History of The Welsh Dragons

In 1998 two Welsh men, Steve Scott, from LLantrisant and Thomas Rossiter, from Pembroke Dock,  holidayed in Sydney, Australia and were invited by The Sydney Leathermen to march with them in the Mardi Gras Parade. Naturally, we accepted and we appear on the official video sold that year!

In 2000 Steve and Thomas returned to Sydney and watched the entire parade from The Bobby Goldsmith Stands. This is where they saw groups, or individuals, from Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, and Asia etc...being represented in The Parade. They saw no obvious presence of Wales or Welsh people in The Parade, so, they decided to contact The Mardi Gras Organization to ensure that Wales could represent themselves in future Mardi Gras Parades.

In 2001 Steve and Thomas returned to Sydney, and they were joined by Manoj, and , with the blessing and spirit of The Mardi Gras Organisation, the three of them marched in The Parade, representing Wales, for the first time ever.

In 2002 Steve and Thomas were joined by John and once again Wales was represented in The Parade.

In 2003 Steve and Thomas were joined by Robert and Tyrone. That year, we graciously and willingly accepted an invitation from Amelia Powys (originally from Cardiff, now a Sydney resident) and friend Niel to march close to them , as they were entering The Parade as "Shirley Bassey And Friends" and would have a "Welsh theme" going too.

In 2004 our presence was our biggest so far! Steve, Tom, Robert, Richard, John, Amelia, Neil, Andy, Lara and David! Also parading were a group of Welsh gay teenagers, who were visiting Australia, and were being filmed as the focus of a documentary for Welsh Television S4C. The Welsh presence was massive !

In 2005  we doubled our numbers ! 22 of us Paraded. A great bunch of fun people travelled from Cardiff in Wales and they were joined by the most wonderful mix of people from Sydney, Canada and The United Kingdom. The sun shined on The Parade and the standard of entries was very high. The Party was sold out and was the best ever!

Regrettably , 2005 was the last time Steve And Tom visited Sydney and so , the presence of "The Welsh Dragons" has not been felt in the parade since.

This website serves as a historical archive only , at present.
Steve and Tom are doing well but the closest we get to "Australia" is by going to almost every Kylie Concert in London ! LOL

We are mad kylie fans . Kylie Minogue is ALSO Welsh did you know ? Her mother is from Wales and moved to Australia before Kyle was conceived! )

We travel for shorter periods to other , closer , cheaper (!) destinations in the World these days.
We still have fond and loving memories of Sydney and the rest of Australia.

With travel and accommodation expenses being so much from London, if you would like to invite us and offer us free or cheap accommodation  back in Sydney , we would be over the moon.

Regards,

Cariad,

Steve