we’ve had,” he said.