The Hyde Park Barracks clock

Curator Gary Crockett discusses the history of the Hyde Park Barracks clock. Originally installed in 1819, it's the oldest continuously functioning public clock in Australia. Music by Cameron Elliot.

Detail of Hyde Park Barracks clock mechanism made by B L Vulliamy.

Charles Phillips, keeper of government clocks

Research into the story of a convict uniquely qualified to care for the important Hyde Park Barracks clock continues to yield intriguing insights – and raise more questions

Series of brass cogs and wheels.

Conserving Australia’s oldest public clock

On its 200th anniversary, Australia’s oldest surviving public clock received some much-needed conservation and care

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Gary Crockett

Gary Crockett

Former curator

It was the dog-eared world of Rouse Hill House, back in 1991, that inspired Gary Crockett to become a curator. Gary produced exhibitions on convict, immigration and legal history at the Hyde Park Barracks, studied spatial history at the Museum of Sydney, collaborated with artists and tenants at Susannah Place, architects and engineers at Elizabeth Farm, designers at Rose Seidler House, curated Surf City, an ode to Sydney surf culture, along with a string of video, audioguide and interactive museum projects.