images by John Douglas, JohnDouglasArt.com
Sydney is many things to many people, but one thing it is not is a village. When stepping over the addicts on the remortified Oxford Street gets dull, when dodging prams on Potts Point’s très gay Macleay Street turns ugly , why not venture to parts unknown?
There is, in fact, a part of Sydney that remains very much like a village; I call it TriWeRo, the triangle west of The Rocks. Surely, you’ve heard of The Rocks, tourist magnet par excellence, but I am talking about the other Rocks, the one where DFS Duty-Free, Ken Done, and Ye Olde Scone Shoppe dare not rear their retail heads. See that bridge ahead? Keep walking. Walk right under it; like Alice’s looking glass, the other side is another world. TriWeRo (more properly known as Millers Point) lies to the west of the Harbour Bridge and is the oldest part of Sydney. With a colourful history and blissful isolation, this side of the bridge packs a surprisingly diverse array of appealing attractions into a very small area. But hurry; there are changes afoot.
First off is the old Sydney Observatory, where the classic green copper domes loom low on Observatory Hill. Visits here are a lot of fun day or night. Go on a clear night and see stars the likes of which Hollywood can only envy; the cute guide with the celestial blue eyes may have you seeing stars even without a telescope. The Observatory is right across the street from the eponymously names Observatory Hotel. Small, chic, and very Agatha Christie—which is not surprising since The Observatory is a member of Orient-Express Hotels. The pool alone is reason enough to stay here; its black sky dotted with stars simulating the southern skies, the pool is a showpiece to match the fine cuisine of the hotel’s Galileo Restaurant and high tea in the Globe Bar. Hey, if you’re gonna do it, why not do it all the way? Theatre buffs will love the convenience of the location; the Sydney Theatre Company and Sydney Dance Company venues are only a few hundred metres away from The Observatory Hotel, making a pleasant stroll home a better option than fighting for a newly price-increased taxi to get to another part of the city.
Discounting ballet dancers in ultratight tights and their admirers at the Dance Company, there is nothing overtly gay about The Rocks other than the sexual interpretation of its name. Still, it offers gaysbian visitors a type of Margaret River cleansing experience in an urban environment while having the backrooms of The Pleasure Chest closer than karri trees to Wave Rock.
The main appeal of this part of The Rocks is the contrast to the east side. The streets here, lined with low-rise houses, are quiet. The famous Palisades Hotel rises in the distance, and the Lord Nelson is just around the corner. Add in an antiques shop, a couple of funky boutiques, and a short walk to the Museum of Contemporary Art and you have a full day’s worth of entertainment on a calm scale. There are a few cafés around, patronised by local residents fiercely defensive of their community, their hearts beating with intensity in the preservation of their special place in the city—both the literal and figurative place.
Perhaps angst contributes to the residents’ ardour. Past government decisions to make Sydney Harbour into a non-working port and turn it into what is known these days as a lifestyle destination is ushering huge changes to the city’s waterfront. Evidently, the blight of Darling Harbour wasn’t severe enough, so yet another food/retail/hotel/commercial/residential/whatever is planned for the foreshore of Millers Point, which now sits empty and forlorn. The devastation/devlopment isn’t expected to begin for a few years yet, which gives visitors time to savour the special atmosphere of the area before the years-long construction begins and permatraffic comes to its streets.
Sydney residents decry the demise of the gay scene as a unified force. Indeed, the carefree days of the late 1980’s early 1990’s seem to belong now to a place lost in time, but that can be said about many cities in the world with sizable gay populations. True, the glory days of drag performances and footpaths packed as tight as a sixpack with muscle gods whose handsome faces had yet to be ravaged by the power of crystal meth have passed, but there is still some gay life in the city for those who tear themselves off the computer long enough to participate in it. A renascent culture of gay art exhibits and underground culture sees such now mainstream events like Mardi Gras and Tropfest shadowed by parallel events like Squatfest. The upcoming Sleaze Ball remains a highlight on the gay calendar, one often favoured by locals who deem Mardi Gras too commercial and lost to the forces of tourism.
Thankfully, The Bookshop is still here, ever the beacon of gay life. While many bigger cities in the world have lost their gay bookshops, Sydney’s survives the challenge of the internet by utilising it to its advantage; much of the sales volume these days come via the Send button. Still, it’s nice to stop in; after all, there’s nothing like personal contact for a good time.
MORE INFORMATION
www.sydneyobservatory.com.au
www.observatoryhotel.com.au
www.thebookshop.com.au
www.mca.com.au
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