Crime & Punishment History Elective Walking Tours
Walking tours for the Crime & Punishment history elective in Sydney. Each tour is led and designed by a historian and archaeologist for NSW HSIE students in partnership with Murders Most Foul: True Crime Tours. Take your school’s students on an interactive walking tour of Sydney’s historical crime scenes. Challenge them to think, debate and discuss the ethical and moral dilemmas faced by society to maintain a fair and balanced judicial system using real historical examples. Help them understand the importance of implementing a wide range of primary and secondary sources in their historical research.
Walking Tour
Info@walktalkexplore.com.au
Surry Hills Crime & Punishment Walking Tour
Students will explore the old laneways of Surry Hills and see where the gangsters and tough cops battled for control of what was once Sydney’s most infamous neighbourhood. Investigate historical murders at the actual crime scene to review the evidence and discuss the details of each particular case. Walk up the former most dangerous street in Australia. See the home and final sly-grog shop of Kate Leigh. Discover the third and forgotten crime queen of Sydney during the 1920s and hear how Australia’s first female detective took her empire down. Students and teachers alike will be in awe at what they discover on this tour.
Walking. 90 Minutes.
Recommended for Crime & Punishment elective and is perfectly paired with a Justice & Police Museum visit.
Monday to Friday – Choose Your Start Time – Teachers & Staff Join Free
Includes Course Material for Teachers
Schools booking the Crime & Punishment tour receive supplementary materials, including a student questionnaire, a historical investigation task using primary sources to uncover a lost crime scene, and a textbook for teachers filled with primary/secondary sources, discussion questions, homework, and debate topics. These resources enrich student engagement and provide teachers with dynamic tools for deeper historical inquiry.
Interactive & Entertaining
On each Crime & Punishment walking tour, students will explore historical sites connected to real people and events. They receive case files containing primary resources like genuine crime scene photos, newspaper articles, coroner reports, and witness statements, which they use to investigate, discuss, and debate the past, fostering critical thinking and historical analysis.
Justice & Police Museum
The Crime & Punishment tour complements a visit to the Justice & Police Museum in Circular Quay, where many of the crime scenes, stories, and characters from the tour can be explored further. Conveniently, the tour starts at Central Station/Light Rail and ends at the Surry Hills Light Rail stop, allowing your class to travel between the tour and museum in just 15 minutes.
Complimentary Coursework To Assist Teachers
The Crime & Punishment coursework is thoughtfully designed to make your busy teaching schedule easier, while ensuring students remain deeply engaged with history throughout the semester. By providing a comprehensive set of ready-made materials, including a textbook filled with primary and secondary sources, engaging discussion questions, and structured homework assignments, the coursework helps streamline your lesson planning. The content ties directly into the historical walking tour, offering students meaningful ways to revisit and explore the real historical events and figures they’ve encountered, without the need for you to create new lessons from scratch.
One standout feature of the coursework is the assignment that guides students to use online archives to research newspaper articles related to a crime featured on the tour. They compare how different media outlets reported on the same event, analysing variations in style, language, and perspective. This task not only reinforces historical inquiry but also promotes media literacy, all while requiring minimal prep time on your part. With debate topics and structured activities included, you can easily guide students through critical thinking exercises and classroom discussions. This coursework package is designed to support you with engaging, high-quality content, so you can focus on what you do best—teaching.
Stage 5 Elective History
Topic 1: Constructing History
Topic 3: Thematic Studies
Crime & Punishment History Elective
E5.1 Applies an understanding of history … and methods of historical inquiry
E5.2 Examines the ways in which historical meanings can be constructed through a range of media
E5.5 Evaluates the contribution of cultural groups, sites and/or family to our shared heritage
E5.6 Identifies, comprehends and evaluates historical sources and uses them appropriately in an historical inquiry
E5.7 Explains different contexts, perspectives and interpretations of the past
E5.8 Selects and analyses a range of historical sources to locate information relevant to an historical inquiry
E5.9 Applies a range of relevant historical terms and concepts when communicating an understanding of the past
E5.10 Selects and uses appropriate oral, written, visual and digital forms to communicate effectively about the past for different audiences.
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