Analysing literary journalism: De(composing) narrative: writing true crime in Death at the Darlo Bar

This paper is in two parts: a true crime story, Death at the Darlo Bar, I wrote about a violent death at one of my local bars near Kings Cross, Sydney and an essay reflecting on the writing process. I first heard about the death of Brett Adam Sparks through rumours that circulated in my neighborhood, which presented him as a homeless man who had been attacked and killed at the hands of a group of respectable chess-playing locals. The second part of this paper is an exegetical essay that reflects on the issues arising from my writing a true crime story as a resident of Kings Cross and a regular patron of the Darlo Bar, whose research and writing process was informed as much by local encounters and gossip as painstaking research into the archive of inquest reports, police statements and witness testimonies held at the local Coroner’s Court. The essay discusses the uncanny experience of investigating and writing a story about violent crime that was quickly glossed over by local stakeholders and authorities, and which has no satisfactory resolution or truth claim. In particular, the essay explores the uncanny concept of homelessness and how it folds into competing narratives about Kings Cross as an alcohol-fuelled crime hot-spot in the Australian cultural imaginary. My own story reconstructs one of a number of competing versions of the same event. But it can’t really claim to be closer to an objective reality than any other account, let alone the Coroner’s preferred version, even though it relies on the same facts as presented in the archival documents and witness testimonies. I started out by looking for a true crime story, but the findings from the inquest meant that Sparks’ death is not actually considered a “crime”. Any other claims that it was a crime, and that people got away with it, therefore can’t be “true”. This journal article is available in Current Narratives: http://ro.uow.edu.au/currentnarratives/vol1/iss4/4 De(composing) narrative: writing true crime in Death at the Darlo Bar Ruth Walker1 University of Wollongong Abstract: This paper is in two parts: a true crime story, Death at the Darlo Bar, I wrote about a violent death at one of my local bars near Kings Cross, Sydney and an essay reflecting on the writing process. I first heard about the death of Brett Adam Sparks through rumours that circulated in my neighborhood, which presented him as a homeless man who had been attacked and killed at the hands of a group of respectable chess-playing locals. The second part of this paper is an exegetical essay that reflects on the issues arising from my writing a true crime story as a resident of Kings Cross and a regular patron of the Darlo Bar, whose research and writing process was informed as much by local encounters and gossip as painstaking research into the archive of inquest reports, police statements and witness testimonies held at the local Coroner’s Court. The essay discusses the uncanny experience of investigating and writing a story about violent crime that was quickly glossed over by local stakeholders and authorities, and which has no satisfactory resolution or truth claim. In particular, the essay explores the uncanny concept of homelessness and how it folds into competing narratives about Kings Cross as an alcohol-fuelled crime hot-spot in the Australian cultural imaginary. My own story reconstructs one of a number of competing versions of the same event. But it can’t really claim to be closer to an objective reality than any other account, let alone the Coroner’s preferred version, even thought it relies on the same facts as presented in the archival documents and witness testimonies. I started out by looking for a true crime story, but the findings from the inquest meant that Sparks’ death is not actually considered a “crime”. Any other claims that it was a crime, and that people got away with it, therefore can’t be “true”. This paper is in two parts: a true crime story, Death at the Darlo Bar, I wrote about a violent death at one of my local bars near Kings Cross, Sydney and an essay reflecting on the writing process. I first heard about the death of Brett Adam Sparks through rumours that circulated in my neighborhood, which presented him as a homeless man who had been attacked and killed at the hands of a group of respectable chess-playing locals. The second part of this paper is an exegetical essay that reflects on the issues arising from my writing a true crime story as a resident of Kings Cross and a regular patron of the Darlo Bar, whose research and writing process was informed as much by local encounters and gossip as painstaking research into the archive of inquest reports, police statements and witness testimonies held at the local Coroner’s Court. The essay discusses the uncanny experience of investigating and writing a story about violent crime that was quickly glossed over by local stakeholders and authorities, and which has no satisfactory resolution or truth claim. In particular, the essay explores the uncanny concept of homelessness and how it folds into competing narratives about Kings Cross as an alcohol-fuelled crime hot-spot in the Australian cultural imaginary. My own story reconstructs one of a number of competing versions of the same event. But it can’t really claim to be closer to an objective reality than any other account, let alone the Coroner’s preferred version, even thought it relies on the same facts as presented in the archival documents and witness testimonies. I started out by looking for a true crime story, but the findings from the inquest meant that Sparks’ death is not actually considered a “crime”. Any other claims that it was a crime, and that people got away with it, therefore can’t be “true”. 1 Ruth Walker is a senior lecturer, learning development in the Learning Teaching and Curriculum Unit, University of Wollongong. Contact: rwalker@uow.edu.au 1 Walker: Analysing literary journalism: De(composing) narrative: writing t Published by Research Online, 2014 Current Narratives 4: 2014 Walker: Death at the Darlo Bar 18 Death at the Darlo Bar: a true crime story I was thinking about murder when I ran into a friend on the grimy escalators coming out of Kings Cross station. We chatted about local crimes as we walked down Darlinghurst Road towards Potts Point, navigating around the stream of commuters returning to their designer flats, the wide-eyed tourists, the dazed girls and the pimps pacing their square metres as the strip geared up for the evening. Someone had been shot the week before in Kellett Street, a backpacker was still in a coma after being bashed in Springfield Plaza, and more recently a man had been knifed outside one of the girlie clubs we were walking past. My friend pointed out that Kings Cross is not all about organized crime, nightclubs and sex joints. He mentioned an incident involving a chess club and a homeless guy a few years back at the Darlo Bar. My friend was adamant there was more to this story. I vaguely recalled hearing about this incident, although it hadn’t provoked the media frenzy that accompanies other more recent cases of alcohol-fueled violence in Kings Cross. I decided to find out more.