Sydney's first queer museum Qtopia opens at permanent site in Darlinghurst police station
A memorial to people who died during the AIDS epidemic and a museum celebrating Sydney's queer history has opened to the public as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras gets into full swing. Qtopia, Sydney's first queer museum, opened its doors on Friday on the site of an old police station next to Taylor Square in the inner-city suburb of Darlinghurst.

The museum invites the public to add further names to the memorial which stands in the first room of the complex. The museum also features exhibitions about Indigenous history, transgender history, the changing legal status of homosexuality, queer media, and police brutality — some of which happened in the same building the museum occupies.

Qtopia chief executive Greg Fisher said the place showed the dramatic social changes over time. "When you walk into Qtopia Sydney, the first thing you will notice is that it doesn't look anything like a police station anymore," Mr Fisher said. "We've transformed the building into a storyteller."

The Qtopia building also includes a new 60-seat theatre called The Loading Dock that will showcase stories from the LGBTQIA+ community. Entry prices are $15 for adults, $10 for concessions and $5 for students. Admission for children under 10 is free. Admission will be free on Sundays for the first 12 months after opening with funding from the City of Sydney.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced $1.5 million in federal funding for further upgrades for the museum at a launch also attended by NSW Premier Chris Minns and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
The opening comes just a year after beginning as a pop-up museum in the bandstand at Darlinghurst's Green Park and the National Arts School during Sydney World Pride.

Liberating the space
Many queer people including the 78ers, a group of LGBT activists who marched in the first Mardi Gras in 1978, were locked up at the old Darlinghurst Police Station. There were 53 arrests on the night of the march.

Mr Fishers said the conversion of the building into a home of queer history represented a liberation of the site, although he said some people might never feel they could re-enter the space. "They won't ever forget the trauma that they've been put through," Mr Fisher said. "Future generations can have a sense of appreciation for the freedoms that they enjoy and the shoulders on whom they stand."

78er Rebbell Barnes said it was fitting that the police station was being used to retell what happened on that night and during the years following. "It was brutal, their faces were put on the front page of the paper the next day," Mr Barnes said. "They all had jobs, they lost their jobs. "I believe it's the best place for it."

AIDS doctor's vision
HIV/AIDS survivor David Polson said the opening fulfilled the vision of the doctor who cared for him, the late David Cooper AC, who wanted an AIDS museum in Sydney. "Under David's great care, I undertook 28 HIV trial drugs, all of which were extremely toxic and horrendous," Mr Polson said. "But all those years of feeling ghastly and suffering were worth it. "HIV is now a manageable chronic condition, not a death sentence."

Two years after he formed the first committee to make the vision a reality, the museum has opened with an AIDS memorial. "David would get his AIDS memorial," Mr Polson said. "This will be a wonderful place of memory, celebration and education."

The museum will also keep an exhibit that recreates St Vincent's Hospital Ward 17 South, where patients including Mr Polson were treated in the 1980s. The exhibit was housed at the National Art School while Qtopia was temporarily open during Sydney World Pride.

Photo © ABC News

23 февраль 2024
Declan Bowring, Sydney