Late 1973 and the world focus is on Sydney and the opening of the Opera House…but just days later, that focus shifted (well, a little bit anyway) to Kings Cross and what was probably the world’s first stripper strike. At the heart of the strike was the stingy Peter ’The Black Prince’ Farrugia, proprietor of the Staccato Club and Pink Panther strip clubs in Darlinghurst Road. The catalyst was an attempt to by one of the strippers to unionise their workplace and get better pay and and improvement on their dismal work conditions. The union, Actors Equity, went from not terribly interested to very interested after the strippers took to A Current Affair to put their case. Farrugia responded by sacking some of them.  The dispute was now on the front pages, a union organiser was brutally bashed by Farrugia’s thugs, strike breaking strippers were flown in from Adelaide and there were protest marches and picket lines in the Cross. The plot twisted on 26 November when Staccato was gutted by a fire set and lit by Big Jim Anderson, who, as usual, escaped prosecution.  By mid December, Farrugia had conceded defeat and the strippers were back at work in his remaining club, The Pink Panther in time for the Christmas party season.

Join Brandon and Duncan on a wander through one of the most intriguing events in the history of the Cross, and the one the most colourful strikes in our industrial history.

Tickers are $25 and includes a cocktail on arrival.