Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, Australia | Arts and entertainment

Hyde Park Barracks

Locality: Sydney, Australia

Phone: +61 2 8239 2288

Address: Queens Square 2000 Sydney, NSW, Australia

Website: slm.is/hpb

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25.01.2022 One of the most popular features of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hyde Park Barracks is the hammock room. Our new audio experience immerses you in the sounds of the convicts' sleeping ward, as more than 70 men are crammed into the hammocks with even more sleeping on the floor. Hear their chatter as they argue, barter, gamble and fight off the rats that scramble over them throughout the night! Immerse yourself in the stories of the Barracks. Open Thursday to Sunday. Book online at slm.is/hpb #DiscoverSLM #ilovesydney #sydneylocal #sydney #holidayherethisyear #visitnsw #worldheritage #seeaustralia #lovensw

25.01.2022 Found by archaeologists beneath the floorboards of the sleeping wards of Hyde Park Barracks, this square scrap of striped convict shirt is curiously stamped with the letters B and A. In 1819 Governor Lachlan Macquarie outlined the rules for the new Prisoners Barracks, declaring that the convicts clothing was to be marked with their initials, to be sure that they were returned to the rightful owners after washing, and also, to prevent convicts from stealing them. Records... of the convicts who spent time at the Barracks reveal that there were surprisingly few convicts with the initials B.A. Two of the three that we know of were both named Benjamin Abbott. This is the story of Benjamin Abbott who arrived in 1822 on the ship Asia. For more on Hyde Park Barracks and to book tickets visit slm.is/hpb Images: Sydney Living Museums, State Records NSW, Blue Mountains City Council, Peter Eve, State Library of New South Wales.

25.01.2022 Hyde Park Barracks is open today until Sunday. Come in and discover the stories of the convicts, immigrants and women in need that called the Barracks home, as well as the Aboriginal nations that were impacted by colonial Australia. Find out more and book online: slm.is/hpb

24.01.2022 Did you know #onthisday 201 years ago convicts first moved into the Hyde Park Barracks? The day was marked with a celebratory meal for all 589 convicts hosted by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. To celebrate last year's bicentenary we reenacted this moment with a meal enjoyed by Fort Street Public School students and Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO, QC, Governor of New South Wales. What an auspicious date it is to be able to reopen Hyde Park Barracks once again, 201 years on! Book now: slm.is/hpb #ThrowbackThursday

24.01.2022 As part of #NationalArchaeologyWeek we are revisiting a story about the recreation of a typical dinner served to women who were living in Hyde Park Barracks in the Destitute Asylum and Immigration Depot in the 1880s. On the menu? Soup, boiled beef or mutton, bread and dripping. #DiscoverSLM #2020NAW

23.01.2022 This week for #DiscoverSLM across our social and website, Sydney Living Museums is focusing on architecture, which provides a great opportunity to highlight the architect of Hyde Park Barracks and Australia's first Government Architect, Francis Greenway. Born in England in 1777, Greenway came from a long line of architects, builders and stonemasons. He arrived in the colony of New South Wales as a convict in 1814, but his skill as an architect quickly caught the eye of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, an enlightened thinker who had grand building plans for the colony.

23.01.2022 As part of our new self-guided experience in Hyde Park Barracks visitors encounter the voyage of convicts across the seas from Britain to Australia. Here you will meet convict Charles Allen, who was just a 16-year-old post office worker when, in 1814, he was sentenced to death for stealing a 10 note from a letter to buy handkerchiefs. After his sentence was reduced to transportation for life, Allen was moved from Newgate Prison to the prison hulk Retribution to await, along... with hundreds of others, his journey to the other side of the world. In April 1815, Charles Allen and 299 other prisoners embarked on the convict ship Baring, bound for Sydney. Immerse yourself in the story of Charles Allen and his fellow convicts who called Hyde Park Barracks home. we're open Thursday to Sunday. We have a COVID-safe plan in place and visitors are encouraged to bring and use their own headset. Book now: slm.is/hpb #DiscoverSLM #history #heritage #ilovesydney Visit NSW Sydney.com Photo: James Horan

