Sydney’s historical society needs more guides to keep up with the demand

The Old Sydney Society, a group that offers historic walks and ghost tours in central Sydney, is facing a staff shortage.

With busy cruise ship schedules and a rich local history, the group sees high demand but said it is short on guides. The association needs at least five extra guides at the start of the high season this fall.

“We missed five to six tours in June because we were still training … tours that could have brought us more than $2,500 to $3,000,” says Claire Roach, executive director of the Old Sydney Society.

The lost revenue impacts their ability to keep historic properties open to the public. The shortage also limits them from running new programs they hoped to add to diversify programming.

“There are more stories to tell and more people who want to be reflected in them,” Roach said.

Limited programming

The group has added a tour this year that focuses on local women’s history titled “Herstory,” and hopes to offer the tour every week. But without enough staff, they say their programming remains limited.

Donnie Antle, the association’s program director, said business is going well.

“We added another cruise ship line this year. They signed with us to do the historical walking tours for their passengers. So we need to hire more guides,” Antle said.

The association also hopes that an increase in staff would help them add to their current programming.

“For example, we can talk about the steel mill and deindustrialization,” Antle said.

“There are so many stories, not just necessarily Sydney’s founding and loyalist background, there are Indigenous stories and there are immigrant stories here.”

‘Making history interesting’

At the height of the tourist season, Sydney Harbor can serve up to four cruise ships in port in a single day.

Antle said that in the eight years he has worked as a tour guide for the association, he has always worked with a shortage of guides.

“I think there’s a sort of divide between people applying, people seeing the job posting and seeing this is a historic walk… and then thinking to themselves, ‘Well, I don’t know that much about Sydney’s history’,” he said.

Antle hopes that applicants will look beyond their existing knowledge base and be open to on-the-job training on local history.

“Really good guides are the ones who can tell a story, who are animated… and who can find their own way of making history interesting,” he said.

Willingness to learn and talent for public speaking are the two most important criteria, Antle said.