Collections

Three collections, millions of items, unlimited stories

Museums of History NSW is the new home of three of the state’s most significant and fascinating collections. Dive in and explore.

Experience the collections

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Mr Bradfield's Houses - Department of Public Works, image of children playing outside with see saw and ride on elephant
8 December, 10.30am
Online talk

Webinar: Public Works photographs: an unsung treasure

The amazing quality and variety of the photographs taken by the Public Works Department is a testament to the photographers. This webinar will explore these images in depth

Digitised top half of page with the subject line 'Protest against unjust dismissal from the service'
Latest News

Newly digitised archives – married women teachers' applications

The Married Women (Lecturers and Teachers) Act of 1932 restricted employment of married women in the Department of Public Instruction. We hold 693 declarations for exemption by married women teachers for the years 1932–35

A wallpaper being prepared for digitisation, Museums Discovery Centre
Latest News

Wallpaper in the spotlight

Work has begun on documenting this valuable collection to ensure each design is preserved against the effects of time for future generations to enjoy

Latest News

UNE Heritage Centre re-opens

We were delighted to attend a ceremony to mark the re-opening of the University of New England (UNE) and Regional Archives

Latest News

Digitising the Rose Seidler House Collection

Over the past week, our Collection Digitisation Team has been facilitating an in-situ photoshoot at Rose Seidler House

Stories from our collections

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Equestrian Statue of the King, Astor Flats and Chief Secretary’s Building

The Astor, 1923–2023

Upon completion in 1923, The Astor in Sydney's Macquarie Stree twas the largest reinforced concrete building in Australia, the tallest residential block, and this country’s first company title residences

Ruins of Temple of Vishnu, Dondra, Ceylon

City of Gods, my early experience and toy boat

Inspired by a watercolour of the ruins of the temple of Vishnu, refugee curator in residence Jagath Dheerasekara writes about Devinuvara as a site of pilgrimage, colonisation and uprising

Detail of the four poster bed and beaded watch pockets in the Principal bedroom, Vaucluse House

Watch pockets

Watch pockets hung on the head cloth of a four-post bedstead and originally served in place of bedside tables, which were uncommon in the 19th century

Acquisition of the John and Phyllis Murphy wallpaper collection

Wall to wall: a marvellous wallpaper collection

A remarkable donation of over 3000 wallpaper samples by John and Phyllis Murphy adds to our existing collection to form Australia’s largest repository of historic wallpapers

https://www.records.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_square_thumbnail/public/Galleries/Sydney%20Opera%20House/12708_00004.jpg?itok=nuDilYgu

The Sydney Opera House Books

Significant publications and reports on the Sydney Opera House project, including the rules for the design competition, plans, drawings and photographs at various stages of the construction

Onlookers stand behind barriers watching the streets being cleaned with fire hoses. Policemen stand on the road in front of the crowds

Purging Pestilence – Plague!

The Bubonic Plague hit Sydney in January 1900. Spreading from the waterfront, the rats carried the plague throughout the city. Within eight months 303 cases were reported and 103 people were dead

Original glass plate negatives from the NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive arranged on a lightbox.

Glass-plate photography

The collection of glass-plate negatives held in the State Archives and Justice & Police Museum are endlessly fascinating and revealing

Collections conservation

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Photo of the Wentworth mausoleum with tabled light coming through the trees

Wentworth Mausoleum perimeter fence conservation

MHNSW is undertaking the first comprehensive conservation works to the fence surrounding the 1870s resting place of William Charles Wentworth

A women holds a large book open while she threads the pages together.

Conserving the archive

Supervising conservator Dominique Moussou talks through her work and some of the projects underway in the MHNSW conservation lab

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