Strip on the Strip wins award

An art and history project of more than one hundred brass plaques telling the stories of Kings Cross was Highly Commended at the National Trust Heritage Awards on Monday.

Called The Strip on the Strip, most of the plaques were embedded into a granite footpath along Darlinghurst road in early 2005 with the final one going into the ground in August 2007.

The plaques tell stories of art, poetry, sleaze, humour, prostitutes, drug dealers and some of the upstanding residents of the area.

A small group of local history experts worked with the City of Sydney Historian to come up with ideas. The project was designed to work with the Citys reconstruction of the pavements and contemporary upgrade of Darlinghurst Road.

The project was entered into the "Interpretation and Presentation"corporate/government National Trust Heritage Award category.

The judging panel said "The idiosyncratic nature of the quirky stories told on the plaques impressed the judges. They are a clever and contemporary way of telling the stories of people whose voices are rarely heard."

The stories on the plaques are embellished in a free booklet produced by the City of Sydney, distributed at Kings Cross library and local events. The booklet is also available as a PDF download on the City of Sydney website or by clicking here.