23.01.2022 We are delighted to share that local creative agency Collider, working closely with the Sydney Living Museums team, recently won Silver in the AEAF 2020 Awards (Animation & Effects Awards & Festival) for the Surveillance animation that is part of the new visitor experience at Hyde Park Barracks. Surveillance takes the viewer through a 3D animation of convicts breaking the rules under the nose of authorities. See Surveillance when you visit Hyde Park Barracks. We're open Thursday to Sunday. Book now at slm.is/hpb

22.01.2022 On Sunday 30 August 2020 the Annual Famine Commemoration was held at The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine at Hyde Park Barracks. This was the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee (GIFCC), who worked tirelessly to establish a memorial to the millions who died during the famine or were forced to emigrate to find a better life. Presented in partnership with Sydney Living Museums (SLM), this years event was restricted to 20 attendees due to COVID-19 but was live streamed to many more across the globe. Read more and view the recording here at the link below.

22.01.2022 The UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hyde Park Barracks reopens its doors on 4 June. Discover the stories of the Barracks through a self-guided immersive experience that will feel like stepping back in time. Tickets are now on sale, with NSW residents enjoying a 20% discount on admission. We want to ensure you have an enjoyable and safe visit and have introduced a range of protective measures, including reducing the number of visitors in each booked session, social distancing, enhanced cleaning, cashless entry and sanitiser stations. Visitors are also encouraged to bring their own headphones to enjoy our self-guided audio experience. Find out more and book your tickets online at slm.is/hpb

21.01.2022 The conservation of the Vulliamy Clock that sits at the top of the Hyde Park Barracks by Sydney Living Museums' heritage team and master clockmaker Andrew Markerink was last night awarded Highly Commended at the 2020 National Trust Heritage Awards. Take a look behind the scenes at the work involved to conserve and care for Australia's oldest surviving public clock. Read more: https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au//conserving-australias-... #DiscoverSLM

20.01.2022 Around 1920, as innumerable government offices, legal chambers and courtrooms began cluttering up the old convict courtyard of Hyde Park Barracks, a young Canary Island Palm tree was planted in a circular garden plot just inside the entrance gates. Over time it grew large and handsome, shading workers on lunch breaks and all but obliterating from view the front façade of the main brick building which now stood soiled, dismal and unloved. In 1980 its fortunes had changed, wi...th ambitious plans to renovate the site and establish a social history museum. With restoration work underway, the courtyard was cleared of offices and outbuildings and the tree was hoisted onto the back of a truck and driven across the Domain where it continues to thrive, one hundred years old, on the sunny lawn next to the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Images: Sydney Living Museums, Cumberland County Council/NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment #DiscoverSLM

20.01.2022 To finish off #NationalArchaeologyWeek we would like to share an album of images taken during excavation and archaeological work at the Hyde Park Barracks from 1979-1981. This work uncovered many of the treasures that form part of the Barracks' collection, one of Australias most important archaeological collections. See album: https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au//archaeology-action-hyd #DiscoverSLM #2020NAW #Archaeologyinaction

19.01.2022 #Onthisday we celebrate ten years since Sydneys Hyde Park Barracks, along with ten fellow Australian convict places and institutions, was placed on UNESCOs prestigious World Heritage list. While each of these sites are important and valuable in their own right, drawn together as a special group listing, they tell an epic tale of Australias convict beginnings and the extraordinary range of systems and conditions experienced by convicts transported to the colonies between... 1788 and 1868. Discover more at the Hyde Park Barracks, now open Thursday to Sunday. Book online: slm.is/hpb Learn more about the World Heritage Australian Convict Sites here: www.australianconvictsites.org.au

