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
Please note: due to important building repair work there is currently no visitor access to the Mint display area
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
Summer school holiday opening hoursWednesday 6 December 2017
Learning
History lessons from the museumWednesday 6 September 2017
Sydney Living Museums has launched an inspiring new professional development program for primary school teachers.
SLM Food
Sumptuous seasonal delightsTuesday 29 August 2017
The arrival of spring heralds the return of two popular food-related festivals, as well as two exclusive events in our Colonial Gastronomy series.
The Mint
Audio: Health, Disease & Death in the Early ColonyWednesday 3 May 2017
This podcast, first recorded at the “Our Healthy Heritage” seminar series, hosted quarterly by the Australian and New Zealand Society of the History of Medicine features SLM curator Dr Fiona Starr retelling stories of the colony’s first general hospital: the Rum Hospital.
WW1 stories from our museumsThursday 20 April 2017
To mark the 1914–18 centenary of World War 1, Sydney Living Museums has developed a special mini-website exploring the wartime engagement of individual men and women associated with our historic places.
Stories from The Mint

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.