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.
This ambitious reinterpretation program will amplify under-represented voices, embrace contemporary perspectives, and reveal the complex human side of law enforcement and the justice system in NSW. Informed by oral histories, lived experience and diverse communities, the project will create a museum experience that is relevant, inclusive, and deeply resonant with today’s audiences.
Over the coming years, this multistage renewal will replace existing displays with immersive environments featuring digital storytelling and compelling exhibition design that bring the world-class Justice & Police Museum Collection to life.
This journey begins with the Water Police Station holding cells – the heart of the museum and the focus of our Justice & Police Museum Annual Giving 2025–26 campaign.
The Water Police Station holding cells
The Water Police Station (built 1858), Water Police Court (1856) and Police Court (1886) once formed one of the busiest legal precincts in the colony. Behind their sandstone walls, the echoes of petty crimes, moral debates and changing social values still linger. Today, as the Justice & Police Museum, the site invites new reflections on what policing and justice means and, importantly, who it serves.
Through bold interpretation and inclusive storytelling, we will transform the holding cells into a powerful experience that confronts, questions and connects. The project will illuminate the lived experiences of those who enforced the law, those who challenged it, and those who were shaped by it.
What your support will make possible
A museum for today’s audience
This project is about more than preservation; it is about transformation.
By supporting our annual giving campaign, you are helping to create a museum that explores the many sides of justice, policing and community, a place that brings people together through shared stories, reflection and understanding.
Together, we can build a museum experience where every visitor engages with the story of justice and leaves inspired to help shape its next chapter.
Bold interpretation. Inclusive stories. A museum for today and tomorrow.
Join us in shaping the future of the Justice & Police Museum.
Ways to donate
Please consider making a tax-deductible gift, as every dollar raised, regardless of size, will help to shape the next chapter of the Justice & Police Museum
Direct deposit
Museums of History NSW
BSB: 032-001
ACC: 190 922
Reference: your name AG2025-26
Acknowledgement of support
Discover the unique and diverse opportunites our donors have to engage with Museums of History NSW. Find out more
Contact
Meagan Evans
Philanthropy Manager
02 8239 2273
donate@mhnsw.au
The Justice & Police Museum is home to some of the most intriguing and tragic stories of crime, justice and policing. Many of those crimes define the times in which they were committed, making the museum one of the best crime museums in the world. I express my support for Museums of History NSW’s planned new interpretation of the Water Police Station holding cells, which will provide a vivid account of policing in NSW from the early colonial period to the present day. These new displays will further enhance the museum’s ability to tell the fascinating story of our state’s history of crime and justice over more than 200 years.
Join us for an evening with
Mark Tedeschi AM KC
Wednesday 26 November
Marking the beginning of a bold new chapter for the Justice & Police Museum, this special event celebrates the launch of the 2025–26 Annual Giving campaign and the unveiling of the first stage of the museum’s transformation, a striking new interpretation of the historic Water Police Station holding cells, reimagined for the first time in more than two decades. The evening features Mark Tedeschi AM KC in conversation with Kim Tao, Head of Curatorial & Research at Museums of History NSW, exploring Mark’s extraordinary career across law, literature, and photography.
Crime stories from the Justice & Police Museum Collection
Underworld
Bosses
Sydney’s underworld bosses were tough, resolute and violent – mess with one and you would know you had been in a fight
Underworld
Petty crims
Petty criminals made up the largest group of felons and committed a diverse array of crimes, ranging from stealing to using offensive language
Underworld
Plotters
Parting fools from their money was the plotter’s goal, and took careful planning and superior powers of persuasion
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Come and Discover
Find out how you can access diverse experiences through a unique calendar of events