Marks Park south of Bondi was for decades a known gay beat in Sydney's eastern suburbs where multiple men were savagely bashed, robbed and in some cases, murdered.
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The cliff-side park will become a memorial to those men after it was chosen as the site for a monument to victims of the city's wave of gay hate crimes from the 1970s to the 1990s.
Waverley Council approved a section of the park on the Bondi to Tamarama coast walk and set aside $100,000 for the project at a meeting last week.
"I see this as a very important monument to these tragic events," Mayor John Wakefield said.
"I believe it has a very strong political angle as well. This is a clear, public expression across the community that this was done."
The memorial will be built in a natural amphitheatre-like space, created by a slope in the ground and a cluster of trees, on the Tamarama side of the park.
It will face south, towards the ocean and Waverley Cemetery.
The council endorsed the commission of a memorial, in the form of a public artwork, in 2016 after two years of campaigning by the HIV prevention organisation ACON and residents.
ACON chief executive Nicolas Parkhill welcomed confirmation the project would go ahead at the park and said the "epidemic" of violence during those decades had left a painful legacy.
"This memorial will help acknowledge and heal the trauma these events have caused for the families of the victims as well as the LGBTI community and many local residents."
Mr Parkhill said it would also help raise greater awareness of the gay hate attacks and serve as a reminder of "the importance of valuing and celebrating diversity in our community".
Councillor Paula Masselos, chair of the council's public art committee, said nearby Hunter Sculpture Park had initially been considered for the memorial, but Marks Park was deemed more suitable.
"That's where most of the bashings and murders took place, so it's contextual.
"It will be a place for private contemplation. It's a beautiful place to reflect and remember and remind people of this time in history that should not be repeated."
She hoped the memorial would be built in the next 12 to 18 months. The council will call for tenders before a public consultation period.
Cr Sally Betts said organisers of Sculpture by the Sea, the yearly two-week public art display that uses the park, should be consulted over the memorial's position.
At the meeting, Cr Wakefield said the organisation had been consulted but the memorial was ultimately a matter for the council and ACON.
A NSW Police review of 88 suspicious deaths in Sydney between 1976 and 2000 found almost a third were the result of crimes involving suspected or confirmed gay-hate bias.
Strike Force Parrabell this year found evidence of gay-hate bias or suspected bias in 27 cases, while 23 of the deaths also remain unsolved.
Progress on the public monument coincides with a NSW Parliamentary inquiry into police handling of the violent attacks.
