City walk · The Rocks, Sydney · Australia
Thomas Playfair
1832–1893 · a real person
A brisk, cheerful Victorian butcher-turned-mayor: plain-spoken, proud of his street, quick to needle the gentlemen of the Customs House.
Read what Thomas Playfair says
Thomas Playfair, butcher, alderman, and for one good year Mayor of this city — and yes, that street down the hill wears my family's name. Someone has been busy since I died: they cut my name into eight pieces and scattered them through The Rocks, into stone walls and shopfronts and a cottage with half a number. I can talk you to each piece, but I cannot read a sign for you; I have no eyes left for it. Walk with me, look hard at what's actually there, and give me my name back.
The Rocks · 8 stops · 1.2 km
about 7 min walking, 32 min listening at the stops — going inside is extra · Tap a stop on the map for a preview.
Where it takes you
1 / 6
39 min · 1.2 km · 8 stops · medium
You’re walking this one before anyone at Walk & Tell has. If something looks wrong, tap Report at any stop — we’ll fix it for everyone after you.
The walk
An hour's loop through the tightest, oldest streets in Sydney: a convict-cut canyon, an 1826 bond store, a garage that became a shopping arcade, and a cottage with half a number in its address. Your guide is Thomas Playfair, the Rocks butcher who became Mayor of Sydney and left his name on a street here. Every stop asks you to read, count or identify something that is genuinely in front of you, and hands back one letter of a name. Short walking, dense history, no backtracking.
Start here
Bradfield Highway, Dawes Point
Stand on Argyle Street where it dives between the high stone walls under the bridges — the Argyle Cut, a minute downhill from Cumberland Street.
Directions
