highlights

• Enjoy a colonial morning tea at the Hawkesbury Duck, a new museum space on the Lower Hawkesbury River.

• Meet Max Burns-McRuvie, expert history teller and raconteur

• Discover an original tidal mill and the stories of the floating stores and butcher boats when the river was the highway. 

• Traverse Governor Darling’s route to the Hunter and appreciate the rigours and rations of the no three iron gang

​​

the tour
Explore the story of food on the lower Hawkesbury with Max Burns-McRuvie engaging historyteller and interpretation expert. Our tour starts at the Hawkesbury Duck where we hear about the convict and colonial menu - wonga pigeon pie, hominy porridge, wallaby tail soup anyone? We travel to Mill Creek to the site of Singleton’s tidal mill where in the 1830s wheat and maize were ground for the convict stores. At Trollops Reach gain insights into the butcher and bread boats - the floating stores delivering food to the communities of the lower Hawkesbury when the river was the highway. Our explorations continue to Finch’s line one of Governor Darling’s great routes from Sydney to the Hunter, abandoned in 1829. Hear about the rigours and rations of the no 3 chain iron gang hacking out the route north amidst an abundance of native yams, tubers, figs, grapes and berries regularly eaten by the local Aboriginal people.