Time Safaris – Rockhampton: Museum educator Phil Hore launches Quay Street walking tours

Walking tours of Rockhampton’s iconic Quay Street have launched covering bank heists, murders, Jack The Ripper’s link to the city and more. WATCH THE VIDEO.

Rockhampton is well known for boasting one of Australia’s most historically significant heritage strips and Queensland’s longest National Trust heritage-listed street, with CBD tourists quite often spotted walking along Quay Street snapping photos.

So when Phil Hore moved to the Beef Capital a couple of years ago, he became fascinated with researching the history of the city.

“The whole time I’ve been here … I always investigate where I am and I kept coming across bizarre and strange stories about Rockhampton and lamenting there wasn’t really a museum or anything around here … Like we’ve got the military museum, the art museum,” Mr Hore said.

“I thought, I had done walking tours before and it might be an opportunity to do a walking tour.”

The Rockhampton Post Office building, built from 1892 to 1896.

Inspired to shine a light on the city’s heritage, Mr Hore has spent most of the past 12 months designing a guided walking history tour and is now in the process of launching it to the public.

Time Safaris – Rockhampton offers two types of tours, a day walking tour, which focuses on the history of the city, and a night walking tour, which is a bit more spooky, with the added thrills of murder and mayhem.

A personal favourite story Mr Hore has featured in the tours is about Jack The Ripper, a worldwide iconic serial killer, and his link to Rockhampton.

“I’ve written a couple of books and my first book is a Jack The Ripper novel, I’m well versed, and I lived in London for a while, I went on a Jack The Ripper tour which was a bit of the inspiration for the tours now,” he said.

“To discover that Jack The Ripper very possibly and most likely lived in Rockhampton for a short time … that just fascinated me.”

Another heritage building in Rockhampton's CBD which now hosts Riverston Tearooms.

Another perplexing historic tale is on gold commissioner Thomas Griffin, the first person to be hung in Rockhampton.

“Unravelling that … the gruesomeness of that story … that was just fascinating,” Mr Hore said.

“I do have a spot in my heart for the Trojan Horse bank heist of 1982 … that’s just hilarious.”

Author, historian and tour guide Phil Hore.

Mr Hore is no stranger to history, he has an extensive background as a museum educator and has designed tours for some of the world’s leading institutions including The Australian War Memorial, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Chicago’s Field Museum, The London Natural History Museum, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Questacon, The National Dinosaur Museum and The National Film and Sound Archives.

He has also published three novels and has written for internationally renowned magazines, including Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, anthologies and newspapers.

When he first moved to Central Queensland from, at the time, Chicago, he was a bit nervous about what he was going to do here – but he has been pleasantly surprised and has found work as a tour guide at the Capricorn Caves.

“Working in an airconditioned museum doing education tours then switching to a cave … that’s a lot more adventurous side of things … with snakes, spiders, bats, smells,” he said.

With a personal love for prehistory and dinosaurs, he is really eager for the Mount Morgan caverns to be reopened.

“I managed the National Dinosaur Museum for 20 years, I worked at the Smithsonian in their dinosaur halls for three years,” Mr Hore said.

“Discovering there are dinosaur footprints in a cavern in Mount Morgan and council are considering reopening it... I would really love to start doing something along those lines.”

TIME SAFARIS – ROCKHAMPTON

Jack the Ripper evening tours (Friday and Saturday nights)

The hour long tours cover the murder, mayhem, ghosts of Quay Street, the city’s first recorded murder, the Rockhampton gold heist and the bizarre history of Jack The Ripper’s connection to Rockhampton.

Night tours: $15

Day walking tours

Join experienced tour guide Phil Hore along Rockhampton’s scenic Riverside Precinct and travel back in time to learn about female bushrangers, bank heists, floods and the World War II effort.

Day tours: $10

Bookings are essential online at www.timesafaris.com.au.

All tours leave from the Criterion Hotel foyer

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