NSW Police showed indifference then exacted revenge against an academic who was bashed outside a gay nightclub in Sydney more than 50 years ago, an inquiry has been told.
Historian, activist and author Garry Wotherspoon - the first witness in the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes - detailed the lack of action by police to find the youths who assaulted him and his then-partner in 1970.
Mr Wotherspoon suffered facial injuries and his partner's nose was broken after they were attacked while walking to their car near a gay dance in Petersham, in Sydney's inner west.