'The Scene' in Sydney - The Early Years

I’ve lately been intrigued by the history of Sydney’s Oxford Street and wondered, to be honest, how the fuck it morphed into what we see in 2004. I borrowed from the library ‘Street Scene - A History of Oxford Street’ by Clive Faro, a text that I found to be haphazardly organised, but fascinating nonetheless. I relate to you here its more significant divulgences. In the early 1800’s what was called The South Head Road weaved from the South-East corner of Hyde Park firstly up what was known as Woolloomooloo Hill (now the gentle uphill stroll from the park to Taylor Square), continued East and skirted around a beach called ‘Boondi’ by the local Aborigines and then up to the South Head. From the late 1830’s to the late 1880’s sections of it developed into a bustling high street, from its origins as a semi-rural byway. The name change of South Head Road, at the Hyde Park end, to Oxford Street, occurred in 1875, taking a cue from the major shopping precinct in London. Gradually the new name permeated eastward until 1932 when the last sections were renamed, bringing Oxford Street to its present day end at Bondi Junction.Interestingly, men known as “sodomites and poofs” had established themselves in the vicinity even at this relatively early stage of Sydney’s development. A late nineteenth century newssheet ‘The Scorpion’ describes “the Oscar Wildes of Sydney” as having “an effeminate style of speech and the adoption of the names of celebrated actresses”. It further asserted that a “haunt is said to exist in Bourke-street, Surry Hills, and that part of College-street from Boomerang-street to Park-street”, early evidence of what we call a beat. (In the ensuing years this seems to have spread further afield, to various parts of Sydney University and, if jimpy’s recent post is to be believed, Town Hall train station.) Many of these men were believed to have been employed in Oxford Street’s many stores, work which was considered unmanly in the context of the nineteenth century labour market. It was said to have required superior service skills described by one historian as being characterised by “exaggerated obsequiousness”. So, not much has changed then. Consider how many 21st century gay men are attracted to retail work and how their affability makes them suited to it.There were other arenas in which men would indulge in each other’s company. The Turkish baths such as those established in 1870 at number 143 Oxford Street were a means not only for those without private facilities to bathe but also provided opportunities for homoerotic contact, occurrences of which have been documented. Just think ‘Bodyline’ but older (the building, not the men).To be continued.