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History Lab
The series
At History Lab we’ve got some good stories to tell
But we are interested in much more than just the story. Instead of an academic or other expert telling you what to think, History Lab wants to draw you in to the investigative process. It wants you to come along with us as we try to make sense of the traces the past leaves in the present. You’ll find that this can sometimes be confusing and frustrating: records are patchy, evidence is destroyed and a lot of the time people disagree about what happened and what it means.
But more often than not, trying to make sense of the traces of the past is also pretty exciting. Things are not always what they seem. Aren’t we always in the process of finding that out? Come and join us, as together we try and make sense of the big and little questions all around us.
Season 5: Listen to Darlinghurst
In this series of richly produced audio stories, Darlinghurst’s vibrant social history is brought to life.
The stories feature contemporary voices and voices from the past: workers and activists, bohemians and street people, artists and custodians, entrepreneurs and flaneurs.
The season was produced by Catherine Freyne, and made in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Podcast playlist
EPISODE 3
Red Light Green Light
In the rapidly gentrifying Darlinghurst of the 1980s, a turf war raged over one of its earliest trades. In this story, we visit the street corners and safe houses where sex workers competed for customers, looked out for each other and stood their ground. Along the way, veterans of the street-based trade describe a changing industry, sharing stories from the frontline of the fight for law reform and workers’ rights.
If you would like to sign the petition to bring the statue of Joy back to Darlinghurst, visit http://tiny.cc/dfhavz
Image: Woods Lane 1968 (Tribune negative; Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales courtesy SEARCH Foundation)
Credits
This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Producer: Catherine Freyne
Sound engineer: Judy Rapley
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
Archival: ABC Library Sales
Featuring:
- Julie Bates, veteran sex worker activist; Principal of Urban Realists Planning and Health Consultants.
- Chantell Martin, veteran sex worker; Co-CEO of Sex Workers Outreach Project.
EPISODE 2
Eccentrics
Darlinghurst has always been a magnet and a haven for exiles and misfits. With writer and Darlo-phile Sunil Badami as guide, this audio story celebrates a handful of local characters and eccentrics, reflecting on the material conditions that enable unconventional people to thrive.
Image: Hare Krishna, Kings Cross 1970-71 (Photographer: Rennie Ellis © Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive)
Credits
This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Producer: Catherine Freyne
Sound engineer: Judy Rapley
Music:
- Blue Dot Sessions
- I Love Her, She Loves Me by Atlantic City Orchestra licensed under a Public Domain / Sound Recording Common Law Protection License
- Eyes Getting Louder and Hope Its Today by Mod Fun licensed under CC by NC 4.0
Featuring:
- Sunil Badami, writer and raconteur
EPISODE 1
Lost Waterways
If you listen after rain, you can still hear the rush of water that used to flow from the sandstone ridge at the apex of Darlinghurst down to the harbour. This audio story goes in search of the creeks and cascades that sustained life and industry for Gadigal people, colonists and Chinese market gardeners, before being covered over by the concrete and tarmac of the modern city.
Image: Rushcutters Creek, 1870-75 (Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW – ON 4 Box 56 No 253)
Credits
This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Producer: Catherine Freyne
Sound engineer: Judy Rapley
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
Featuring:
- Saskia Schut, Landscape architect
- Ray Ingrey, Chair, Gujaga Foundation
- Mark Dunn, Historian
- Daphne Lowe-Kelly, Co-deputy Chair, Museum of Chinese in Australia
- Phil Bennett, Lead Heritage Advisor, Sydney Water
- An excerpt from E.W. West (ed) The Memoirs of Obed West: A Portrait of Early Sydney (Bowral: Barcom Press 1988), read by Russell Cheek.
EPISODE 0
Introducing: Listen to Darlinghurst
Welcome to a special History Lab series, Listen to Darlinghurst. In this mini episode, History Lab host Anna Clark and Listen to Darlinghurst producer Catherine Freyne introduce the series.
Image: Darlinghurst Rd 1954 by Mark Strizic (State Library of Victoria)
Credits
Producer: Catherine Freyne
Sound engineer: Judy Rapley
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
EPISODE 5
Room With A View
Terraces, flats, squats, bedsits, mansions, towers, camps and hostels: in Darlinghurst, housing is a mixed bag. This audio story explores the range of lifestyles afforded by Darlinghurst’s dense diversity of dwellings.
Image: Pad with a View, Kings Cross 1970-71 (Photographer: Rennie Ellis © Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive)
Credits
This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Producer: Catherine Freyne
Sound engineer: Judy Rapley
Music:
- Blue Dot Sessions
- Sum of My Fears, When Paris is Singing and A New Love Affair by Dazie Maelicensed under CC by NC-SA 3.0 US
- Garage by Monplaisir licensed under CC by CC0 1.0
- Korobushka by the Rosen Sisters licensed under CC by NC-ND 4.0
Featuring:
- Jan Cornall, former resident of Darlinghurst squats
- Paul Solomon, publican’s son and grandson
- Phillip Adams, former owner of Stoneleigh
- Shannon Dalton, former Assistant Manager of the Darlo Bar
EPISODE 4
Pandemic Times
At St Vincent’s Hospital, the Sisters of Charity have been delivering care to the people of Darlinghurst since 1857. This audio story visits St Vincent’s during three historic public health emergencies: the Spanish Flu, the HIV/AIDS crisis and COVID-19.
Image: Sister and nurse with home visitation car, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney (Courtesy of the Congregational Archives of the Sisters of Charity of Australia)
Credits
This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Producer: Catherine Freyne
Sound engineer: Judy Rapley
Music: Blue Dot Sessions; The Tudor Consort licensed under CC by 3.0
Archival: ABC Content Sales
Featuring:
- David Polson, former patient at Ward 17 South at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.
- Erin Longbottom, Nursing Unit Manager, Homeless Health Outreach Service, St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.
- An excerpt from St Vincent’s Hospital Annual Report 1919 read by Marie Freyne.
EPISODE 6
Last Drinks
In 1887 there were no less than 22 hotels in Darlinghurst. Over the next century and a half, the character, culture and clientele of Darlinghurst pubs evolved. This story explores the impact on Darlinghurst of two episodes of liquor licensing restrictions in NSW: six o’clock closing and the Sydney lockout laws.
Image: Royal Sovereign Hotel, corner Darlinghurst Rd and Liverpool St, 1921 (City of Sydney Archives)
Credits
This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Producer: Catherine Freyne
Sound engineer: Judy Rapley
Music:
- Blue Dot Sessions
- When Paris is Singing by Dazie Mae licensed under CC by NC-SA 3.0 US
Archival: ABC Content Sales
Featuring:
- Paul Solomon, publican’s son and grandson
- Max Burns-McRuvie, owner of Journeywalks
- Tyson Koh, founder of Keep Sydney Open
Creative Team
Season 5 of History Lab was produced by Catherine Freyne with sound design by Judy Rapley.
Catherine is an historian and producer of multimedia history content. She has worked as Features Producer at ABC Radio National, Historian at the City of Sydney and at the State Library of NSW, was co-curator of Pride (R)evolution. For her work in radio, she has received two NSW Premier’s History Awards and the Oral History Australia Media Award. Her doctoral studies at UTS combine history, sexuality studies and family memoir in a thesis titled The family as closet: Gay/bisexual married men and their families in Sydney, 1970-2000. She likes the poet Muriel Rukeyser’s notion that ‘the universe is made up of stories not atoms’ and has a particular penchant for the true ones. She loves birds, underdogs and primary sources.