The Mint
Financed with 45,000 gallons of rum, Governor Macquarie’s ‘Rum Hospital’ provided 200 beds for convict patients. Today the Mint houses Sydney Living Museums' head office, venue hire spaces, a restaurant and café, and is also home to the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection.
The Mint. Photo © Nicholas Watt for Sydney Living Museums MIN13_0064
Entry
Free admission
Most of our properties reopened to the public in July 2020 following a brief closure as a result of COVID-19 restrictions. Four properties remain closed, some due to ongoing social distancing restrictions, while at others we have taken the opportunity to undertake conservation work and develop new audience offers. Subscribe to our eNews or check our property pages for current opening days and times.
Rum Hospital
1816-1854
Functioning 1816-1842 as the south wing of the General ‘Rum’ Hospital for convicts, the site later provided an infirmary and dispensary for poor people.
Royal Mint
1855-1926
Open for business in 1855, the Sydney Royal Mint was the first overseas branch of London’s Royal Mint where 1200 tonnes of colonial gold were minted into 150 million sovereigns.
Courts & Offices
1926-1997
Between 1926 and 1997 almost 20 different government departments and law courts came and went from the Mint buildings.
Heritage site & SLM Head Office
1997- today
Integrating new and heritage buildings, historic structures and archaeological elements, the site today houses our head office, venue hire spaces, a restaurant and café, and is also home to the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection.
The latest at The Mint
School holidays
Autumn School Holidays: opening hoursTuesday 9 March 2021
Media release
Reflections on IdentityThursday 4 February 2021
School holidays
Summer 2021: opening hoursMonday 7 December 2020
News
Sydney Living Museums to reopen from 1 JuneThursday 21 May 2020
School holidays
Summer 2019: school holiday opening hoursTuesday 27 November 2018
Stories from The Mint
A short history of The Mint
When Lachlan Macquarie began his term as governor of NSW in 1810, Sydney was in desperate need of a new hospital. The hospital was the first project in Macquarie’s ambitious building program.
After the Royal Mint
Between 1926 and 1997 nearly 20 different government departments and law courts came and went from the Mint buildings. Find out how personal memories, archival research and curatorial leg work uncovered fascinating tales about the not-so-distant past of this familiar Macquarie Street edifice.
Arthur McPhail Kilgour
Arthur McPhail Kilgour enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force in October 1915, at the age of 19 years and eight months. Being under 21 meant he should have required his parents’ permission. However, he falsified his age on his attestation papers, giving it as 22 years and eight months. Perhaps his parents did not endorse their eldest son going to war but felt the decision was his to make and so did not inform the authorities.
Convicts and scorbutus at the General ‘Rum’ Hospital
Convicts who were lucky enough to survive the transportation voyage, often arrived at Sydney Cove suffering infectious disease or other illness, and were admitted directly to the colony’s General 'Rum' Hospital.
Daniel Alfred Charles Clifford
Daniel Alfred Charles Clifford joined the workforce at the Sydney branch of the Royal Mint on 1 March 1915, aged 26. In November 1916, Clifford enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) with a character reference from the Deputy Mint Master stating that ‘during the whole term of his service his conduct has been uniformly excellent’.
Francis Greenway: the ‘future safety’ of the Rum Hospital buildings
When Sydney’s Rum Hospital was completed in 1816, the buildings were already showing signs of potential collapse, but newly-appointed Civil Architect Francis Greenway came to the rescue.
How the ‘Sidney Slaughter House’ got its name
During archaeological excavations at the Rum Hospital south wing (now The Mint) on Sydney’s Macquarie Street in 1980-81, a few small traces of the site’s dark and often painful past were discovered.
Oliver Richard Whiting
When the World War I honour roll was unveiled at the Sydney Branch of the Royal Mint in October 1920, just one of the seven names on the board was followed by the fateful words ‘killed in action’. The surname was one that had been associated with the Sydney Mint since its establishment in 1854.
Robert Hunt: chemist, photographer and deputy mint master
Meet the fascinating Robert Hunt, a senior Mint official, chemist and, according to Megan Martin, 'one of a new breed of formally qualified practical scientists', who also found time to take beautiful photographs of Sydney and its harbour.
Sydney Mint honour roll
The Sydney Mint honour roll hangs in the southern stair hall of the former Royal Mint building on Macquarie Street.
The Mint transformed
Architect Richard Francis-Jones pieces together the epic transformation of, in his words, this 'extraordinary and hidden ruin, shy to the public gaze' into a vibrant centre, an inviting public place open to all.
Macquarie lights
The front of the Mint building at night during the Macquarie Lights festival in 2010.
The Mint front verandah
View along the front verandah of the Mint building, looking south towards the Guardhouse.
The Mint auditorium
The curved roof of the Mint auditorium. The internal courtyard can be seen through the louvres.
Hyde Park, St James Parsonage Dispensary, afterwards the Mint, and Emigration Barracks
Watercolour painted in 1842. The The Mint building can be seen to the left of the Hyde Park Barracks, standing in the centre of the iamge.
The Mint courtyard at night
A function at the Mint in the internal courtyard and bar. This area can be booked for events by contacting our venues team.
Visitors talking to curator
Visitors talking to curator Fiona Starr at The Mint on Australia Day 2013.
Rear view of the Coining Factory after redevelopment
Rear elevation of redeveloped coining factory building, showing modern 2 storey office wing, original colonial wing and adjoining modern auditorium and services wing.
Staircase outside the Boardroom
Staircase outside the Boardroom, The Mint.
When the Sydney Mint’s Coining Factory opened in May 1855 it contained the most cutting-edge technology in the colony. The building itself was equally innovative. Made of prefabricated cast-iron components, it was shipped in pieces to Sydney, where it could be quickly assembled.