Bring alive the era of Ruth Park’s much loved and respected novel,
“Playing Beatie Bow”.
Set in The Rocks, students visit Victorian Sydney and through this well researched novel, relate to the social history of 1873
Beatie Bow’s Sydney is a curriculum-linked walking tour designed to support the study of Playing Beatie Bow and bring its historical setting vividly to life. Set in The Rocks and Millers Point, this immersive experience allows students to step into Sydney as it existed in 1873 and compare it with the city they know today.
Although the characters in the novel are fictional, Ruth Park’s depiction of everyday life is grounded in careful historical research. Guided by expert storytellers, students explore preserved streets, laneways and buildings that closely match locations described in the text. Along the way, they investigate the lived experiences of working-class families, including housing conditions, daily routines, work, health and community life in a crowded inner-city neighbourhood.
By blending literature with local social history, the tour encourages students to make meaningful connections between text and place. Students are supported to identify authentic historical details within the novel, corroborate them with the physical environment, and develop empathy for people of the past. The experience deepens understanding of both the novel’s themes and the heritage significance of The Rocks as a living historical landscape.
Students explore the history of Sydney’s oldest neighbourhood and investigate…
Hear the story of Colonial Sydney as you stroll around…
