ABSTRACT

The research was conducted at a time when a new interest in the Aboriginal history of Australia was taking form, primarily as a result of the nation's reconciliation process (Hinkson, 2002), and a number of new sites exploring aspects of that history were being unveiled. Members of Sydney's Aboriginal communities who were prepared to engage with non-Aboriginal people about their past were

finding new and sympathetic audiences. In short, Sydney, like other major Australian cities, seemed to be gaining a past that had until recently been denied - it had become a city with an Aboriginal history (Byrne, 1996). This recently acquired Aboriginal past is providing a subtle, yet significant, new dimension to the experiences on offer to visitors to the city, and a new set of considerations for those working in the tourism trade.