Our major renewal of the Hyde Park Barracks is well underway.
We are transforming the Hyde Park Barracks Museum into a world-leading cultural destination, with new innovative visitor experiences, education programs and dynamic technology making it best in class for museums in Australia. Keep reading below for more details on the bold new future for the Hyde Park Barracks Museum.
The museum will re-open in early 2020, however you can find out more about Australia’s convict history through our award-winning Convict Sydney website.
You may also like to visit our other houses and museums.
Former politician, musician and activist Peter Garrett AM talks about the Hyde Park Barracks renewal and why it's important to support this once-in-a-generation project. Find out how you can help.
Hyde Park Barracks
The Hyde Park Barracks is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the historic heart of Sydney. Built to house – and control – male convicts, the barracks had far-reaching impact as the administrative hub of the colony’s convict system. After 1848, it sheltered immigrant girls and young women, and cared for older, sick and poor women. Drawing together key threads of convict life, Aboriginal resilience and free immigration, the story of the barracks is the story of Australia’s modern beginnings.
Experience
Developed by internationally acclaimed exhibit design specialists Local Projects, the Hyde Park Barracks experience takes visitors where no history book ever could. The unique Story Guide narrative will tell the emotional stories of the convict men and later the immigrant and asylum women who slept here, and the Aboriginal people impacted by this place. Immerse yourself in the past and see and hear their stories come to life.
Many stories
The Hyde Park Barracks was meant to be a place of control and hard work. But the real story for convict men, and later immigrant and asylum women, who slept in its dormitories was different. This was a place of mischief and violence, friendship and care. Likewise, the colony’s rapid expansion fuelled by convict and immigrant labour was resisted by Aboriginal communities. This is their story too.
Learning
Our new hands-on active learning spaces are designed for visitors of all ages to get curious, get creative and get their hands dirty; to see, hear, feel and imagine the stories of the Hyde Park Barracks and the people who lived there. These purpose-built spaces will allow independent visitors, families and schools groups to delve into archaeology, handle objects, play, make and do on this remarkable heritage site.
Latest videos
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Hyde Park Barracks renewal
Duration: 2:39
Hyde Park Barracks renewal
Work is progressing with the Hyde Park Barracks renewal. Watch as the Sydney Living Museums team discuss the project and what to expect when the site reopens.
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Creating models for the Hyde Park Barracks
Duration: 2:28
Creating models for the Hyde Park Barracks
Take a look behind the scenes at the detailed work the Modelcraft team are undertaking, preparing a number of dioramas for the new experience in the Hyde Park Barracks.
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Installing a lift in the Hyde Park Barracks
Duration: 2:35
Installing a lift in the Hyde Park Barracks
Installing a lift into a UNESCO World Heritage-listed building like the Hyde Park Barracks is no small task. Take a look behind the scenes at the incredible work currently being undertaken, as the team talk through some of the challenges they've managed along the way as well as the benefits the lift will offer visitors to the museum when it reopens in late 2019.
Duration: 2:35
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Hyde Park Barracks Museum Renewal Update - March, 2019
Duration: 1:49
Hyde Park Barracks Museum Renewal Update - March, 2019
Our staff have been hard at work packing down the exhibitions and displays from the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, some of which had been in place since Sydney Living Museums first opened the museum in the early 1990s. With the objects out, we are now able to begin remedial work on the site, preparing the building for the new exhibition experience due to opening later this year.
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Peter Garrett and the Hyde Park Barracks
Duration: 2:09
Peter Garrett and the Hyde Park Barracks
Former politician, musician and activist Peter Garrett AM talks about the Hyde Park Barracks renewal and why it's important to support this once-in-a-generation project.
The Journey
A set of large projection scrims hanging in tight arrangement suggest a boat, creating an immersive space in which visitors encounter the voyage of convicts from Britain to Australia. First person audio accounts and dramatic soundscapes amplify the experience.
Multiple Perspectives
A sculptural form spans two galleries, connecting a series of dioramas that illustrate convict labour sites in Sydney and convict scenes in the expanding colony and the impact of this activity on Aboriginal communities.
Meet the Convicts
An assemblage of showcases display the convicts' trade-specific tools and a rare convict shirt, one of the few surviving examples of this once common garment. An interactive space projects a variety of convict tattoos onto the floor; visitors can "catch" the projections and see them superimposed on their own bodies.
Frontier Violence
In this gallery, an arrangement of nine pillars creates an open circle in the centre of the space. The audio and media program presents an Aboriginal perspective of frontier violence and massacre and speaks to an often unrecognised part of Australia's colonial and convict history.
Hyde Park Asylum 1862 - 1886
Original beds and showcases with the personal effects of residents tell the story of the asylum, a government institution caring for sick, destitute and vulnerable women on the top floor of the Hyde Park Barracks. Historic images and documents projected directly onto the wall overlay the original fabric of the building and contextualize the display.
Convicts' Colony
A projected panorama recreates the Sydney of 1815, where convicts made landfall after their journey. Here, a visitor's location is tracked and activates animated vignettes within the historical image, including depictions of convicts at work or at leisure, Aboriginal presence and trade, and other scenes across town.
The Collection
At the heart of the new experience is the internationally significant archaeological collection. More than 4000 original objects will be on display, many for the very first time. With its intriguing and poignant remnants of everyday life – such as scraps of fabric, pipe fragments and other personal possessions – the collection illustrates the barracks’ turbulent yet fascinating history and connects visitors to the stories of its past residents.
Hyde Park Barracks
Nine News: A convict meal Thursday 6 June 2019
Hyde Park Barracks
SMH: A king's feast of beef, pudding but no rum 200 years onWednesday 5 June 2019
Hyde Park Barracks
Re-enactment marks 200th anniversary of the BarracksTuesday 4 June 2019
Tuesday 4 June marks the 200th anniversary of the first convicts to take up residency in Hyde Park Barracks – recognising the beginning of new chapter of Australian history.
Hyde Park Barracks
On this day: an ‘excellent institution’ opensTuesday 4 June 2019
On Friday 4 June 1819, the Hyde Park Barracks officially went into operation.
Hyde Park Barracks
Installing a lift in the Hyde Park BarracksFriday 24 May 2019
Installing a lift into a UNESCO World Heritage-listed building like the Hyde Park Barracks is no small task. Take a look behind the scenes at the incredible work currently being undertaken, as the team talk through some of the challenges they...