Connections Nightclub
Creating community
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Connections Nightclub has arguably been Western Australia’s best-known LGBTQIA+ nightspot for 50 years.
James Philips’s belief that Perth needed a gay club led his friends former footballer Dennis Marshall and businessman Walter Furlong to purchase Top Hat cabaret and reopen it as Connections Nightclub in 1975 with Philips at the helm.
The first logo used for Connections in the 1970s.
Courtesy State Library of Western Australia b6415861_21 -
Homosexuality would not be decriminalised for another 14 years and yet the nightclub thrived, becoming a safe space for everyone.
Perth was so small that all the community were forced in together, and Connections has always been that. It’s always had men and women, young and old, gay, and again used broadly, and straight and everything in between. - Tim Brown
A themed night at Connections in the 1970s.
Courtesy Connections Nightclub -
When Tim Brown started at Connections in 1991, the impact of AIDS and the loss of numerous staff to the disease had cast a heavy pall over the club. Competition from the new, more modern DCs nightclub also affected business. As its manager and later owner, Tim took on the task of a Connections revitalisation.
The main dance floor at Connections in the 1990s.
Courtesy Connections Nightclub -
Tim and his partner Peter Robinson with Malcolm Hughes created a place renowned for its dance and house music, its professional drag shows and cabaret performances. The venue went from having only 30 to 50 people per night to one that attracted up to 500 patrons or more.
Its longevity, engagement with people beyond its dance floor and ties to groups like the AIDS Council and Pride has meant Connections Nightclub has been synonymous with Western Australia’s LGBTQIA+ and clubbing communities since 1975.Dancers rehearse for a nightclub performance in the 1980s.
Courtesy Connections Nightclub
Connections Nightclub
81 James Street, Northbridge
With thanks to Tim Brown, Geoff Hann, Steve Holland and Scott Telfer