When the New South Wales State government decided to close Darlinghurst police station  – in the centre of Sydney’s queer communities – it was the cause of much celebration. So much so that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence organised an exorcism of the premises.

The police station – or, more precisely, its occupants – had been the source of much grief to Sydney’s queer communities for many years. in 1978, when activists tried to hold a night-time street parade to end a Mardi Gras, the police repeatedly harrassed the marchers, despite already having granted permission for the event. Ultimately, the repeated provocation led to clashes which, in turn, led to dozens of arrests.

But that was only the beginning of the trouble. When the detainees were taken to Darlinghurst police station many of them were brutally assaulted.

Police assault of queer people was certainly nothing new at Darlinghurst: the only thing that changed on this occasion was the sheer volume of numbers. Like police stations around the world, it was routine for police officers from Darlinghurst to deliberately entrap gay men. The team tasked to do this was known as ‘the Peanut Squad’. One former police officer described this in his memoirs:

“At these toilets and in the case of Greens Park, the poofs would stand at the urinal and play with themselves hoping the person standing beside them would react favourably. The Peanut Squad used young police in jeans and a casual shirt who would act as agents provocateur, in that they stood beside the person at the urinal and waited to be propositioned. They had to get the offender to make the suggestion before they could effect an arrest. (what a bloody job, eh?)”

What a job indeed; they could have better devoted their resources to fighting real crime. But, as a subsequent Royal Commission into the NSW police force was to reveal, it was often the police themselves who were behind the real crime – everything from prostitution to armed robbery. And Darlinghurst was at the centre of it. In his book The Life and Times of Frank ‘Bumper’ Farrell, Larry Writer described the culture at Darlinghurst:

“Bumper [Farrell] was a devotee of what was known as ‘the Darlo Way’. ‘There was the right way, the wrong way and the Darlo way, which meant that the police did whatever was necessary to convict a person who deserved it and protect the lives and property of the community,’ explained his former Darlinghurst colleague, Chris Jones.

“I saw cops drunk on duty, stealing from drunks and others, stealing from recovered stolen cars…Assaulting defenceless people without provocation was very common…Police verbals were the norm and just part of the job.”

Darlinghurst police station wasn’t closed as a result of the Royal Commission findings – that wouldn’t begin for another nine years. But for Sydney’s LGBT communities, it was still a step to be celebrated.