18.01.2022 Musician and former politician Peter Garrett AM is one of many Australians to have an ancestor related to Hyde Park Barracks. His great great grandmother was Lucy Applewhaite-Hicks (née Langdon). Lucy Applewhaite-Hicks was 27 when she became matron of the Immigration Depot in 1861. When the Hyde Park Asylum opened the following year, she took on combined responsibility for both institutions. She and her family lived in two small front rooms on the second floor. By 1869, when ...her first husband died, Lucy had six children aged between 18 years and 11 months. After remarrying a year later, Lucy went on to have five more children, two of whom died in infancy. During her 25 years at the barracks, Lucy oversaw immigrant women as they arrived in the depot, along with the daily operations of the asylum upstairs. When both institutions closed, Lucy moved with the asylum inmates to the just built Newington Asylum in 1886, before retiring a few years later. She died in 1909, aged 75, survived by only five of her 14 children. Find out more about the Hyde Park Barracks and its period as an immigration depot and asylum for women through our new visitor experience: slm.is/hpb Photo: Mrs Hicks, c1870. American & Australasian Photographic Company, SLNSW, ON 4 Box 15 no.984. Possibly a portrait of Lucy Hicks, taken in Sydney not long after her marriage to William Hicks in 1870. #DiscoverSLM

18.01.2022 The Hyde Park Barracks reopens today! Book online to discover the stories of the Barracks through a self-guided immersive experience. Using groundbreaking interactive audio technology, follow in the footsteps of real people whose lives were touched by this place male convicts, immigrants and women in need, as well as the Aboriginal nations that were impacted by colonial Australia. We have put measures in place to prioritise the health and wellbeing of everyone, with social ...distancing, contactless ticketing and enhanced cleaning. Visitors will be given a sanitised iPod and headphones on arrival. If possible, you are encouraged to bring and use your own headset. Sessions start every half hour and run for approx. 90 minutes. Find out more and book your tickets: slm.is/hpb #DiscoverSLM #convicthistory #heritage World Heritage Australian Convict Sites Sydney.com #ilovesydney

17.01.2022 Sydney Living Museums acknowledges it has an important role to play in sharing Aboriginal history and culture. Next Wednesday 10 June is the anniversary of the Myall Creek massacre. On this day in 1838 at least 28 Gamilaraay people were massacred by a group of 12 Europeans at Myall Creek Station in Northern New South Wales. Eleven of these people were convicts and ex-convicts, and their story is linked to the Hyde Park Barracks. With the Hyde Park Barracks open again, we invi...te visitors in this weekend to learn about this important story. Sydney Living Museums worked with the Blacklock family, descendants of a survivor of the massacre, to document the Myall Creek massacre thoughtfully and truthfully as part of our Violence at the Frontier exhibit. Sydney Living Museums is committed to integrating Aboriginal perspectives, narratives and voices into our colonial history. This work facilitates truth-telling about dispossession, frontier violence, Aboriginal resilience, and the complexities of cultural relationships. These stories are critical to understanding the continuing impact of this history on Aboriginal communities today. Sydney Living Museums recognises that our museums and heritage sites exist within culturally significant Aboriginal landscapes, and we acknowledge the diverse ongoing cultural values and heritage that the Aboriginal communities of the Sydney region have with their country. We remain committed to increasing Aboriginal interpretation and community involvement across our organisation. We will share more about the Myall Creek massacre on Wednesday. Photo: Oriol Ferrer Mesià.

17.01.2022 Sydneys revamped Hyde Park Barracks delivers a hi-tech portrayal of our convict past. Read more in this story by Susan Kurosawa of The Australian and start planning your visit. We're open every Thursday to Sunday.

16.01.2022 This tactile model for blind and vision impaired people is part of the new visitor experience at Hyde Park Barracks. Beautifully created by Modelcraft with the textures and finishes by Axolotl. This is just one of a number of accessible options for our visitors. Others include neck loops for hearing aids with telecoil, an iPad with descriptive text for visitors who are deaf or hard of hearing, video magnifiers, and sensory kits for visitors with autism or sensory sensitivitie...s. There are also accessible pathways, ramps and a lift in the main building and a mobility version of the self-guided experience for wheelchair users. Bookings are recommended if you require an access aid. Visit our website slm.is/hpb and go to the 'plan your visit' section for more details. Photos: Modelcraft

16.01.2022 Take a look behind the scenes of our new audio experience.

16.01.2022 The Hyde Park Barracks shop is brimming with goodies just in time for Christmas, including a great range of books, homewares, puzzles, tree decorations, kids' toys, jewellery and our own collection of Barracks souvenirs. The shop is open Thursday to Sunday. SLM members receive a 10% discount on all merchandise.

