Discover Sydney's literary history on a guided walking tour. Explore the city through the eyes of Australia's greatest poets, and enjoy harbourside views with historic pubs as the backdrop.
Discover Sydney through the poets who captured its triumphs and dark history.Begin at the Barangaroo shoreline to hear the Indigenous history of the harbor through the poetry of Oodgeroo Noonuccal. From there, climb to the lawns of Observatory Hill, the vantage point for Dorothea Mackellar’s classic reflections on the Australian landscape.Next, stop at the water's edge at Circular Quay, where Kenneth Slessor wrote his most famous, haunting imagery of the harbor. Move into the quiet spaces of the Royal Botanic Gardens to explore Judith Wright’s sharp commentary on nature, country, and colonial history.Cross into The Domain to visit the Henry Lawson memorial. This landmark highlights the city's dark history, tracking Lawson's restless years, poverty, and struggles with mental illness and addiction on Sydney's streets.Further along, pause at the steps of the Art Gallery of New South Wales to explore the urban side of Banjo Paterson, whose storytelling shaped early Australian identity. Finally, finish at the historic working wharves of the Woolloomooloo Docks, the backdrop for Les Murray’s poems on blue-collar harbor life.The concept is simple: stand in the locations that inspired these writers and hear the specific texts shaped by those spaces.
