FINANCIAL TIMES

“I opted to spend a dazzling bluebird Sunday exploring the northern reaches of Sydney Harbour — not on the more expected motor yacht, but an impeccably restored 61ft classic sailboat, with whose owner the hotel [Capella Sydney] has partnered. My Cicero was Max Burns-McRuvie, a guide-historian who is a real ace in the Capella’s pocket: charismatic, chill, deeply versed in his city’s past, with a penchant for amusing and slightly salty tales of its storied underbelly. We cruised past … all places the average for-a-few-days visitor might never see, their backstories brought to fascinating life. We anchored off Reef Beach, a tiny sliver of sand facing Manly that’s accessible only by bush trail or boat… It was as gloriously and uniquely Sydney a day as they come…”

– Financial Times by Maria Shollenbarger –

THE TIMES UK

“I chose to wine, dine and crime my way through Sydney’s historic underworld with Capella’s young-gun historian, Max Burns-McRuvie, a salacious hoot of a storyteller, who spins sexed-up yarns of Sydney’s gritty past. Our night began with cocktails in a nearby converted 19th- century police station, now a Chinese restaurant, in Sydney’s historical cobblestoned district. Sitting inside a former cell, Burns-McRuvie regaled us with grisly murder stories and debauched tales about the city’s convict underbelly, before our delicious wine-pairing dinner of wontons, braised wagyu shin and lobster tail. Our night ended lubricated with whisky flights in a former underground opium den, Doss House, a 140-year-old cellar, and was both a genuinely fun night out and a snapshot of Sydney beyond the postcard“

– The Times UK by Chloe Sachdev – 

THE STRAITS TIMES

“Mr Maxwell Burns-McRuvie of Journey Walks is a walking encyclopaedia of Sydney’s colonial history. He describes himself as a crime historian, storyteller and event host.

He takes my group out on a night tour which starts with dinner and cocktails, followed by whisky shots in a former underground opium den, Doss House.

But most memorable are his tales of Sydney’s colourful residents, whose claims to infamy range from the ingenious to the farcical – such as three French whalers trying to get rid of a dead body after one of them bungled a murder.“

– The Straits Times by Mavis Teo – 

TRAVELCURATOR

““It feels like the Sydney Opera House was always destined to be there, as if it is as natural a feature as the blue water that surrounds it,” says historian Max Burns-McRuvie, director and co-founder of Journey Walks, an independent collective giving fascinating historical and cultural tours in Sydney. “I never see the building as merely a site for tourists or visitors. I see it as a gatekeeper crowning one of the headlands of Sydney’s birthplace.” In late 2023, the World Heritage-listed building Burns-McRuvie calls a “cultural icon”— the number one tourist destination in Australia — turned 50. “

– Travelcurator by Kathryn Romeyn – 

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

“It’s a cocktail with a twist of crime.

There are two things this city loves. A true crime story and cocktails. Now, there is a growing industry of hospitality venues that combine the two….

“The term story has been hijacked by 15 second clips on social media but what we do is the exact opposite and we take time to spin a yarn.”…”

– The Daily Telegraph by Karlie Rutherford –

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

“This guide was revealing because it showed how proud of their city the publishers were.” says Sydney historian Max Burns-McRuvie, who wrote his master thesis on this topic, ironically during Covid when world tourism had ground to a halt. “Sydney had been left out of any world tourism promotion, so local entrepreneurs took it upon themselves to create their own. They formed the foundation of wat would later become the Sydney tourism industry.”

– The Daily Telegraph by Mercedes Maguire –

*Timeline credit/source:
Max Burns-McRuvie (Historian), Journey Walks