15.01.2022 In the northern range of Hyde Park Barracks there is a room that was the quarters of the District Court Judge.The room was walled with bookcases that have recently been removed in preparation for new use. To our great delight, when we removed the bookcases we discovered several layers of early wallpaper and Linoleum floor coverings which give a hint to the different decorative schemes and uses of the room over a period of around 80 years. Read more: https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/beauties-we-find #DiscoverSLM

15.01.2022 Sydney Living Museums engaged Grumpy Sailor to design and produce some of the new immersive displays in the Hyde Park Barracks, incorporating physical and motion design, live-action material and screen-based storytelling on a range of different canvases. The results are a very moving experience that enables our visitors to connect with the Barrack’s rich but turbulent past. Discover Hyde Park Barracks for yourself. It's open to visitors Thursday to Sunday. Book now: slm.is/hpb #DiscoverSLM

15.01.2022 As Sydney Living Museums begins to reopen its museums and historic houses, including the Hyde Park Barracks, we continue to cherish these 12 significant properties by undertaking our core business of conserving, maintaining, researching and activating them. Help us to continue this work by supporting our 2020 Annual Appeal.

15.01.2022 Drawn up at Government House, Sydney, on 30 December 1846, and signed and sealed by Governor Charles Fitzroy, this document granted a free pardon to convict Joseph Taylor. A 15-year-old London tailor, Joseph was transported in 1829 for seven years for stealing a handkerchief. In Sydney he continued to offend and by early 1838 he was held at the Hyde Park Barracks. Having served his transportation sentence by 1840, Taylor received a Certificate of Freedom. In July 1846 he was... convicted of stealing in a dwelling house, tried in the Supreme Court in Sydney and sentenced to be banished to Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) for seven years. But in December authorities decided that Taylor was innocent of this particular crime, notwithstanding the acknowledged bad character of the prisoner himself, and he was granted this pardon. The document is significant for its association with the highest ranking official in the colony, Charles Fitzroy, who had begun his term as governor of NSW in August 1846. As a document presented to a transported convict for a secondary or colonial crime, this free pardon is relatively rare among the convict-era documents that survive today. Discover more objects from Australia's early convict period online: slm.is/hpbcollection

15.01.2022 Sydney Living Museums remembers the 28 Wirrayaraay people murdered at Myall Creek on this day in 1838. We thank Aunty Sue and Nathan Blacklock, descendants of a survivor of the massacre, for sharing their stories as part of the new visitor experience at the Hyde Park Barracks.

14.01.2022 Collection close-up: rats! Trying to get any sleep in the wards of Hyde Park Barracks must have been difficult at times due to the building’s infestation of rats. They ran along the floors and hammock rails and stole scraps of fabric, paper, rope and any soft materials they could find, to make their nests beneath the floorboards. Some, like these individuals, even died in the underfloor spaces and in the dry environment, their carcasses were dessicated and preserved for over ...a century before archaeologists discovered them in the early 1980s. See the rats and over 4000 other artefacts from the archeaology collection at Hyde Park Barracks, open Thursday to Sunday. Book now: slm.is/hpb Photo: Jamie North for Sydney Living Museums.

13.01.2022 A rare intact convict shirt, convict cap and leather shoe are just a few of the more than 4000 original artefacts on display at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hyde Park Barracks - items worn, touched and treasured by the building's past residents. Discover one of Australia's most important archaeological collections on your next visit. Hyde Park Barracks is open Thursday to Sunday. Book online at slm.is/hpb. #DiscoverSLM #ilovesydney #lovensw #holidayherethisyear ... World Heritage Australian Convict Sites See more

13.01.2022 Teachers, a free live virtual excursion from Hyde Park Barracks about Convict Love Tokens will take place on 25 June. Find out more and book at slm.is/virtual

12.01.2022 Learn more about the state-of-the-art technology that is behind the new visitor experience at the Hyde Park Barracks. The Barracks is now open again Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Book online at slm.is/hpb

