Melbourne Historical Crime Tours
Highlights
- Join a gripping tour led by historian Michael Shelford, unveiling Melbourne's dark past through engaging storytelling.
- Explore the notorious streets of Fitzroy, where infamous criminals once roamed, revealing the suburb's rich history.
- Experience the thrill of night tours with a handheld projector, illuminating the tales of historical characters on-site.
- Receive an exclusive tour booklet filled with captivating images and crime maps, enhancing your journey through Melbourne's underworld.
Join in a Melbourne true crime tour – created and hosted by writer and historian Michael Shelford as featured on ABC Radio, BBC Radio, SBS television Secrets of our Cities and numerous other radio and podcast shows. His true crime articles have been published in newspapers such as the Herald Sun and the Guardian along with various magazines.
Take a trip back to the early 1900s when Melbourne’s inner-city crime district was controlled by female syndicates, Fitzroy was home to Australia’s largest-ever gang war, and Melbourne’s Chinatown was targeted by police for illegal gambling and opium.
Night tours feature a handheld laser projector, used by your host to project images of the historical characters discussed onto the buildings and streets they once inhabited.
The two-hour walking tours take place every Saturday late morning (Melbourne CBD), Saturday afternoon in Collingwood, Sunday late morning (Fitzroy) and Sunday afternoon in Chinatown. There is also a Melbourne CBD night tour on the first Friday of each month.
Included as part of the tour is your own copy of the official tour booklet, which contains photos of the criminals discussed and other interesting information.
Please book online in advance via the website or on Facebook.
Images and Video
Tour/s
Gangsters, Brothels & Lolly Shops – Historical Crime Tour
Take a walk through downtown Melbourne and learn of an era in which there was much more on offer at the local confectionery store than just lollies and soft drinks.
Explore Melbourne’s underworld c.1870’s to 1930’s, an era in which Melbourne’s downtown slum district ‘Little Lon’, was mostly run by women. Learn about the battle for supremacy, madams who stood their ground against well-known gangsters such as Squizzy Taylor, and an all-female crime syndicate known as ‘The Combine’. Stop outside buildings which were once brothels and sly grog shops, and hear the stories of what occurred within their walls and on the streets and laneways around them.
Shootings, bombings, bashings, brothels, robberies, opium, cocaine and sly grog (speakeasies).
The tour is designed and delivered by writer and historian, Michael Shelford.
Fitzroy True Crime Walking Tour
Explore Melbourne’s oldest suburb, a place where the city’s most notorious criminals lived 100 years ago. Along the way you will stop outside buildings which were once brothels, sly grog shops (speakeasies) and dens of thieves.
The narrative follows Fitzroy’s journey from a wealthy and fashionable suburb through to the post World War I era when the district erupted into Australia’s greatest ever gang war. The tours are designed and delivered by writer and historian, Michael Shelford, and based on original source material from the old police files. You will receive a free booklet with photos of the criminals featured on the tour.
Chinatown True Crime Tour
Come on an amazing trip back in time to Melbourne’s Chinatown from c.1850s to the 1950s. Receive a free tour booklet with images of the characters discussed, original police-drawn crime maps, confiscated gambling paraphernalia and other evidence from 100+ years ago. Hear the stories of police raids for opium, illegal gambling, and other lawbreaking activities. Hear stories of blackmail, gang war, and police corruption. Your tour guide has been researching Melbourne’s Chinatown via the original police files for over 15 years and delivers the old stories from original source material. Opium, gambling, speakeasies, blackmail, riots, police corruption.
Memberships
- Victoria Tourism Industry Council
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