Historic photos show iconic Sydney gay bars proposed for heritage listing
Three iconic Oxford Street institutions could be heritage-listed to preserve their LGBTQIA+ ties and history.
City of Sydney council is proposing to put the Oxford Hotel (pictured), Palms and the Universal nightclub on a heritage list following a study to identify important places for queer communities.
Darlinghurst has seen extraordinary social change from the mid-70s, when male homosexuality was illegal, to the first Mardi Gras demonstration in 1978, the emergence of gay bars and clubs throughout the '80s and '90s, and then the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2017.
In this image, tens of thousands of spectators have lined Oxford Street to watch more than 200 floats and 12,000 marchers take part in the 2024 Sydney Mardi Gras Parade.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, pictured during the 2025 Mardis Gras festival with Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, said the venues are an "iconic part of the social and physical fabric" of Oxford Street.
The council unanimously supported the proposal late last year and it is now with the NSW government for review.
Oxford Hotel, 134 Oxford Street
This iconic venue traded as the Johnston's family, Ryan's and Midland hotel before it became the Oxford Hotel in 1905.
It officially opened as a gay venue in 1982.
Pictured here in 1982, the Oxford Hotel was known as the "latest gay pub on the Strip".
In this iconic image, Dot and Fanny address the crowd at 'Boys Own Bake Off', an annual fundraiser for the HIV+ charity Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, hosted at the Oxford Hotel.
The Oxford Hotel, seen here in the mid-90s, remains one of the oldest continually operating queer venues.
Palms, 124 Oxford Street
Palms opened in about 1977 as an underground cabaret venue, which quickly became known as a safe space and supportive environment for the queer community.
It then began trading as Scooters Bar and Diner during the late 1980s before reopening as Palms in 2000.
It operates today as a gay night club.
Here, American band The D-Men play in 1964 in the public hall that would become Palms over a decade later.
Universal, 85-91 Oxford Street
Universal nightclub, as it is now known, stands on 85-91 Oxford Street.
Pictured here, the building was home to the H.W. Webb Millinery store in 1920.
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