By the mid-1980s, the epidemic had taken hold in Darlinghurst. Fear was rising, homophobia was intensifying, and uncertainty shaped everyday life. Who had the virus? What did a positive test mean? And could the state be trusted with that information?

In this episode, historian Leigh Boucher moves into the heart of the crisis as the neighbourhood marshals every last drop of queer energy, love, creativity and strength to hold back the tide. Safe sex campaigns and innovative health responses proliferate – in bars, on dance floors and among squat racks.

For Peter Vincent and his friends, the party is far from over, even as they face the stark reality of a disease without a cure and the homophobic judgment beyond the gaybourhood. This is Darlinghurst – dancing as fast as it can.

Voices

Narrator: Regina Botros

Historian: Leigh Boucher

Interviewees: Bill Patterson, Lizzie Griggs, Frank McCabe, Tim Vincent, Pierre Touma, Bruce Carter, Scott Petrie and Sara Lubowitz.

Archive voice actors: Sam David Harris and Michael J Ryan.

Radio news and current affairs archive from Gaywaves, 2SER.

Credits

This special History Lab Original series was created on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

Produced, written and narrated by Regina Botros, in collaboration with Macquarie University historian Leigh Boucher.

Story development by Leigh Boucher and Michelle Ransom-Hughes.

Interviews by Leigh Boucher.

Research assistance from Eli Branagh.

Story and script editing by Sarah Gilbert.

History Lab is a UTS Impact Studios production, in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS.

Support

This podcast was made with the support of the support of the Paul Ramsay Foundation and is part of the Foundation's Darlinghurst Public History Initiative, a collaboration with UTS' Australian Centre for Public History and Impact Studios.

Thanks to Macquarie University for its support of this series.

A special thanks goes to the staff and management of City Gym, the Albion Centre and

In the late 1970s and early 80s, Sydney’s Darlinghurst was the place to be for queer fun, sex and joy – all bubbling alongside a measure of danger.

Packed bars, late-night gyms, house music, new friendships and the thrill of seeing and being seen. For many, this was the place to connect, to belong, to “grow up under the mirror ball.”

In the first episode of this three-part series, historian Leigh Boucher steps into that world of parties, cruising, chosen families and hard-won freedom — a queer neighbourhood alive with possibility.

But as the music plays and the nights stretch on, whispers of a mysterious illness begin to circulate.

To understand how that powerful, fragile world of Darlinghurst felt and moved, Leigh talks to ordinary people who lived there and built the “gaybourhood” from the ground up.

How might their stories help us to a fresh understanding of a history we think we know?

Voices

Narrator: Regina Botros

Historian: Leigh Boucher

Interviewees: Pierre Touma, Sara Lubowitz, Bruce Carter, Gary Dunne, Lizzie Griggs, Tess Ziems and Frank McCabe.

Archive: Dr Jim Curran and Dr Ron Penny (courtesy of Gaywaves, 2SER)

Archive voice actors: Sam David Harris and Michael J Ryan.

Radio news and current affairs archive from Gaywaves, 2SER.

Credits

This special History Lab Original series was created on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

Produced, written and narrated by Regina Botros, in collaboration with Macquarie University historian Leigh Boucher.

Story development by Leigh Boucher and Michelle Ransom-Hughes.

Interviews by Leigh Boucher.

Research assistance from Eli Branagh.

Story and script editing by Sarah Gilbert.

History Lab is a UTS Impact Studios production, in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS.

Support

This podcast was made with the support of the support of the Paul Ramsay Foundation and is part of the Foundation's Darlinghurst Public History Initiative, a collaboration with UTS' Australian Centre for Public History and Impact Studios.

Thanks to Macquarie University for its support of this series.

A special thanks goes to the staff and management of City Gym, Darlinghurst, for their generous hospitality.

Australia’s response to HIV and AIDS is often remembered as a national success story — one shaped by public health policy, activism and community action.

But how does that history change when you zoom in close?

Darlinghurst’s AIDS Crisis is a three-part History Lab Original series with historian Leigh Boucher. Focusing on the Sydney neighbourhood at the centre of the epidemic, the series traces how the crisis was lived day by day — through friendships and care networks, and in the hospital wards, gyms, bars and streets of Darlo.

Hearing the stories of ordinary people, many of them sharing their stories for the first time, you'll discover how their voices help us revisit this familiar history, and make it anew.

Episode 1 lands on Thursday, February 19, so subscribe to History Lab now.

Voices

Narrator: Regina Botros

Historian: Leigh Boucher

Interviewees: Sara Lubowitz, Pierre Touma, Frank McCabe and Lizzie Griggs.

Archive voice actor: Sam David Harris

Credits

This special History Lab Original series was created on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

Produced, written and narrated by Regina Botros, in collaboration with Macquarie University historian Leigh Boucher.

Story development by Leigh Boucher and Michelle Ransom-Hughes.

Interviews by Leigh Boucher.

Research assistance from Eli Branagh.

Story and script editing by Sarah Gilbert.

History Lab is a UTS Impact Studios production, in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS.

Support

This podcast was made with the support of the support of the Paul Ramsay Foundation and is part of the Foundation's Darlinghurst Public History Initiative, a collaboration with UTS' Australian Centre for Public History and Impact Studios.

Thanks to Macquarie University for its support of this series.