urban legends ✓

what lies beneath? ☹

A secret subterranean world exists beneath Sydney where smuggling, kidnapping and other murky activities have been going on since Colonial times.

In Millers Point, there are persistent rumours of underground tunnels connecting pubs to the waterfront, including the convict-built Hero of Waterloo hotel, where a drunk punter could easily find himself 'shanghaied' only to wake up.

The shaft of the old tunnel in the cellar at The Hero of Waterloo, Walsh Bay. Picture: Justin Lloyd
Then there's Lake St James, a mysterious underground water body below the Macquarie St station, where albino eels are said to lurk and secret military training ops are held in the darkness for weeks on end. Apparently.

The city is indeed riddled with tunnels as a result of early rail construction, and the lake part is at least true, although it's not quite as mystical as you'd hope.