ABC Television News in Australia says that an amazing collection of gay themed photographs is making quiet but deep waves in Canberra.

A remarkable black and white photograph, approximately 125 years old, shows two young men holding a sign that reads 'not married but willing to be'. This poignant image predates the legalisation of same-sex marriage anywhere in the world by a full century. It forms part of an extensive collection of over 4,000 vintage snapshots depicting male romance, painstakingly gathered over 25 years.

The collection, titled 'LOVING: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s', is the work of American couple Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell. Their project began by chance in a Dallas antique store, where they first discovered an early photograph of men in love. "We just couldn't believe that it had ever been taken, and that it had survived what, at that point, was 70 years," Mr Nini said.

That initial find launched a global journey, with the couple sourcing images from flea markets, shoe boxes, family archives, and auctions. The photographs, dating from the 1850s to the 1950s, capture intimate moments between men during eras when such relationships were often criminalised and almost invariably concealed from public view.

The identities of the men in the 'not married' photograph remain unknown, but a series of four other photos depict more tender moments between the same pair. These images, along with a selection from the broader archive, are now on display for the first time in Australia at the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG). The exhibition came to the capital after the European Union Ambassador to Australia saw it in Geneva.