Aboriginal Art Walking Tour with Smoking Ceremony

Choose between two powerful 90-minute, Aboriginal-led routes in Sydney. Whether you select Warrane at Circular Quay or Birra Birra at Barangaroo, both immersive journeys open with a traditional Welcome to Country and authentic smoking ceremony. WARRANE: The Capella Hotel on Farrer Place to the Royal Botanic Garden, by way of Customs House. Jagun (Country) by Kim Healey, the Barani / Barrabugu exhibition, Circular Quay and the Opera House steps. It ends at bara, Judy Watson's 6.4 metre marble sculpture, where your group photograph is taken. BIRRA BIRRA: The public art of Barangaroo South, named artist by artist. Barangaroo herself, Jumaadi's Upside-Down Garden, eleven eagle rays stitched from recovered ghost net, Sabine Hornig's Shadows, shellwall by Esme Timbery and Jonathan Jones. It ends at Monuments for Fishes. Built and curated by Mundanara Bayles, born and raised in Redfern, ten generations of connection. BlackCard is 100 per cent Aboriginal owned and Supply Nation certified.

1. 1

   Stop 1

   10 min

   Warrane route: Your Aboriginal guide meets you at the front entrance of the Capella Hotel on Farrer Place. The walk opens here with a Welcome to Country and a traditional smoking ceremony before anyone takes a step.

2. 2

   Customs House Sydney Visitor Information Centre

   5 min

   Warrane route: From the Capella, your guide leads you to Customs House. Inside, you'll see Jagun (Country) by artist Kim Healey and the free Barani / Barrabugu exhibition, telling the story of Aboriginal Sydney from before 1788 to today.

3. 3

   Jessie Street Gardens

   10 min

   Warrane route. Jessie Street campaigned for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to be counted in the census. That work carried into the 1967 referendum.

4. 4

   Circular Quay

   10 min

   Warrane route. Back through the Quay on Gadigal Country, where the ferries carry the names of Aboriginal warriors, Bennelong and Bungaree among them.

5. 5

   Sydney Harbour

   10 min

   Warrane route. The harbour the whole walk sits on, and the older story underneath it.

6. 6

   The Rocks

   Pass by

   Warrane route. Seen across the Quay.

7. 7

   Sydney Opera House

   Pass by

   Warrane route. Up the steps, on Bennelong Point, named for the Wangal man whose name the ferries also carry. Exterior visit, no entry.

8. 8

   Sydney Harbour Bridge

   5 min

   Warrane route. In frame from the Opera House steps and again behind the group photograph at bara.

9. 9

   Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

   5 min

   Warrane route. bara, 2022, by Judy Watson. A 6.4 metre marble shell fish hook honouring the clans of the Eora Nation, in the form Gadigal women fished with for thousands of generations. Group photograph here.

10. 10

    Stop 10

    Pass by

    Birra Birra route. Meet on the harbour front. Welcome to Gadigal Country and a smoking ceremony before the walk begins.

11. 11

    Stop 11

    Pass by

    Birra Birra route. Gaawaa by Lucy Simpson, a Yuwaalaraay woman and founder of Gaawaa Miyay. Gaawaa means deep water.

12. 12

    Stop 12

    Pass by

    Birra Birra route. The Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags flying together in the lobby, and what it means when a corporate precinct chooses to fly all three.

13. 13

    Stop 13

    5 min

    Birra Birra route. Sixteen metres of carved timber tracing the shoreline from the pre-colonial foreshore, through the timber wharves of the 1800s, to the concrete container port. Daramu House means tree house in the local Aboriginal language.

14. 14

    Stop 14

    5 min

    Birra Birra route. Upside-Down Garden by Jumaadi. Eight suspended works in the through-site link on Mercantile Walk, unveiled December 2025.

15. 15

    Stop 15

    Pass by

    Birra Birra route. Mermer Waiskeder by the Ghost Net Collective. Eleven eagle rays overhead, each 2.8 metres across, hand-stitched from ghost net over aluminium frames using 6.5 kilometres of fishing line.

16. 16

    Stop 16

    Pass by

    Birra Birra route. Resilience by Dalmarri at the Woolworths Metro entrance. Dalmarri is a Supply Nation certified Aboriginal organisation founded by Trevor Eastwood and Jason Ridgeway.

17. 17

    Stop 17

    Pass by

    Birra Birra route. Monuments for Fishes by Mikala Dwyer. Five kinetic monuments rising more than eighteen metres above the water, swaying with the harbour. Unveiled July 2026. They honour the coastal fisherwomen who worked this cove, Barangaroo among them.

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
• All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.