Darlinghurst Public History Initiative

Public history and oral history project like the Darlinghurst project: “Listening to Darlinghurst” enables us to understand why Darlinghurst was so crucial not just for the people who lived here or visited here but for our history and our culture and it's by understanding and hearing those stories we can really place ourselves within that greater cultural context. 

Public history is all around us. It's in the museums that we visit. It's in parks that we see. It's also the stories that we tell each other about our heritage and our history.

It helps build a sense of belonging and how we understand our shared heritage. 

Our communities are changing all the time and fast all the time. And when we can connect the past and the present we can make sense of those changes. 

Darlinghurst is amazing. It's uh it's hugely diverse and it's that diversity both in the present but also across time that makes it uh a really important kind of case study for thinking about Australian history generally. 

The Australian Centre for Public History partnered with the Paul Ramsay Foundation to create a place-based series of public histories in Darlinghurst. So the goal was to use a range of different history methods to create a diverse series of outputs that then would be available to the community to engage with. Basically, things that people might listen to, things that people might see on the street, sort of forms of art that people could encounter, uh and see themselves in. 

One of the benefits of place-based historical method is that it builds trust with your collaborators that you work with them, their stories are legible and visible and identifiable in the outcomes that you produce. 

Place based histories matter because they help us imagine a collective future.

I've been a long-term resident of Darlinghurst and reading this book made me feel even closer to Darlinghurst than I think I've ever felt before. You look at people who used to be here, why they were here, what sort of place it was when they came here and the hardships they suffered and you can compare that to how we live today.

The amazing thing about this project is that it's created this series of sort of outputs where people can see themselves in the history of Darlinghurst. It's something that they can share with their own community.

It fosters a sense of stewardship and connection over time. It's transformational because it provides a critical foundation for policy, urban development and social change. 

The whole Darlinghurst project is a great example of place-based historical method and why it matters. 

It is a set of tools that they can use to advocate for change, to understand where they are and to make a better place for all of us.