Historian Catherine Freyne is nearing completion of a doctoral thesis at UTS, titled: “The Family as Closet: Gay/Bisexual married men and their families in Sydney, 1970-2000″. 

Some of the primary sources that Catherine has been studying are her own father’s personal correspondence and writings which document his experiences of having secret relationships with men and his reflections after leaving a 30 year marriage and claiming a homosexual identity.

Catherine and her dad in 1982

Catherine’s doctoral project places her father’s story and her personal experience in an historical context alongside accounts of other people in similar family situations during the late twentieth century and analysed through social constructivist, feminist, and anti-homophobic lenses.

You can find an extended version of this conversation via the Wide Open Air Exchange podcast to hear about Catherine’s vocational pathways to becoming an award-winning historian and multimedia producer.

Photos supplied by Catherine Freyne for use by the Wide Open Air Exchange