A special History Lab episode with a soundwork that explores the history of Sydney's South Head, followed by an interview with the maker Sinead Roarty and Director of the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS, Tamson Pietsch.

About the soundwork: On the Edge

The Gap at South Head in Sydney's eastern suburbs is a place of extreme beauty. It is also famous for being Australia's most well-known suicide destination.

On the Edge is a long-form binaural/VR soundwork exploring South Head’s spatial history and its varied conflicting narratives. The work addresses multiple levels of ‘silencing’ from the time of colonial contact and uses sound to give a voice to the unheard. South Head's ruptured history has shaped the perception of it in the past and this soundwork suggests a way to reanimate it in the present.

The thirteen-minute soundwork is best experienced at the Don Ritchie Grove, located a few minutes’ walk from The Gap lookout and can be accessed on a mobile phone from the website https://www.ontheedge.space/

On the Edge was created as part of a non-traditional PhD at the University of Technology Sydney. The PhD was subsequently recognised as the best doctoral thesis from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in 2023 and was included on The Chancellor's List, which recognises ‘exceptional scholarly achievement in PhD research’.

On the Edge transcript

• Word doc transcript
• PDF transcript

On the Edge Credits

• Writer/Director: Dr Sinead Roarty
• Primary Supervisor: Dr Delia Falconer
• Alternate Supervisor: Assoc Professor Debra Adelaide
• Sound Studio: MassiveMusic
• For all credits see https://www.ontheedge.space/

Episode credits

Sound engineering: Simon Branthwaite

Episode image photo by Sinead Roarty.

History Lab is a production of UTS Impact Studios.

We've got a new history podcast for you and the kids in your life, called Hey History!

With immersive, sound rich storytelling and Australia's top historians and experts, dive into key events in our history.

Find out...

• How did First Nations people learn on Country? How does learning happen today?

• What really when Captain Cook and First Nations people met at Kamay Botany Bay?

• What was life like as a convict kid? How did you remember your loved ones?

• How did everyone get along in the Gold Rush?

In each episode, kids from around Australia share questions, ideas and reflections on our history. Hey History! aligns with the upper primary curriculum, so teachers can use it in class.

The Bonus episode answers your questions on how to talk with kids about Australian history, and answer curly questions.

Hey History! is made by Professor Anna Clark, a previous guest on the History Lab, Professor Clare Wright OAM, and the team at UTS Impact Studios.

Subscribe, get Learning Materials and more on the Hey History website http://heyhistory.net or in your podcast app.

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.

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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

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Featuring:

• Paul Solomon, publican’s son and grandson
• Max Burns-McRuvie, owner of Journeywalks
• Tyson Koh, founder of Keep Sydney Open

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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.