The spooky season is upon us, and what better way to get into the *spirit* of things than with a nighttime ghost tour around the watery edge of one of the most ancient parts of Sydney city? From Tuesday, October 24 to Saturday, October 28 the folks over at Barangaroo are running Spirit Ghost Tours, an Indigenous-led guided tour that’s full of wild stories of ancient spirits, creatures of the Dreamtime, a cleansing smoke ceremony and a distinctly unusual walk through the Eora Nation’s past.
Take it from us – this is a ghost tour that you walk away from feeling richer for having done.
The Spirit Ghost Tours at Barangaroo are good for the whole family, and run from 8pm to 9.30pm from October 24 to October 28. Tickets will set you back $36.30 per person, and you can book yourself in right here.
Read our 2022 review of the Spirit Ghost Tour Barangaroo experience, written by Nick Dent.
Daniel, a Yuin and Bidjigal man, had his first encounter with a spirit creature when he was a boy of about 12. Out prawning with his mob at night, the group suddenly detected a powerful stink wafting near the water’s edge.
“That’s the Hairy Man, he's here,” a grown up told Daniel. He and his terrified aunties fled into the water for refuge. “I stayed in there much longer than the others,” Daniel laughs.
The story is one that the Time Out team hears while attending the Spirit Ghost Tour at Barangaroo Reserve on a balmy and clear spring night, warm breezes blowing in from the harbour. With the incongruously futuristic Crown Tower looming in the background, we take part in a cleansing, whereby Daniel and three more First Nations men with clapping sticks and ochre painted across their bodies perform a smoking ceremony. They light a fire with wooden sticks – impressively quickly – to ignite a pile of aromatic leaves, respectfully borrowed from local plants. The smoke is used to purify every member of our tour group and to alert the spirits to our presence.
Each given a lantern to light the way and black tourmaline stone for protection, we follow our guide – Gumbaynggirr, Wiradjuri and Bidjigal man Tim – along the darkened Barangaroo Reserve pathway. We learn about the banksia plant’s connection to the various kinds of hairy man or ‘yowie’, sighted on this land for millennia. Following the path to the Nawi Cove, we settle in while Tim talks about Barangaroo herself, as well as local mermaid and bunyip myths. There’s also the startling tale of how First Fleet colonists, who arrived on great bark canoes with pale skins, were at first greeted as the ghosts of Eora ancestors.
It’s wonderful to walk this pivotal place while being informed of its spiritual significance. As ghost tours go, this one is less about shivers up the spine and much more about a real feel for the beliefs of First Nations culture and a sense of connection to nature. Winding up the tour around another fire pit, Tim invites us to share our own stories of encounters with the spirit world – a nicely inclusive and welcoming touch.