Saving Sirius
In October of 2016, at the height of the battle to save Sirius, the iconic Brutalist building deigned by Tao Gofers, the Save our Sirius Foundation invited then editor of Assemble Papers, Sara Savage and myself to tell the stories of some of it’s last remaining public housing residents.
The decision by the NSW government in 2014 to sell off the Sirius building and hundreds of other public housing properties in the lucrative areas of Millers Pt, Dawes Pt and The Rocks was met with intense opposition from it’s residents and activists who have fought tirelessly to save an important part of Sydney’s built and social heritage.
Myra Demetriou, the last remaining resident of Sirius, was moved out in January 2018.
“Sirius got all the urban cues right from the get-go. They gave it a front door and put it on the street, and those simple yet fundamental things have meant that Sirius is a building that is and has always been of the community.”
- Sean Carter, President of the AIA and Chair of the Save Our Sirius Foundation.
Cherie Johnson, an original Sirius tenant, moved in with her mother shortly after the project’s completion in 1980.
For Cherie “it’s not about the view. It’s about the people that live here…that’s what made this place.”
Kelly Moss, also one of the original tenants of Sirius.
Three of the last remaining residents of Sirius, from left to right: Kelly Moss, Myra Demetriou, Cherie Johnson
The original online article written by Sara Savage for Assemble Papers, can be read here.
To find out more about the Save Our Sirius initiative please visit saveoursirius.org
Below are tearsheets from the print version of Assemble Papers.
