Chevron Hotel

Stub — the Chevron Hotel at Macleay Street, Potts Point, and its downstairs bar the Quarter Deck, was a significant gay venue in Sydney from the early 1960s until the hotel’s closure in 1985. It appears in the Mark Stewart case (1976) as a possible — though contested — connection: a handwritten note found on Mark Stewart’s body may have borne the Chevron Hotel’s name and telephone number. The Sackar Inquiry found that Strike Force Parrabell’s conflation of this hotel with the Hilton Hotel on George Street was a serious analytical failure.

The Quarter Deck is documented by historian Garry Wotherspoon as “a favoured drinking place for camps, not least because of the large number of young sailors among its patrons.” In evidence to the Inquiry, Wotherspoon recalled that the bar attracted young sailors who “would go there for a free drink, a bit of sex later and then a bashing.”

Research needed:

• Exact street address (Macleay Street number)
• Precise dates of operation (opened September 1960; confirmation of 1985 closure)
• Photographs of the hotel and Quarter Deck bar
• Whether the hotel or its successor building has any current heritage listing
• Whether this venue appears in other cases in this project’s scope
• Oral history leads: PHG may hold interviews mentioning the Quarter Deck

Sources: Sackar Inquiry Vol. 2, Ch. 5, paras 5.128–5.200 (pp. 224–236); Wotherspoon G (2016) Gay Sydney: A History, New South Printing, p. 158; Wotherspoon testimony, Transcript of the Inquiry, 21 November 2022, T191.42.