Sydney's Australian Museum is the country's oldest and grandest museum. It's a colonial hangover that's busily engaged in reinvention for new times - an interesting cultural travel stop. The Maritime Museum and Hyde Park Barracks, a World Heritage listed convict site, are also high up in our recommendations for Sydney museums.
The newly opened (2020) Chau Chak Wing Museum at Sydney University, is a reminder that smaller museums are often more engaging than their larger counterparts.
There is no citywide museum pass in Sydney. Sydney Living Museums, a government organisation (recently rebranded to Museums of History), runs a number of museums and historic houses around town. It has a confused pricing scheme and an even more confusing scheme of opening hours. That's a shame as there are some excellent smaller museums in their collection. Check their website (above) carefully.
Here's our guide to Sydney's museums -
Australian Museum, Sydney
Australia's oldest and Sydney's largest museum, focused on natural history. There are also galleries dedicated to Indigenous history and culture. Free.
Australia's oldest museum (1827) is the largest and grandest of Sydney's museums. It was established in its current sandstone home in 1849, during the flourishing of ambitious museums in Europe. Its focus is natural history and science, with a special interest in Australia's unique flora and fauna.
The Australian Museum has evolved into an excellent modern museum with exhibits on Australia's First Peoples and Pacific Island communities. The original features in the building lend the place a sense of gravitas.
Prehistoric Australia gets a good run too.
A lot of work has gone into making the museum family friendly. The dinosaurs have been a hit since I was in primary school.....
Allow 2 hours.
For more on The Australian Museum, head over to our listing.
Address: Corner Phillip and Bridge Streets, Sydney - closest train station, Museum.
Photo: Mark Bowyer Australian Museum, Sydney - in the grand tradition of 19th century museums - with contemporary themes.
Photo: Mark Bowyer Australian Museum, Sydney - in the grand tradition of 19th century museums - with contemporary themes.
Hyde Park Barracks
The most important convict remnant in the heart of Sydney, the 1819 Hyde Park Barracks is a landmark of the Governorship of Lachlan Macquarie and an immersive museum. Adults $24. (included in Sydney Living Museums pass $35).
Built in 1819 as a convict dormitory by convict labour and designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, Hyde Park Barracks is an outstanding remnant of Sydney's convict past. The building had multiple phases during more than a century in government use. In recent decades it's been a historical museum. It's just had an $18 million refurb.
The latest incarnation is built around a high-tech, immersive, sensor triggered, audio tour (English only). It's not a bad introduction to Sydney's penal colony origins, women in the early colony and Indigenous dispossession. I found the absence of explanatory text a tad frustrating.
If you're only making a short visit to Sydney, you can take a wander around the building without paying the admission fee - I hate recommending that.
A better option is to visit a number of Sydney Living Museums' locations - there are several excellent smaller museums and historic houses - and pick up a pass for a month that includes Hyde Park Barracks.
Allow 90 mins.
For more on Hyde Park Barracks, click here
Address: Queens Square, Macquarie St, Sydney - closest train station, St James
Photo: Mark Bowyer Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney
Photo: Mark Bowyer Sleeping quarters - Hyde Park Barracks
Museum of Sydney
The name creates high expectations that aren't really met. Located on the plot of land where Sydney's original prison colony Government House stood, check on special exhibitions, which are usually good. Adults $15. (included in Sydney Living Museums pass $35).
The Museum of Sydney sits on the site where the original colonial Government House was located - long before the tower that currently sits on the site was built. It feels like someone decided that there should be a museum on such an historic site - but never followed through with the money or the vision.
The name of the Museum of Sydney sets it up as a place charged with telling the stories of Sydney. It's a big call for any museum but especially in this small awkward space. It never had a chance.
Everything is well done. But it's constrained. It's a symbol of the low standing museums have in the contemporary Sydney.
If you have a Sydney Living Museums pass, stop by. The temporary exhibits are often very good. If you're time, constrained, this is one to skip.
It seems that this museum is set for major change in 2023 - we wait to hear what's ahead.
Address: Cnr Phillip and Bridge Streets, Sydney, Nearest train - Wynyard or Circular Quay
Photo: Mark Bowyer Museum of Sydney
Photo: Mark Bowyer Museum of Sydney
State Library of New South Wales
Australia's oldest library is a good spot to take a break for some quiet reading. The small museum, regular exhibitions and art gallery are well worth a look. Free.
The State Library is the oldest library in Australia, dating back to 1826. The current main building was completed in 1910. Apart from being a library of great importance to Sydney (and a good place to stop for some reading or work), the State Library, aka. Mitchell Library, includes a small museum with regular exhibitions, and an art gallery that can easily devour a few hours of your time.
There's a great mix of historic portraiture, some of it quite famous, and landscapes. The temporary contemporary exhibitions will drag you back into the twenty first century.
This is a must-see if you're interested in Sydney's past and an impressive building - admission is free.
Allow 1 - 2 hours. Free
For more on the State Library of New South Wales, check our listing.
