Sydney LGBT Museum: Rough Justice Survivors Speak Out About Darlo Jail

By Barbara Karpinski

While Qtopia Ltd. is talking the talk of “collaboration” and ‘sensitivity”, 78er critics talk of “an astonishing failure to consult with the community”.

A proposed site of the museum is Old Darlinghurst police station.

78er Peter Murphy, speaks out: “Our community really wants a high-quality museum but the Qtopia project so far is an arrogant action. The proposed location is wrong.”

The “Original 78ers Association” comments: “This is a site of routine, daily police bashings over decades – a state torture centre.”

Funding Had Consultation Requirement

On April 11, 2022, the City of Sydney Council endorsed “a proposal from Qtopia Ltd for a permanent LGBTIQI+ museum, and provided a grant of $283,500.” Section 27 on “Public Consultation” says “Extensive public consultation has been undertaken.” The Council minutes are available here.

A consultation requires an advertised callout of people from diverse backgrounds. There is no doubt that Qtopia has spoken to randomly selected people from groups including 78ers but whether this meets the ethical standards for receiving such a large amount of taxpayer-funded dosh, is debatable. It’s in the public interest to know all the facts.

Qtopia could make opportunities available to all historians, artists, and activists. Key queer stakeholders must be in decision-making roles.

I was an instigator of the NSW 2016 Parliamentary apology, along with other 78ers. I am a filmmaker and have documented the abuses of Darlinghurst Police Station. These interviews were harrowing for survivors. I have witnessed survivors feinting, shaking, and sobbing when talking back to the site of their trauma.

A Royal Commission

There must be a Royal Commission as truth must be brought to power. There needs to be a full investigation into the horrors of the Darlo cop shop.

The NSW parliament apologised to the 78ers, and put some of this violence on the record, but it’s the tip of the iceberg. Darlinghurst jail is a site of horrific action against trans people, women, sex workers, First Nations people and even the homeless.  The bashing that Peter Murphy experienced is not an isolated event but testimonies indicate it was standard practice of the time. No police have ever been prosecuted.

It’s a travesty of justice that to add insult to injury, now this site is to be in the hands of corporate interests.

It’s vital that victims of rough policing are not handled with a tick-the-box kind of “sensitivity” as specialist skills are required in trauma-informed history collection.

Not Just Lip Service

Peter Murphy said in an interview for a documentary on the 78ers, Flipside of Flamboyance.

“Police were bashing people…Police battered me around the skull…(Police) bashed me, and I couldn’t count how many times… My body was moved around three walls of the room.”

The Darlo cop shop was a site of rough justice, more rough than just, and the local community – not just the gay community – was randomly terrorised. Routinely targeted were indigenous, trans, and sex worker communities.

The copshop should be left intact as a sombre place of reflection. Qtopia and Council need to respect us as lived experience experts not just pay us lip service at Mardi Gras.   It’s our legacy.

Corporate interests funding this museum need to engage the community. This money could be used to fund documentation of abuses so that truth can finally be taken to power. It’s not the place of pink dollars to dictate the terms.

Full Accountability

It’s the 78er blood that was spilled, my tears, our collective tears. It is my teenage body that was violated, it’s our lives that were ravaged, damaged, irrevocably. This police station should be treated as a living legacy of bad history and be set up as a place of reverence where school kids can learn hard truths, in the same way as War and Holocaust museums are preserved.

The survivors should be cherished and treasured, compensated and consulted. I have lived with trauma all my adult life as a result of 1978.

Regarding the consultation process of Qtopia, only full accountability will reveal whether the process measures up to the standards of equity, diversity and inclusion, of Sydney City Council.

Alev Saracoglu from Pride in Protest says: “In terms of community consultation, firstly that means abjectly refusing donations from Murdoch who works to undermine the queer movement … Mardi Gras should engage its huge membership and call a town hall meeting, reaching out to grassroots queer groups.”

Checks And Balances

If gay groups are receiving government funds for quintessentially queer real estate, then checks and balances need to be enforced by Town Hall or funds frozen.

Given allegations and public outcry, I ask the question as to whether these gatekeepers of the taxpayer queer pie be left in charge of slicing up more of the rainbow cake.? The rest of us might be left nibbling on a mini-cupcake with only stardust for dessert, despite millions of promised government support.

It’s vital that proven practice protocols for access, diversity and inclusion be a condition of further release of funding.

I urge the Qtopia team, SCC and the Minns Labor government to investigate before it’s too late.

Barbara Karpinski is a 78er and filmmaker