A place to loiter: The Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park
Hyde Park in Sydney has one of the most homoerotic pieces of public art in Australia, with the Archibald Fountain.
Its statuary includes a variety of hunky naked men very publicly on display 鈥� a rare sight in Sydney, especially when the fountain was built in 1937.
But it was an appropriate place for it to be located. Hyde Park had a long history as being a homosexual 鈥榖eat鈥�, going way back into the 19th century, and the Archibald Fountain provided a major new focus: it was in a park; it was a striking piece of architecture; and it was floodlit at night. So it soon became a 鈥榖eat鈥�.
A beat had to fulfil several criteria: there had to be a legitimate reason why men could be there, casually loitering, either by day or night, and where one could casually strike up a conversation with another man 鈥� to ask for a light, for example, or ask the time. These were the opening moves in what might or might not become a pick-up, depending on a range of responses from the other party.
And there could be ingenious ways of getting the message across. One man, when he went out at night to pick someone up, would put nail polish on two nails 鈥� and when he鈥檇 ask a man for a match (someone he thought might be a homosexual) he鈥檇 show those two nails to him as he took the match. In other words, he used a display of 鈥榚ffeminacy鈥� as a signal to the man.
In Kylie Tennant鈥檚 Tell Morning This, published in 1967, there is an acknowledgment of the Archibald Fountain being a homosexual 鈥榖eat鈥�. One particular scene in the novel opens at a public meeting at the fountain where a fra莽as occurs, caused by a number of young men with little feathers in their hats.
The novel鈥檚 heroine, Nonnie, confronts their leaders, and finds there is a misunderstanding: the young men thought the meeting was to have the Archibald Fountain pulled down, and they were there to show their opposition.
Afterwards, Nonnie talks with a companion, Dr Cranitz.
鈥溾�榊ou saw those young men?鈥� Nonnie asked. 鈥楾hey thought we were trying to get the Archibald Fountain removed. So extraordinary!鈥�
鈥楬omosexuals,鈥� Dr Cranitz said blandly.
鈥楤ut why should they worry about the fountain? I admit it鈥檚 a beautiful thing, and I wouldn鈥檛 like to see it removed myself…鈥�
鈥業t is their meeting place.鈥�
鈥楽urely not! How do you know?鈥�
鈥楳y dear lady,鈥� Dr Cranitz said resignedly, 鈥榠t is so. I assure you.鈥�
鈥楬e looked quite a nice young man,鈥� Nonnie said doubtfully….鈥�
Interestingly, Tell Morning This was written in the 1940s, and describes life in Sydney then. It had originally been published in 1953, in a bowdlerised version as The Joyful Condemned, with the homosexual scenes cut out 鈥� such were the sensibilities of the times.
Like many of Sydney鈥檚 famous old beats 鈥� Boomerang St, Giles Baths at Coogee, Green Park, the Bondi Pavilion dressing sheds among them 鈥� it no longer works; but I鈥檓 sure that late at night, the ghosts of adventurers past come out and loiter, hoping鈥�.
INFO: Garry Wotherspoon is a historian and the author of City of the Plain: History of a Gay Subculture.
