Up the Cross: Rennie Ellis & Wesley Stacey

Overview

There was a note stuck to the back of a Darlinghurst bus stop seat. "ROSE," it read, "Gone up the Cross. Ring me! Trevor." The year wasn't 1970, it was 2009 and I was on my way home from a bookshop opening. I don't know if Rose ever found Trevor, but Kings Cross has a rich history of fateful meetings, missings and other miscreant behaviour. In the summer of '70-'71, photographers Rennie Ellis and Wesley Stacey were in town to capture exactly that.

While local artists gathered in the Yellow House on Macleay Street laying the groundwork for the future of the Sydney experimental scene, American Vietnam soldiers trundled the streets on leave looking for a good time. The girls of Les Girls fanned both their longs legs and slobbering onlookers on break from their office jobs a little ways down William Street. Carlotta held court, Hare Krishnas clapped and danced, red lights glowed, the fountain dribbled. In other words, you could walk down the street without tripping over the cast and crew of Underbelly shooting a nightclub scene.

Ellis and Stacey's photographs of this sliver of Sydney life are currently on display at the Museum of Sydney, and while you're tripping over the city scenes, have a look out for Rosie and Trevor. Maybe they'll be in the gift shop.