The Rocks Walking Tours

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

A big thank you to Freemans Reach Public School for your wonderful review!!

We're so glad your students enjoyed stepping into the shoes of convicts, soldiers, and free settlers while bringing Sydney's early history to life.

We truly appreciate your support!!

On this day in Sydney History

French Explorer Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de La Pèrouse sailed from Botany Bay after spending several weeks observing the newly arrived British Colony at Sydney Cove.

When La Pèrouse departed on 10 March, it became the last confirmed sighting of his expedition. Both ships were later lost in the Pacific, turning the voyage into one of the great maritime mysteries of the 18th century.

Today, the La Pèrouse Monument at Botany Bay marks the place of their final departure.

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Sydney's very first newspaper, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, was published.

Printed on a hand press by George Howe, a convict transported from London in 1800, the paper shared government notices, shipping news, and stories from the young colony. Recognising hid printing skills, the Governor appointed Howe as the copy's Government Printer.

At the time, The Rocks was the bustling heart of Sydney - fll of sailors, convicts, and merchants whose lives often appeared in its pages.

More than 220 years later, the stories of those early days still echo through the laneways of The Rocks.