Address: Macquarie St and Hunter St, Sydney - closest train station, St James
Photo: Mark Bowyer State Library of New South Wales
Photo: Mark Bowyer State Library of New South Wales
A new museum funded by Chinese Australian real estate developer and philanthropist Chau Chak Wing, does a superb job combining three old Sydney University museums under a single modern roof. Free.
Sydney's newest museum is one of its best - and it's free.
The Chau Chak Wing Museum opened in late 2020 and brings together, in a gleaming new complex, Sydney University's three old museums. It's a diverse experience across 4 floors. There's everything from contemporary art to ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean to Australian natural history, as well as temporary exhibits.
For more on the Chau Chak Wing Museum, click here.
Address: Sydney University, near main entrance off Parramatta Rd, Camperdown Closest train stations Redfern or Central.
Photo: Mark Bowyer Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney
Photo: Mark Bowyer Chau Chak Wing Museum, Sydney
Museum of Contemporary Art - MCA
The impressive home of contemporary art in Sydney, in a magical setting on Sydney Harbour.
Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) is Australia's premier gallery of contemporary art - painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and moving image. Indigenous art is well represented in the collection of more than 4000 works.
Housed on the site of the former colonial era Commissariat - demolished in 1939 - the MCA opened in 1991 in its current art-deco location.
The museum looks across Circular Quay to the Opera House.
When you're done with checking out the collection, head up to the cafe for some of the best views in downtown Sydney.
Address: 140 George St, The Rocks - right by Circular Quay
Photo: Mark Bowyer Museum of Contemporary Art - MCA, Sydney
Photo: Mark Bowyer Museum of Contemporary Art - MCA, Sydney
Australian National Maritime Museum
Australia's European history is a maritime history so there's lots to work with here. There are ships and a submarine in Darling Harbour and exhibits in the museum interior space. Interior free. To visit the floating exhibits, a $27 ticket is required.
The Australian National Maritime Museum is a mix of floating vessels large and small, moored on picturesque Darling Harbour, and a vast exhibition space with a collection of maritime exhibits covering the European discovery of New Holland, and the exploration and mapping of the Australian continent. The exhibitions are free and excellent. Tickets are required to board the vessels in the floating collection.
The museum takes a broad view of the maritime theme. Among the ships docked is a faithful replica of The Endeavour, a Vietnamese refugee boat, a navy ship and submarine.
Address: 2 Murray St, Darling Harbour. Closest train, Town Hall
Photo: Mark Bowyer National Maritime Museum, Sydney, Endeavour replica
Photo: Mark Bowyer National Maritime Museum, Sydney - maps collection
Police and Justice Museum
Great idea for a museum in the former penal colony of Sydney, in an old police station by Circular Quay. Digs into Sydney's crime history. Adults $15. (included in Sydney Living Museums pass $35).
There's nothing like a good themed museum and in the former penal settlement of Sydney, a Police and Justice Museum seems especially fitting. This is an excellent break from the usual museum fair. A former police station with its cells and courts, has been converted into a museum of the city's crime history.
Located right by Circular Quay in a heritage listed building that commenced operations in the 1850s, the Police and Justice Museum delves into the city's dark past and includes exhibits from bushrangers and other notorious criminals from the city's rich catalogue of crime.
Recent white collar criminals and Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) cases are not included in the exhibition - space is limited.
Address: Cnr Albert and Phillip St, Circular Quay - nearest train station, Circular Quay
Photo: Mark Bowyer Justice and Police Museum, Sydney
Photo: Mark Bowyer Justice and Police Museum, Sydney
Powerhouse Museum MAAS
The Powerhouse Museum - or Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences - is Sydney's museum tribute to industrial science and technology. It's a feast of industrial retro. The setting, in an old tram powerhouse (hence the name), is enough reason for a visit. There are some classic bits of Australian industrial history on display, as well as temporary exhibitions on design and technology.
I love wonderful old industrial spaces like the Powerhouse Museum. I could spend hours looking over old bits of industrial design and heavy machinery and the warehouses in which they operated. If you're the same, head down to the Powerhouse for a look. You'll be pleased that the museum survived a brush with death in 2020. It was facing closure before the state government changed its mind.
The old trains and steam engines are a highlight. The first steam train to operate in New South Wales in the 1850s, is among the exhibits.
The "What's in Store" exhibition, focused on the corner store and retail, is nicely done too - though I seem to recall this from a previous visit almost 2 decades ago.
Like many Sydney museums, The Powerhouse could do with some fresh ideas and money. It feels a tad tired. It may not yet have recovered from its near brush with death in 2020. It doesn't even seem to be trying to be in the same league as other similar museums around the world. But I enjoyed my visit nonetheless. It's well setup for families.
For more on the Powerhouse Museum, head over to our listing here.
Address: 500 Harris St, Ultimo
Photo: Mark Bowyer Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Photo: Mark Bowyer Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
THIS MUSEUM GUIDE WAS UPDATED IN FEBRUARY 2023.
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