New book on Darlinghurst’s layered history

The book charts the evolution of 262 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst from Gadigal Country to farm to open-air cinema to church, before becoming a luxury mansion in the 2010s and finally the social purpose precinct Yirranma Place today.

Yirranma Place takes inspiration from the site’s current use as headquarters of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, specifically its purpose to stop disadvantage in Australia. Each chapter in the book examines a different community need, using episodes from the location’s past to illuminate how issues from food scarcity to housing affordability have impacted Darlinghurst residents across time. 

It also provides fascinating insights into the history of Sydney more generally, revealing the political and economic power wielded in the city by the wealthy Burdekin family, once owners of the site as well as the landlords of most of colonial Darlinghurst. Many social issues played out across the backdrop of this corner block, from the battle to introduce free compulsory public education (it acted as a temporary school in the early 1880s) to the decriminalisation of sex work (being a popular site for street solicitation in the late twentieth century). 

Piper says that some of the most interesting stories about 262 Liverpool Street come from its time as an essentially empty lot by the turn of the twentieth century.

“Being a blank canvas let people project their own aspirations for the city onto the space. There were talks of building a Sydney version of the Eiffel Tower there, or using it for affordable workers’ housing. It also became a place for informal entertainments, as well as attracting some darker deeds given the crime history of the Darlinghurst area.”

Eventually in the 1920s it was developed as premises for the First Church of Christ Scientist, Sydney. The grand resulting structure with its classical motifs and monumental columns remained a church until sold to venture capitalist Mark Carnegie in 2010, who used it as a private home. In 2019, it was acquired by the Paul Ramsay Foundation.

The book captures a stunning array of visual imagery of Darlinghurst’s history, including original artwork by Awabakal artist Shellie Smith that was inspired by the site.

Yirranma Place: Stories of a Darlinghurst Corner is an integral component of the Darlinghurst Public History Initiative, celebrating the history of people and place to guide future generations in social change.

"Telling stories about pasts - who we are, where we come from - is a way of orienting ourselves in the present and imagining and enacting a collective future. What gets remembered and what gets forgotten, who gets to speak and who gets heard: these questions are connected to the way our communities are constituted and to the possibility of a shared and flourishing life in this country.”

Centre Director and Darlinghurst Public History Initiative leader, Associate Professor Tamson Pietsch

 

Yirranma Place: Stories of a Darlinghurst Corner, published by NewSouth, is for sale from 1 December. Read an edited excerpt from its opening chapter here.