Hello, I'm Michael S.
I’m a writer, freelance journalist, and private historian based in Fitzroy, though you’re just as likely to find me buried under a mountain of archive boxes. For the last 14 years, I’ve been sifting through more than 400 boxes of dusty old police files, reconstructing the forgotten secrets of Melbourne’s past. My words have appeared in the Herald Sun, The Guardian, Traces��, Time Out, and The Victorian Writer. If you prefer your history with a side of audio or visual, you might have caught me on SBS TV’s Secrets of Our Cities, ABC Radio National (Earshot, Books and Arts), or chatting live on ABC Melbourne and Triple R. I love finding unusual ways to bring history to life. In 2012, I spent four weeks living in a literal prison cell at the Old Melbourne Gaol as a writer-in-residence, and in 2019, I helped build the historical backbone for the augmented reality game Misadventure in Little Lon. I also wrote the 6-part Gangsters of Melbourne series for the Herald Sun, which you can listen to on Jen Kelly’s In Black and White podcast. Right now, I’m wrapping up two true-crime books exploring Melbourne’s underworld between 1890 and 1920. When I’m not writing about the city’s past, I’m out walking it—leading historical street tours that bring the grit and glamour of our underworld history straight to the pavement.