Susannah Place Museum encapsulates tough working class life in The Rocks in the early to mid 1800s.Nearby lanes and buildings including Nurse`s Walk, Mission Stairs and Bakehouse Place are worth exploring. All fascinating !

This tour of these historic buildings was great. Our tour guide,Ted, knew plenty about the buildings and it was a great way to fill in the afternoon.

The Susannah Place museum provides the visitor an opportunity to get a glimpse of what life was like for the people living in The Rocks area of Central Sydney from the late 1840s until the early 2000s. Susannah Place is actually 4 attached, 3-story apartments built by an Irish immigrant couple. Unlike most buildings in The Rocks in the 1840a, Susannah Place was built solidly of bricks, so survived the many years of wear. When most of the other original builds in The Rocks were destroyed as part of late 1900s urban renovation, Susannah Place remained standing as useable apartments. The final tenant moved only when the building was converted into a museum around 2005.

The tours of the museum are given between 1-3 each day. Guided tours only, so arrive on the hour. On the tour you learn the history of the building and see a video of conversation with former tenants. Very interesting.

You visit all 4 apartments during the tour, each set up as they might have looked during the buildings’ 150 years of tenants. It is a revealing and meaningful tour. Be prepared to walk up and down narrow stairs.

I really enjoyed this tour.