Dickens created world full of secrets, scandals, and drama – and on this tour we can find that world right here through many of Sydney’s stories from the past. This is your chance to discover or revisit many of our heritage sites, including a ferry trip to Cockatoo Island and back to the Maritime Museum, to uncover stories from our quirky history that match some of Dickens’s great reveals, while sharing conversation and food with fellow Dickensians. Spoiler alert for many of the novels.
Meeting outside Hyde Park Barracks 10 minutes before tour start time. Finishing at the Australian National Maritime Museum (near Pyrmont Bay wharf, and Pyrmont Bay light rail station). This tour includes a ferry trip to Cockatoo Island and one back to the Australian National Maritime Museum. PAYG Food and Ferry (by personal Opal cards). Wear flat, sturdy walking shoes.
Medium level of walking difficulty:
- Footpaths and uneven surfaces.
- Downward hill: Macquarie St to Circular Quay
- Upward hill: Cockatoo Island (and down again)
This walk will go ahead whatever the weather, except where the guide deems there to be a threat to health and safety. In this situation you will be contacted with an alternative date. Please ensure your mobile phone number is up-to-date with WEA before enrolling and ensure that you have it with you on the day in case the tutor needs to contact you.
- Oliver Twist. (Penguin Classics: 2003), ISBN-10: 0141439742
- Nicholas Nickleby. (Penguin Classics: 1999), ISBN-10: 9780140435122
- Old Curiosity Shop. (Penguin Classics: 2001), ISBN-10: 9780140437423
- Barnaby Rudge. (Penguin Classics: 2003), ISBN-10: 0140437282
- David Copperfield. (Macmillan Collector's Library: 2016), ISBN-10: 1509825398
- Hard Times. (Macmillan Collector's Library: 2016), ISBN-10: 1509825436
- Little Dorrit. (Wordsworth: 1998), ISBN-10: 9781853261824
- A Tale of Two Cities. (Penguin Classics: 2003), ISBN-10: 0141439602
- Great Expectations. (W. W. Norton: 1999), ISBN-10: 0393960692
- Macquarie St: Hyde Park Barracks, Parliament House, Domain, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Government House gate
- Bridge St: Past Museum of Sydney, Justice and Police Museum
- Circular Quay: ferry to Cockatoo Island
- Ferry from Cockatoo Island to Australian National Maritime Museum
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Discuss similarities between Australian history and Dickensian plots
- Recount some colonial scandals
- Be familiar with some Sydney heritage sites
