CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
In a momentous occasion Australia’s most famous queer precinct, the old Darlinghurst Police Station is now home to Sydney’s LGBTQIA+ History Museum.
This week’s ribbon cutting ceremony was a testament to the hard work of the community’s elder gays, who have been committed to preserving and celebrating the diverse stories of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The site bears great importance to Sydney’s Queers history. From the dark side of the city’s toxic epidemic of gay bashings, to the original Mardi Gras organisers known as the 78ers.
The museum’s inner-Sydney location sits at the intersection of the city’s gay clubs, saunas, famous restaurants, and the historic cultural precinct encompassing the National Art School in the old Darlinghurst Goal and the Jewish Museum further down the street towards St Vincents Hospital.
However, on top of the suburb’s famous night clubs and drag queens, the heritage-listed building itself sits as a fitting memory of the forbidden romances that took place between those walls during the terrifying reign of Roger Rogerson.
Born in 1941, Rogerson is a former detective sergeant of the New South Wales Police Force who held a desk at Darlinghurst Police Station for several decades during the city’s unrefined pre-Olympics puberty. During his career, Rogerson was one of the most decorated officers in the force, having received at least thirteen awards for bravery, outstanding policemanship and devotion to duty including the Peter Mitchell Trophy, the highest possible police award. He is also remembered as perhaps one of the most powerful underworld figures in New South Wales at the time, as he artfully straddled both sides of the law right up until his conviction for murder in 2016 as a retired senior citizen.
While Rogers has a reputation for knowing exactly what was going on in the streets of Sydney, history would suggest he was not aware of the horny culture of homoeroticism that sat underneath him in the Darlinghurst Police Station.
From the late 60s right up until the turn of the millenia, Darlinghurst Police station was home to some of the horniest gay cops to ever wear a badge – with almost 95% of the officers to pass through this building admitting to have rooted at least one colleague during their tenure.
“This initiative reflects the NSW Government’s commitment to preserving and celebrating the diverse stories of the LGBTQIA+ community” said Premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns.
“Including all those cops that fucked each other in this building behind me. Yes Kings.”
“By providing a dedicated space for education, reflection and artistic expression, these important narratives will be honoured, shared and become part of a lasting tribute that engages, educates and inspires many future generations, and future horny gay cops, to come”
“As they say in Darlinghurst… ACAB”
“All Cops Are Bottoms haha” he concluded
