The Rocks Walking Tours

Start with The Rocks Walking Tours, then make a day of it! 🚶‍♀️✨

🗓 What's on nearby: 21-27 October 2026
Discover Sydney’s stories with our local guides before exploring nearby events or enjoying a meal at the recently reopened Observer Hotel.

Follow us for weekly local event inspiration and book your daily tour via the link in our bio!

Start with The Rocks Walking Tours and discover the stories behind Sydney's oldest neighbourhood. Then make a day of it with these nearby events in The Rocks and Circular Quay!

Book your daily tour via the link https://www.rockswalkingtours.com.au/walking-tour/daily-tour/

THEN AND NOW: Butcher shops 🥩

Buying dinner looked a little different in the late 1800s! The local butcher was a familiar part of neighbourhood life, cutting to order and serving generations of families.

Our first photo, taken in 1901, shows J. Duggan’s butcher shop on Cumberland Street in The Rocks, with meat hanging openly across the shopfront. Quite a change from the refrigerated display cabinets we’re used to today!

Over time, refrigeration, changing hygiene standards and supermarket shopping transformed the trade. Many modern butchers now offer everything from traditional cuts to marinated meats and ready-to-cook meals - helping answer that age-old question: “What’s for dinner?”

These three photos also show how a familiar building can change with its neighbourhood:
📷 First: the butcher shop in 1901
📷 Middle: the same corner in 1989, with a sandwich bar sign above the shopfront.
📷 Last: the building today

Different businesses, different shopping habits, but plenty of history still standing.

Did your family have a favourite local butcher?

Discover the stories behind The Rocks’ everyday places with The Rocks Walking Tours. Book your walk through Sydney’s history via our website. Link in our bio!

Before you book, there are some questions worth asking:

📚 Is it suitable for my year group?
🧭 Does it connect with what I’m teaching?
👟 What will my students actually do?
📩 How do I enquire?

We’ve put together a practical guide to help teachers choose the right The Rocks school excursion for their class.

Our educational walking tours use the streets, buildings and historic places of The Rocks as an outdoor classroom, helping students connect classroom learning with the real places around them.

If you’re planning an excursion for primary or secondary students, this guide is a good place to start.

Read the full blog via the link in our bio. https://www.rockswalkingtours.com.au/the-rocks-school-excursion-7-essential-tips-for-a-successful-school-visit/

There’s nothing better than hearing that students are engaged, involved and excited about history. 📚👣

Our school walking tours are designed to bring Sydney’s early history to life through storytelling, discussion and the historic streets of The Rocks themselves.

From colonisation and the First Fleet to early exploration and the development of Sydney, our guides help students connect what they’re learning in the classroom with the places where history happened.

Thank you for the wonderful feedback - we loved having your students on tour!

📍 The Rocks, Sydney
🎒 School history excursions
👣 Learning history where it happened

What a perfect Sydney day! ☀️

Today’s group of visitors from the USA enjoyed a classic day in The Rocks with our guide - fascinating stories, harbour views and the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge providing the perfect backdrop.

And of course, no Sydney day is complete without a little “Sydney Sparkler” - that beautiful moment when the sunshine catches the harbour and the water seems to sparkle.

History, harbour views and Sydney sunshine are a pretty special way to experience The Rocks.

WE’RE A FINALIST! 🎉

We’re absolutely thrilled to share that The Rocks Walking Tours has been named a Finalist in the 2026 Sydney Business Awards in the Outstanding Visitor Experience category!

Sharing the stories, secrets and colourful characters of The Rocks is what we love doing — and having that experience recognised like this means a great deal to our team.

From the passionate guides who bring Sydney’s history to life to every guest who has joined us and shared the journey, thank you.

We’re incredibly proud to be a finalist and can’t wait to celebrate with our fellow Sydney businesses!

Here’s to sharing more stories, meeting more visitors and bringing the history of The Rocks to life. 🥂

SydneyWalkingTours VisitSydney SydneyHistory SydneyTourism Finalist

Your Bastille Festival weekend, sorted.

For one weekend only.

Beyond the British: The French Connection to Sydney's Early Story

This year, as part of the Bastille Festival, we're adding something extra specisl.

Our award-winning Signature History Tournwill be uncovering the hidden French chapter of Sydney's earliest history.

The perfect way to kick off your festival weekend.

📅
16–19 July 2026
📍
Circular Quay & The Rocks, Sydney
🎟 Free entry -
🚶
Walking tour 18 & 19 July
book via link in bio