Behind the scenes of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics: a 19th-century story of politics and gay love

Today the story would be unremarkable: two gay men, migrants from England, give their Queensland home a portmanteau of their surname.

But in 1859 these two men, Robert Herbert and John Bramston, were the new state’s first Prime Minister (then called Colonial Secretary) and one of its Attorneys General.

The name Herston was later used to name the modern suburb that covers the area, and in less than seven years the northern Brisbane suburb will host the main stadium for the 2032 Olympic Games.

As the city takes over the world stage, gay historians argue that Herston’s long-forgotten history should finally get the recognition it deserves.

Herston’s story is told in Queensland’s 2001 gay history, Sunshine and Rainbows: the Development of Gay and Lesbian Culture in Queensland. The author, Clive Moore, says he was not the only one to conclude that Herbert was in a gay relationship.

Herbert and Bramston met in the 1850s at Balliol College, Oxford, and shared rooms there and in London.

Moore describes their life as a “gay love story,” although it would have been impossible to admit such a thing publicly. Herbert never married and had no children.

In an 1864 letter to his sister, Herbert explained that the marriage would run the risk of being “miserable,” with a chance “of a little possible extra happiness.”

“It doesn’t seem reasonable to me to tell a man who is happy and content to marry a woman, which can be a great disappointment,” the letter said.

“There must be a lot of gay men today who have explained it to their sisters and mothers that way,” Moore says.

Herbert held his position until February 1866, returning to England shortly afterwards, where he lived until his death in 1905.

Bramston also returned briefly to England, but was back in Queensland by 1868 and married Eliza Russell in Brisbane in 1872. He died in Wimbledon in 1921.

Herbert’s government showed an unusual degree of sympathy for gay men. Queensland was the first state in the country to abolish the death penalty for male sodomy. NSW didn’t do this for 20 years.

Moore claims their relationship was doubly illicit and doubly secret because it was within the Cabinet. That was also against the rules then, he says.

Australian Queer Archives president Timothy Jones says there have been many people in positions of influence throughout history who were believed to be homosexual.

“Learning this history is super exciting for gay people today,” he says.

Jones is one of many in the gay community who believe their story should be told at the Olympics. There are 64 countries where homosexuality remains illegalmany of which participate in the Games.

But he warns against insulting individuals simply because they are now believed to be homosexual.

“We have to be careful about celebrating people from the past who lived closed lives,” says Jones.

“We know only so much about them, and they are ambivalent figures in perpetrating the injustices of colonialism. But I think it is a good opportunity to point out the progress that has been made and what still needs to be done.”

Brisbane Pride president James McCarthy says the Olympics gives us “the opportunity to project the image of the confident and inclusive city we all know Brisbane to be”.

“It is essential that LGBTQIA+ communities and histories are central to telling Brisbane’s story,” he says.

When Moore moved to Queensland in the 1980s, his sexuality was illegal. Teachers at gay schools were threatened with dismissal; Greg Weir, an openly gay trainee teacher, was refused a job because of his sexuality. Homophobia in politics escalated at the end of the decade, part of a desperate attempt to divert attention from revelations of cabinet and police corruption by Russell Cooper’s Conservative government. He said a Labor government would cause a “flood of gays crossing the border from the southern states”. There was even a proposal to extend state laws to women for the first time.

In 1989, Queensland police laid some of Australia’s last charges under anti-gay laws. In 2017, the state government apologized and quashed a century and a half of recorded convictions.

Queensland’s first openly gay MP, Trevor Evans, was elected in 2016157 years after Herbert took office.

The Herston house is long gone – it is now the site of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

Herbert’s name lives on, but more prominently in far north Queensland, which boasts a Herbert River, a Herbert Mountains, the town of Herberton and the federal electorate of Herbert.

In 1975, the Queensland Place Names Board approved the official name of the Brisbane suburb as Herston. But there are no heritage sites in the area commemorating the name, and the full names of Bramston and Herbert are not recognized anywhere in the suburb.

“It’s time for Queensland to face some things,” Moore says.

“The gay community knows about it [Herbert and Bramston]but actually the straight community in Brisbane doesn’t know anything about it. It was never broadcast in a public way.”