Alexander's Outing Walk

The Pamela Allen exhibition at the Library is a must-see part of this walk and a great starting point. Children and adults can enjoy the interactive displays and stunning original artworks. Enter the Library via the Mitchell Building steps and head upstairs to Level 1. You can purchase a copy of the special hardcover edition of Alexander’s Outing at the Library bookshop and take it on your walk. 

Did you know Pamela Allen was inspired to write Alexander the duckling’s story after reading about a family of ducks who walked from the Botanic Garden to Hyde Park? The story appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday 1 June 1990. 

Leave the Library via the Mitchell Building steps and safely cross the road to the Royal Botanic Garden.

Enter the Royal Botanic Garden at the Morshead Fountain Gate or any of the Garden’s gates along Macquarie Street. Follow the signs to the Main Pond. On your way you’ll see beautiful trees, colourful gardens and elegant statues.

Which statue is your favourite? Did you see any animal statues? Do you think Alexander was friends with these animals? The pond is Alexander’s home. Can you see any ducks or other birds today?

From the pond walk towards the harbour wall. The bay you can see here is known as Farm Cove.

At the Farm Cove wall, can you spot two of Sydney's most famous landmarks? If you've got the book, compare the view you see with the picture that Pamela Allen drew in the early 1990s. Why do you think it looks different?

Walk alongside the wall until you find the blue tiling on the ground. This is part of an artwork called Wahganmuggalee, which commemorates the Gadigal and Dharawal people of the region now known as Sydney. You can see figures from Aboriginal rock carvings in it. What land or sea animals can you find?

Now take the path away from the water. 

This is a bottle tree. Do you see the bottle shape of its trunk? That’s how bottle trees store water to survive during times of drought in northern Australia, where they usually grow. How clever is that? 

This particular tree is well over 100 years old. There are more, much younger, bottle trees planted in the Bicentenary Garden if you’d like to look for them.

Continue on past the bottle tree and up the hill.

Read the sign and follow the instructions to make your wish come true. You need to walk around the tree three times going forwards, and then three times going backwards! 

What do you think Alexander would have wished for as he passed the Wishing Tree? Do you think ducklings can walk backwards?

Continue on through the opening in Macquarie Wall. 

Alexander wouldn’t have seen this tree because it wasn’t growing here in 1993, when his story was written! The Wollemi Pine is rare and endangered in the wild, and it’s really interesting — you might like to look it up. Some people say the bark looks like Coco Pops — what do you think?

This tree was planted in 1996 after a group of them were discovered growing in a secret location in NSW. Why do you think the location is kept secret?

Head towards the Woolloomooloo Gate and the Art Gallery of NSW.

When you exit the Garden, you are passing through the Woolloomooloo Gate that features in Alexander’s Outing. Across the road is the Naala Badu building at the Art Gallery of NSW. Take a look inside the Art Gallery if you have time.

You'll see two sculptures of blue giants with long skinny legs out the front of the new building. The older building has a statue of a warrior on a horse on each side. 

Can you waddle and quack like a duck as you continue along Art Gallery Road towards College Street?

Use the pedestrian crossings to carefully walk across College Street. Hold tight and don’t get lost! In the story, Alexander disappears down a drain while crossing this busy road! But don’t worry, lots of people come to help him. 

When you cross College Street, you're in Hyde Park. This is Sydney's oldest park, named after London's Hyde Park in 1810. 

Who can you see in the park today? What clever idea would you use to help a duckling who has fallen down a drain?

Follow the path towards the fountain.

This is the Archibald Fountain, installed in 1932. This is where the people in the story found the water they needed to rescue Alexander. There are lots of animals in and on the fountain. How many turtles can you count? Are there any birds in the park today?

This is the end of Alexander’s Outing Walk. We hope you enjoyed it. If you have time, you can continue along Macquarie Street past Hyde Park Barracks, The Mint, Sydney Hospital and NSW Parliament House.

Alexander had a happy ending. He and his family made it safely back home to the pond in the Royal Botanic Garden.