Who are we?

The Sydney Passengers is a group of enthusiasts brought together by a common ideal - to share in the enjoyment of the life and times of Sherlock Holmes, the world's first and foremost consulting detective, and his friend and chronicler, Dr. John Watson, made famous in the splendid tales published under the auspices of Dr. Watson's colleague, Arthur Conan Doyle, himself an author of no small repute.

As our name might suggest, we are based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (for more detailed information on Sydney, click here). We take our name from the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the 'Gloria Scott' (read story in HTML format), in which the survivors of a mutiny at sea are rescued by a ship bound for Australia and "after an excellent voyage the Hotspur landed us at Sydney".

What does it take to join us?  What qualifications are required?  Our members are of all ages and backgrounds, and a great knowledge of the stories is not needed - rather a love of the Victorian atmosphere of foggy cobble-stoned streets, hansom cabs, deerstalker caps, and the immortal scene of Holmes and Watson interviewing a client before a crackling fire in their sitting room at 221b Baker Street. We meet together 5 or 6 times a year for dinner, lunch, a picnic, or an outing to the theatre.  Many of our members enjoy wearing Victorian-era clothes to our functions.  Each get-together usually has a theme based on one of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and scholarly, or sometimes scurrilous, papers on some aspect of his adventures are often presented, and quizzes or competitions conducted.

Our journal, The Passengers' Log, comes out 3 times a year; a newsletter, Signals, is issued prior to each function that we hold, and a full-colour calendar highlighting the function dates for the coming year is sent to all members.  Those with email facilities can also receive our irregular news bulletin CyberSignals plus other newsletters from overseas. There are three classes of membership - "Individual" for $25.00 per year; "Household" for $30.00 (which is available for two or more persons residing at the same address who wish to receive only one copy of all mailings, etc); and "General" for $10 (which is for any number of persons at the same address who do not wish to receive the journal).

Overseas members are most welcome and receive the journal and the calendar, and the email broadcasts if wanted.  Membership fees are based on postal regions for mail sent from Australia, as follows:

How to contact us:

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Function Diary:

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Interesting Sherlockian links:

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Feedback:

If there is anything you'd like to tell us, or have problems with this page or the associated links, please contact us:

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