---
title: "Acknowledgements | Local Drag Directory | Local Drag Victoria"
description: "Local Drag acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands our infrastructure sits on, the queer artists who paved the way for drag across history, and those who continue to defend and grow queer rights today."
canonical_url: "https://www.localdrag.au/about/acknowledgements"
meta:
  "og:description": "With gratitude — to Country, to the queer artists who came before, and to those who keep the work going today."
  "og:image": "https://www.localdrag.au/_og/d/c_OgLocalDrag.takumi%2Cdescription_~TG9jYWwgRHJhZyBhY2tub3dsZWRnZXMgQ291bnRyeSwgdGhlIHF1ZWVyIGFydGlzdHMgd2hvIHBhdmVkIHRoZSB3YXksIGFuZCB0aG9zZSB3aG8ga2VlcCBncm93aW5nIHF1ZWVyIHJpZ2h0cyB0b2RheS4%2Ctitle_Acknowledgements%2Cp_Ii9hYm91dC9hY2tub3dsZWRnZW1lbnRzIg%2Cs_zDkNS3hkPX3BVUYQ.png"
  "og:image:height": "600"
  "og:image:type": image/png
  "og:image:width": "1200"
  "og:title": "Acknowledgements | Local Drag Directory"
  "twitter:image": "https://www.localdrag.au/_og/d/c_OgLocalDrag.takumi%2Cdescription_~TG9jYWwgRHJhZyBhY2tub3dsZWRnZXMgQ291bnRyeSwgdGhlIHF1ZWVyIGFydGlzdHMgd2hvIHBhdmVkIHRoZSB3YXksIGFuZCB0aG9zZSB3aG8ga2VlcCBncm93aW5nIHF1ZWVyIHJpZ2h0cyB0b2RheS4%2Ctitle_Acknowledgements%2Cp_Ii9hYm91dC9hY2tub3dsZWRnZW1lbnRzIg%2Cs_zDkNS3hkPX3BVUYQ.png"
---

> Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://www.localdrag.au/llms.txt)

With thanks

# Acknowledgements

Local Drag would like to acknowledge those who have made space for our site to exist.

Country

## The lands our site stands on and serves.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Local Drag acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, and community.

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands this directory serves — including the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong peoples of the Kulin Nation, on whose Country much of Victoria's drag scene performs — and the Eora Nation, and the Gadigal people in particular, on whose lands in Sydney this directory's infrastructure is hosted.

We pay our respect to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. Sovereignty was never ceded.

Those who came before

## The ones who paved the way.

Drag did not begin with us. It carries the work of generations of queer and gender-diverse artists — Sistergirls and Brotherboys, ballroom houses, cabaret performers, female impersonators, kings and queens — who built a craft and a community when doing so was criminalised, pathologised, and dangerous.

We remember those who performed in raids and back rooms, who were arrested for the clothes they wore, who lost friends and lovers to a plague the powerful chose to ignore, and who kept the lights on anyway.

Every stage in this directory stands on theirs. We name them, even where history tried not to: the unrecorded, the erased, and the ones whose names we will never know.

The work continues

## Those who keep fighting today.

Queer rights are not settled — they are held, and they are contested. We acknowledge the advocates, organisers, LGBTIQA+ health workers, lawyers, educators, and volunteers who defend and extend those rights every day, often without thanks or pay.

We acknowledge the performers who turn their art into protest, the venues that make space when it is risky to, and the families and allies who show up.

This platform is a small part of that work — making Australia's drag artists visible, valued, and bookable. We are grateful to everyone, named and unnamed, who keeps the door open behind us.

Always was, always will be

## Handed down, held in trust.

We hold this stage in trust for those who built it, and for those still to come.

[**About Local Drag **](https://www.localdrag.au/about)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://www.localdrag.au/#website","@type":"WebSite","description":"Discover the vibrant drag talent of Victoria, Australia with Local Drag Victoria. Find your local drag queen, drag king or drag artist to celebrate your next event!","inLanguage":"en-AU","name":"Local Drag Victoria","url":"https://www.localdrag.au/","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.localdrag.au/#identity"},"workTranslation":[]},{"@id":"https://www.localdrag.au/about/acknowledgements#webpage","@type":"WebPage","description":"Local Drag acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands our infrastructure sits on, the queer artists who paved the way for drag across history, and those who continue to defend and grow queer rights today.","name":"Acknowledgements | Local Drag Directory","url":"https://www.localdrag.au/about/acknowledgements","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.localdrag.au/#website"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://www.localdrag.au/about/acknowledgements"]}]},{"@id":"https://www.localdrag.au/#identity","@type":"Organization","name":"Local Drag Victoria","url":"https://www.localdrag.au/"}]}
```

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](https://www.localdrag.au/sitemap.md) for all pages.
