As part of month long celebrations, dynamic costumes from over the years are on display at the National Art School Gallery in Darlinghurst.
Oceania is represented by a Cook Islands chief's costume, worn at last year's parade by ex-pat Kiwi-Samoan Pisa Tufuga.
He says the Pasifika Rainbow community plays a big part in Australia's LGBTQI landscape.
"The whole title of the exhibition is called 'Love and Protest'. This is going back to 1978 when there were a lot of protests against the LGBTQI here in Sydney so celebrating the 40th is a milestone."
