This peck on the lips was the first all-male kiss ever transmitted on Australian television – way back in 1972.

The ABC documentary in the Chequerboard series, shown below on YouTube in its entirety, was called This Just Happens to be Part of Me and bravely profiled gay and lesbian relationships at a time when homosexual sex was illegal and taboo.

We see Peter Bonsall Boone (Bon) and his partner Peter de Waal going about their daily lives – it seems so innocent now but on those black and white days their openness in sharing their shared life for the camera made television history.

Peter and Bon agreed to appear on the original Chequerboard series as a political statement, and their brief kiss hello certainly caused a stir. As the first male to male kiss on Australian television and possibly even the world, even they could not have imagined the wide reaching ramifications of their daring actions.

The first reaction was from Bon’s employer who sacked him from his job as a secretary in a church in Mosman on Sydney’s North Shore after the show was broadcast.

Having started off as simply another couple on television, Bon and Peter became the focal point of gay rights activism. They campaigned relentlessly for gay rights, and in 2006, celebrated 40 years together – still living in that same house in Balmain.

Watch Australia’s first-ever gay kiss below, around the 1-minute mark. An interview with the couple begins at 2:30”. Gaby and Sue, a lesbian couple, are also profiled – they’re introduced 36 minutes in.