I’ve walked the streets of Rockhampton plenty of times, but it turns out I had absolutely no idea what had happened on some of them.
This month I joined Time Safaris’ Ghosts, Murder and Jack the Ripper Night Walk, a 90-minute wander through the streets and laneways of old Rockhampton, and it was one of those activities where the stories just kept getting stranger.
The tour starts at the Criterion Hotel on Quay Street before heading through some of Rockhampton’s older streets and laneways. It costs $26 per person and runs on Saturday nights.
Our guide was Phil Hore, a palaeontologist, historian and author who knows an extraordinary amount about Rockhampton’s darker side. He has spent years digging through the murders, ghosts, scandals and strange stories buried in the city’s past.
What made the tour for me was Phil himself.
He is a real storyteller. One minute you’re laughing, the next you’re hearing about a murder that happened metres from where you’re standing, and then he casually throws in another piece of Rockhampton history that makes you wonder how you’ve never heard it before.
Rockhampton was once a busy port town and some of the stories from those early days are grim. Murder, public hangings, bushrangers, bodies, suspicious deaths and reported ghosts all make an appearance, along with some of the stranger tales that have become part of local folklore.
Then there is Rockhampton’s Jack the Ripper connection.
Frederick Bailey Deeming, an English murderer who was hanged in Melbourne in 1892, spent time working in Rockhampton years earlier. He later became one of the many men suspected of being Jack the Ripper, although it has never been proven.
Phil lays out the dates, movements and theories and leaves you to decide what you think. Some of the connections he draws back to Rocky are crazy, and by the end of it I was completely hooked.
But the creepiest moment for me had nothing to do with Jack. It was Rockhampton’s supposedly most haunted window. Standing there in the dark while Phil told us the story behind it was seriously creepy. I’m talking hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck-standing-up creepy.
There are plenty of other strange stories along the way too, including tales of mysterious creatures in the Fitzroy River, old Rockhampton ghosts, murders and some of the colourful characters who have become part of Central Queensland folklore.
What I liked most about the tour is you don’t need to believe in ghosts to enjoy it. The history is interesting enough on its own, and Phil’s delivery makes the hour and a half disappear.
I also came home with a signed copy of Phil’s book, 101 (or Thereabouts) Weird, Wacky and Mostly True Things About Rockhampton and Central Queensland, which has been a great read.
Would I recommend it? Definitely. For $26, it is a very different way to spend a Saturday night, and I guarantee you’ll never look at some of Rockhampton’s old streets quite the same way again.
