VMHPAA backs heritage listing of key LGBTIQA+ sites in Sydney
- Shane Warren
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
MEDIA RLEASE
For Immediate Release
9 April 2026
Sydney, NSW - The Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association of Australia (VMHPAA) has formally expressed its strong support for the proposed heritage listing of three significant LGBTIQA+ sites within the Rainbow Precinct - the footprint in and around the Oxford Street - describing the move as an important and overdue act of public recognition.
In a submission to the City of Sydney, VMHPAA has backed the proposed heritage listing of:
Former Ruby Reds, 273 Crown Street, Surry Hills
Former Taxi Club, 40–42 Flinders Street, Darlinghurst
The Bookshop, 207 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
VMHPAA Chair Shane Warren (who is alos the Presidnet of the Rainbow Precinct and Vice-President of the Darlinghurst Business Partnership) said the proposed listings represent more than the protection of old buildings, they recognise places that helped shape community life, identity, safety and belonging for generations of LGBTIQA+ people in Sydney.
“Heritage is not only about grand facades or architecturally impressive buildings,” Mr Warren said. “It is also about the places where people found one another, where communities gathered, where identity was expressed, where support was shared, and where people could exist more freely in a world that was not always welcoming.”
Mr Warren said each of the three sites plays a distinct and important role in the story of Sydney’s LGBTIQA+ history.
“Ruby Reds holds particular importance as a site associated with Sydney’s lesbian history and lesbian visibility. The Taxi Club reflects the long and often under-recognised history of drag, transgender and broader queer community gathering. The Bookshop stands as a cultural institution in its own right - a place of ideas, connection, activism and support, including during some of the hardest years of the AIDS crisis.”
He said the proposed listings help correct a long-standing imbalance in the way heritage has traditionally been understood.
“For too long, many of the places that mattered most to LGBTIQA+ communities were left out of formal recognition. These were not marginal places in the lives of the people who used them, they were central places. They were places of refuge, celebration, resilience and continuity.”
VMHPAA said the proposed listings demonstrate a broader and more mature understanding of heritage, one that recognises social and cultural meaning alongside built form.
“Cities are shaped not only by what is built, but by what is lived,” Mr Warren said. “When we protect places like these, we are saying that the lives lived within them mattered, and that the stories of lesbian, gay, transgender and queer communities are part of Sydney’s history, not apart from it.”
VMHPAA has welcomed the City of Sydney’s continued work to recognise the historic and contemporary significance of the Oxford Street precinct and surrounding areas to LGBTIQA+ communities.
“These listings matter because they tell the truth about this city,” Mr Warren said. “They acknowledge that heritage in Sydney must include places of community, struggle, expression, nightlife, literature, activism and care. That is especially important in neighbourhoods like Darlinghurst and Surry Hills, where social history and cultural life have always been deeply intertwined.”
VMHPAA has urged the City of Sydney to proceed with the proposed listings and ensure these sites are formally recognised and protected within the city’s heritage framework.
Media Contact:
Shane Warren, Chair
Susan Sandy, Secretary
Philip Armstrong, CEO
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