Yirranma Place acknowledges that we work, live and play on the stolen land of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, who are the traditional custodians of Darlinghurst. Yirranma pays respect to the elders past, present and future of the Eora Nation and extends that respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait people.
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Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.
The drains that run beneath the tarmac of the inner city used to be natural watercourses that sustained life and industry for the Aboriginal people of coastal Sydney and early colonists. Long before the advent of roads and subdivisions, water sketched the bounds of Darlinghurst on three sides. Early maps show a number of creeks traversing the valleys of Woolloomooloo and Rushcutters Bay: La Croza Creek, West’s Creek, Yurong Creek, Rushcutters Creek, Palmer’s Creek. At different times, diverse groups have used the area’s water resources in multiple ways - from Gadigal tool manufacturers on the banks of Yurong Creek, to ex-convict Thomas West who built the colony’s first watermill at Barcom Glen, to Chinese market gardeners at Rushcutters Bay. By the late 1800s, the natural watercourses had become receptacles for sewage from the area's growing population and were in a foul state. A system of stormwater drains was built to alleviate the problem, banishing the surface flow of water, sending it underground. Certain streets trace the line of Darlinghurst’s buried waterways: Boundary Street, Stream Street, Yurong Street. This audio story goes in search of the streams, creeks and cascades that once flowed freely from the sandstone ridge at the apex of Darlinghurst down to the harbour at Woolloomooloo and Rushcutters Bay in a series of intersecting streams and falls.
This audio story is a production of the Australian Centre for Public History in partnership with the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Producer: Catherine Freyne
Sound engineer: Judy Rapley
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
Featuring:
