Museums of History New South Wales

West elevation (front) of Hyde Park Barracks, from across Queens Square

Visit us

There’s plenty happening every day at our museums, historic houses and gardens, with entry free for all!

Student carrying convict bricks in the courtyard at Hyde Park Barracks

Learning

Explore our curriculum-linked programs, excursions and resources for stages 1 to 6. Inquire or book now

Justice & Police Museum - former Water Police Court, Albert Street entrance at night

2025–26 Annual Giving: Interpreting our Past

For the first time in more than two decades, the Justice & Police Museum is embarking on a bold transformation that reimagines how stories of justice, crime and community are told

Cover of the 2025-2030 Strategy showing a girl sitting on a man's shoulders
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Strategy 2025-2030

Our first MHNSW five-year Strategy marks a new chapter of immense possibility

Bridge Street Social x Heineken at Museum of Sydney
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Bridge Street Social with Heineken at the Museum of Sydney

The Museum of Sydney forecourt comes alive this spring and summer with the arrival of Bridge Street Social, a vibrant new pop-up in the heart of the city featuring the Heineken Silver Airstream Bar

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Not so black and white

Digitising photos from Rouse Hill Estate

A creek with stonework banks
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Vaucluse House, Waterfall, Ponds & Rill Conservation Project

Watch the update on this conservation project that has preserved the integrity and heritage significance of this important waterway

Sydney Open 2023 volunteer group photo
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Volunteer for Sydney Open 2025

Sydney Open is Australia’s premier architectural event. It’s when Museums of History NSW opens the doors of many of Sydney’s most significant buildings for fans of architecture and heritage to explore

Explore the collections

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First Nations Hub

A space and place to celebrate and engage with First Nations cultures, knowledge and perspectives

Welcome

Stories

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Creatives selected for inaugural Vaucluse House Creative and Cultural Residency

Museums of History NSW is pleased to announce the four creatives who will be participating in the inaugural Vaucluse House Creative and Cultural Residency program

The ‘crooked R’

At Rouse Hill Estate, reminders of the property’s rural past are everywhere, from fence lines and machinery to farm buildings and the myriad odds and ends stored inside them

Flat out access: unfolding the parchment pardon of Samuel Henry Horne

The conservators at the Western Sydney Records Centre treat items from across Museums of History NSW collections. A recent example is the 1832 absolute pardon of convict Samuel Henry Horne

Uncovered at Susannah Place

During extensive conservation work at Susannah Place, previously hidden elements of the four terrace houses were revealed

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