The Rainbow List Project aims to add information to the New Zealand Heritage List (Rarangi Korero) to ensure stories from a queer history perspective are told.
Project leader senior heritage assessment adviser Kerryn Pollock said the aim was to remedy "silences or omissions" in the list.
"We are aware that we don’t really tell the stories of queer Aotearoa New Zealand in all its diversity.’’
An example was the Imperial Buildings in Dowling St, opposite the Queens Gardens.
It housed the Sirocco Coffee Lounge, known as a queer-friendly space from the 1960s to the 1980s.
"For something like the Imperial Buildings, we have information about it at the moment but we don’t talk about its history as a queer-friendly space."
The agency was hoping to hear stories of people who went to the Sirocco, including personal accounts, films, photographs, audio accounts, posters, flyers or other written material that might help tell the story.
"It was a really important place in Dunedin, and so really that story needs to be told."
There were protests outside the cafe in 1981 when a change of management meant gay people who had long enjoyed coming to the cafe were turned away, she said.
"Local activists protested outside the cafe and the queer community was encourage to boycott it."
The agency was hoping to record other places that were part of the queer history of the region.
Ms Pollock was looking for nominations of places in Dunedin and across the Otago region.
"It is really important that this project is geographically diverse."
Nominations for new places had to go through a rigorous selection process, so Ms Pollock encouraged people to contact her and she could help guide them.
"I would really love to get nominations, new nominations that come out of this rainbow project."
Ms Pollock was keen to emphasise the heritage list was not just about "pretty buildings".
"We have lots of different ways of measuring heritage significance, and when it comes to buildings it is not just about their architectural significance."
A historic place could be housed in a very mundane building, or it might not be a building at all.
This was place-based history, which could mean a street, a park, or a site where people gathered could be added to the heritage list.
"We are even interested in things like public toilets and parks where gay men would meet."
Anyone could nominate a place for listing. They did not need to be the owner.
- Email rainbow@heritage.org.nz for more information.