12.01.2022 Today's collection close-up is the Cartwheel Penny. A penny was referred to in the convict 'flash' slang language, as a win or winchester, and this 1797 'Cartwheel Penny' was found by archaeologists beneath the floors of the convict sleeping wards of Hyde Park Barracks. Cartwheel pennies were one of the coins introduced to the colony and proclaimed by Governor King in 1800 as official colonial currency. At the time, the main currency in the colony was rum (or any spirits), b...ut Governor King arranged for the shipment of tons of British copper coins, and other Indian, Spanish and Dutch coins, and announced that in the colony the copper coins would be worth twice their face value, so that they would not be taken away by those leaving. As the shipments arrived from 1799, these Proclamation coins gradually came into circulation and were widely used by the colonists. Convicts were paid with coins like this one, for work they did after their government work finished each day at 3pm. At the markets and grog shops, convicts could spend their copper pennies to buy food, tobacco and drinks. Some even used them for gambling games like chuck penny or 'pitch and toss'. Discover more of the Hyde Park Barracks archaeology collection online: slm.is/hpbcollection

11.01.2022 Collection close up: A stunning example of an improvised handicraft, this leather ankle guard or gaiter was made to protect a convicts ankle from leg irons, which caused severe pain, bruising, lesions and skin ruptures. Discovered inside Hyde Park Barracks in 1979 during restoration work, it is the only known surviving example of its kind in Australia. With a serrated edge, to soften the edge for the wearer, and designed to be laced together, the cuff has a strap either s...ide that attached over the basil (ring) to hold it in place. Unlike the convict shoe and shirt also found at Hyde Park Barracks, this guard is not marked with a broad arrow stamp to indicate government manufacture, suggesting it was probably made illegally by a convict who had leather working skills. Such guards must have been in great demand by leg-iron wearers, and might have been commonly manufactured by convicts for trade on the black market. See more of the Hyde Park Barracks collection online: slm.is/hpbcollection

10.01.2022 The annual Great Irish Famine Commemoration 2020 will be held on Sunday 30 August. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this year's event will be livestreamed from 11am-12.30pm via this link https://eventexsydney.com.au/famine-commemoration-2020 The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine is located on the southern wall of Hyde Park Barracks. The monument remembers the famine of 184552 and those who died or were forced to emigrate. The barracks is an apt location for the monument: 2253 of the 4114 Irish orphan girls who arrived in Australia between 1848 and 1850 were housed at the barracks during its term as Sydneys female Immigration Depot. Read more here: https://slm.is/greatirishfaminememorial

09.01.2022 Powerful and moving experience, impressively curated time travel, superb Sydney storytelling, fantastic world class museum. Visitors are loving the new immersive experience at Hyde Park Barracks, so why not plan a visit by surprising dad with tickets this Fathers Day! Hyde Park Barracks is open Thursday to Sunday, with limited-capacity sessions to ensure our experience is COVID-safe and visitors can maintain social distancing at all times. Visitors are also encourag...ed to bring their own headphones. Purchase your print-at-home tickets online at slm.is/hpb and remember all NSW residents also enjoy a 20% discount on admission! Images: James Horan

08.01.2022 Please support Sydney Living Museums through our 2020 Annual Appeal and help us to deliver vital heritage conservation projects across our 12 sites. Important work like the conservation and restoration of the Hyde Park Barracks clock, Australias oldest surviving public clock. All donations are greatly appreciated and donations of $2 or more are tax deductible. Find out what your financial gift can achieve by visiting slm.is/donate #SLMAnnualAppeal2020 #DiscoverSLM

08.01.2022 The clock sitting atop of the #HydeParkBarracks is Australia's oldest surviving public clock. It played a crucial role in the daily life of colonial Sydney and the supervision and control of convicts, and continues to mark time for Sydneysiders today. In this video curator Gary Crockett discusses the history of the Hyde Park Barracks clock, originally assembled in 1819 by convict clockmaker James Oatley. Learn more about Hyde Park Barracks online at slm.is/discover. #DiscoverSLM

