From Darlo to the Cross: in the Footsteps of Juanita Nielsen

Award-winning crime author Natalie Conyer and expert tour guide Elliot Lindsay explore the locations of Natalie’s new crime novel Finding the Bones. Inspired by one of Sydney’s most notorious cold cases, the 1975 disappearance of activist Juanita Nielsen, Natalie’s book is a bold reimagining of what might have happened had Nielsen’s body ever been discovered. First stop on the tour will be coffee and cake with a panoramic view of the inner-east from the rooftop of BAD Sydney’s venue partner Ardency Trebartha, offering retirement living at Elizabeth Bay. Then walk off your afternoon tea as Elliot and Natalie lead the way through Darlinghurst and King’s Cross to find the settings of a notorious disappearance: the clubs, bars, terraces and development sites of crimey 1980s Sydney. 

Elliot Lindsay is an historian who specialises in Sydney’s historical underworld and fringe communities. Slums, pubs, larrikins, The Push, Razor Gangs, the East Sydney Red Light District and early LGBT communities. He founded Murders Most Foul historical tours in 2020 and has since taken thousands of people around the streets of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst. Elliot also hosts historical crime-themed talks at hotels across New South Wales. 

Natalie Conyer won the 2020 Ned Kelly Best Debut award for Present Tense. Finding the Bones is her third novel and features Detective Jackie Rose on the hunt to solve a very old cold case from Sydney’s crime-riddled 1980s. Garry Disher called this ‘a compelling crime novel about corruption, compromise and the persistence of the past.’ 

Date: Friday July 17

Start time: 1.45pm for a 2pm afternoon tea; tour finishes at 3.45pm

Meeting point: Outside Shuk Café Elizabeth Bay

Location: 61-69 Roslyn Gardens, Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011

Cost: $35 each 

Note: all attendees must arrive at the location by 2pm to be escorted in one group to the Trebartha rooftop for afternoon tea.

Venue and Catering Partner: Ardency Trebartha at Elizabeth Bay