Set just off Oxford Street, Qtopia Sydney is where protest banners, disco lights and family photo albums happily share the same room. Galleries dive into Mardi Gras, HIV/AIDS activism, police entrapment, club culture and everyday queer lives, all threaded through the very cells where people were once locked up for who they loved.

Beyond the main museum, Qtopia spills into satellite spaces along Oxford Street with rotating exhibitions, performances, talks and late-night events. One week you might catch a panel on trans futures, the next a cabaret in a former charge room. It’s less dusty archive, more living lounge room for the city’s queer imagination.

Drop by before a night out on the strip, or nurse a coffee here the morning after. Qtopia is one of the few places in Sydney where you can trace the line from protest march to dancefloor — and feel very much part of the ongoing story.