07.01.2022 Hyde Park Barracks has reopened every Thursday to Sunday. Discover our new visitor expierence and immerse yourself in the stories of the real people whose lives were touched by this place male convicts, immigrants and women in need, as well as the Aboriginal nations that were impacted by colonial Australia. Sessions start every half hour and run for about 90 minutes. Visitors will be given a sanitised iPod and headphones on arrival. If possible, you are encouraged to bring and use your own headset. Find out more and book tickets: slm.is/hpb

04.01.2022 Around 100,000 people passed through Hyde Park Barracks between 1819 and 1887. As they went about their daily routines mending clothes, writing letters, reading newspapers and books, smoking, eating, drinking or gambling the barracks itself became a giant collector of ordinary things discarded, lost or stashed away. In the 1980s an extensive restoration program was needed to convert the Barracks into a museum. As floorboards were lifted, ceilings removed and trenches dug,... workers uncovered this long-hidden archive of barracks life. Archaeologists sifted and catalogued almost 120,000 artefacts, assembling one of the worlds most comprehensive institutional collections. Bundled within dense clumps of clothing scraps were pages from prayer books, jewellery, sewing tools, tobacco pipes, soup bones, playing cards, keys, coins, buttons, convict paperwork, and offcuts of leather, calico, canvas and rope. Among the most evocative discoveries were an intact convict shirt and leather shoe, along with clothing and trinkets belonging to immigrants and asylum inmates. See over 4000 of these priceless objects on display in the Hyde Park Barracks. We're open Thursday to Sunday. Book online: slm.is/hpb #DiscoverSLM

04.01.2022 Did you know that Sydney Living Museums has a range of merchandise developed exclusively for Hyde Park Barracks? The range includes magnets and mugs, tea towels and totes, bookmarks and our souvenir book, and much more. Featuring both old and new images of the barracks as well as our exclusive typography design of convict slang words and their meanings. Visit the shop in person at the Hyde Park Barracks or online at slm.is/hpbshop.

03.01.2022 To celebrate #NationalRumDay, today's collection close-up is this dark olive glass alcohol bottle recovered from beneath the ground floor of Hyde Park Barracks. Once containing wine, spirits or beer, its discovery suggests that, despite the rules, convicts smuggled alcohol into the Barracks. #Rum or other spirits commonly watered down and mixed with molasses, tobacco and even vitriol (sulphuric acid), was the convicts poison of choice - a drink known as grog. Escaping fro...m the Barracks during the evening to join others at the public houses (pubs) and sly grog shops around the town provided a relief from the daily drudgery of the convicts existence. In their own flash slang language, the convicts had several ways to describe those who had been imbibing excessively, including floord (so drunk, as to be incapable of standing), spoony (a man who has been drinking till he becomes disgusting by his very ridiculous behaviour); and lushy-cove (a drunken man). See more objects discovered at Hyde Park Barracks as part of the new visitor experience. Open Thursday to Sunday, pre-book tickets online slm.is/hpb

02.01.2022 It is always exciting to come across a reference to one of our properties within our collections. This fragment of paper, possibly a trade directory, is from the Hyde Park Barracks archaeology collection. While one side has a whimsical illustration of Australian animals and fairies, the other side has lists of names and addresses. One entry is for Icely, T. Hon, Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta. The Hon. Thomas Icely was a significant pastoralist, member of the NSW Legislative C...ouncil and also the first lessee of Elizabeth Farm. Due to this connection, we can now date this fragment to between 1869 the date of the lease - and 1874 - when Thomas Icely passed away at Elizabeth Farm.This object is currently on display at Hyde Park Barracks. Hyde Park Barracks is open Thursday to Sunday, book online at slm.is/hpb Photos: Hyde Park Barracks Archaeology Collection, Sydney Living Museums. Photo (c) Jamie North

01.01.2022 Sydney Living Museums is delighted to announce the return of onsite learning programs at a selection of our houses and museums in Term 4, 2020. This includes two excursions at Hyde Park Barracks - Convict Life at the Barracks for Stage 2 and Home: Convicts, Migrants and First Peoples for Stage 3. Availability will be limited. Find out more: slm.is/excursionsareback