By the early 1990s, AIDS had reached its devastating peak in Darlinghurst. Obituaries filled the pages of the Star Observer, funerals became routine. Sickness and loss touched almost every friendship and street in the neighbourhood.In this episode, we move inside the hospitals, hospices and homes where nurses, carers and volunteers supported a generation of young men facing terminal illness. Beyond the wards, grief and anger spilled into public life — through candlelight vigils, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and growing activism demanding faster access to life-saving drugs.Then, in 1996, combination therapies changed the course of the epidemic. Soon, for the first time in a decade, the Star Observer ran without a single obituary. But survival came with a new question: how do you rebuild a life — and a community — after so much loss?This episode explores the final grueling years of the crisis and its aftermath — and the complex and unruly legacies it left for generations to come.VoicesNarrator: Regina BotrosHistorian: Leigh BoucherInterviewees: Pierre Touma, Lizzie Griggs, Bill Patterson, Frank McCabe, Billy Kokkinos, Tim Vincent, Sara Lubowitz, Bruce Carter, Tess Ziems, Scott Petrie and Ian Innes.Archive voice actors: Sam David Harris and Michael J Ryan.Radio news and current affairs archive from Gaywaves, 2SER.CreditsThis special History Lab Original series was created on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.Produced, written and narrated by Regina Botros, in collaboration with Macquarie University historian Leigh Boucher.Story development by Leigh Boucher and Michelle Ransom-Hughes.Interviews by Leigh Boucher.Research assistance from Eli Branagh.Story and script editing by Sarah Gilbert.History Lab is a UTS Impact Studios production, in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS.SupportThis podcast was made with the support of the support of the Paul Ramsay Foundation and is part of the Foundation's Darlinghurst Public History Initiative, a collaboration with UTS' Australian Centre for Public History and Impact Studios.Thanks to Macquarie University for its support of this series.A special thanks goes to the staff and management of City Gym, Darlinghurst, for their generous hospitality. Heartfelt thanks also to Anni Turnbull at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney for her time and expertise, and to the Australian Queer Archives.Thanks also to the National Library of Australia, the State Library of New South Wales, ACON and the Pride History Group Sydney. Further readingTo learn more about the history and complex legacies of AIDS in Darlinghurst, read these articles by Leigh Boucher:Reciting the names of the dead: how Australia's response to HIV/Aids was emotionally - and politically - powerful, Guardian Australia, 1 Dec 2025.What have we lost with 2026's Mardi Gras Parade after party cancellation?, Star Observer, 13 Feb 2026.