Our walks are developed by teachers and delivered by our professional interpretive guides and can be adapted to suit your needs. The content is curriculum-linked giving all students a quality hands on interactive learning experience. Most walks include pre and post walk worksheets, background information and risk assessments.
Come with us to where history took place in early Sydney. Let us take you out of your classroom and help keep history alive for your students.
Early Sydney – Before and After Colonisation
A walking tour from Circular Quay through the backstreets and alleyways of The Rocks
Whether you were an Aborigine, a convict, free settler or officer, life in early colonial Sydney was agonising and frightening. On our tour your students will experience the contrastingly different lives of early settlers as they each become a character, living during this period of colonial history.
Learn why convicts were sent to Australia and what their journey was like.
What happened when the first fleet and convicts arrived?
Journey through The Rocks and discover first hand what life was like in colonial Sydney.
Suits HSIE Stage 2 students studying NSW Syllabus "First Contacts".
Focus includes:
- What was life like for the original Aboriginal inhabitants of Sydney (the Cadigal people).
- The convicts journey; why they were sent to Australia and why the colony was established.
- The consequences of colonisation for both the Cadigal people and the newcomers
Length of walk: 1.5 hours Cost : $12.00 incl GST per student
Optional: Colonial costume dress up available for year 3 students only, add $2.00 per student
The Story of Sydney – From Indigenous Beginnings
A walking tour from Circular Quay to the Opera House via Macquarie Place
Imagine a Sydney, hundreds of years ago where a local Cadigal people lived happily with their land, their harbour and bush. Every aspect of their lives was connected to this land. When the First Fleet arrived on their shores, claiming the land as their own, their lives were to be changed forever. On our tour your students will learn about the consequences of this arrival for both the indigenous and the newcomers.
Hear how this settlement changed the lives of Aboriginal people forever.
Visit the commemorative point of the meeting of colonial and Indigenous cultures in 1788 and challenge your thoughts on settlement here in NSW.
Hear tales of the most unlikely friendship between two leaders one indigenous, the other an English Governor.
Suits HSIE Stage 2 students studying NSW Syllabus Community and Remembrance.
Focus includes:
- The lives of the local Cadigal people before and after British Colonisation
- The consequences of colonisation for both the Cadigal people and the newcomers
- Significant events are discussed in the context of the times and places they occurred
- Landmarks and heritage sites are explored through stories relating to important individuals and groups in society from this time
Length of walk: 1.5 hours Cost : $12.00 incl GST per student
Turn of the Century Sydney
From Circular Quay to Walsh Bay, the students will journey through the heart of The Rocks to investigate the oldest parts of Sydney - once a bustling port city laden with merchants, sailors and traders. They will explore the site of Sydney’s first Chinatown, learn about our rich maritime history, and hear of the hardship and poverty endured by Sydney’s poor working class residents at the turn of the nineteenth Century. They will find out how the struggles of these people prompted their government to take action, for better or for worse.
From Circular Quay via The Rocks and Walsh Bay to Millers Point
Suits HSIE Stage 3 students studying NSW Syllabus Australia as a Nation.
Focus includes:
- Life in Sydney at the beginning of the 20th Century
- Important people of this time, their way of life and place in society
- Significant groups in the area, their culture and their legacy
- The Plague, the Great Depression, Government control and redevelopment
Length of walk: 2 hours Cost: $14.00 Incl GST per student
Optional add-on:
The Harbour Bridge - Southern Pylon Lookout
Time: Adds approx. 1.5 hours
Cost: Add $10.00 Incl GST per student
Macquarie - The Father of Australia
Together with The Rocks, Macquarie Street is Sydney’s oldest area. While The Rocks developed as the place for the lower classes, Macquarie Street became the centre of the governing, legal and medical professions.
Students will learn about Francis Greenway, his buildings and architecture. Thomas Mort and his incredible industrial and economic achievements. William Wentworth and other notable explorers. Hear about how as Governor, Macquarie transformed this settlement from a penal colony into what would become Australia.
Bring history to life on our school excursion in the place where it all happened - Macquarie Street
Length of walk: 2 hours Cost: $14.00 Incl GST per student
