A lighter shade of drab

In this video, as specialist painter Adam John Christian Seur goes about his work, curator Gary Crockett explains the origin of drab - a dull, strangely coloured paint used on the timberwork of Hyde Park Barracks.

Music by Cameron Elliot.

Published on 
Man in blue shirt smiling

Gary Crockett

Former curator

It was the dog-eared world of Rouse Hill House, back in 1991, that inspired Gary Crockett to become a curator. Gary produced exhibitions on convict, immigration and legal history at the Hyde Park Barracks, studied spatial history at the Museum of Sydney, collaborated with artists and tenants at Susannah Place, architects and engineers at Elizabeth Farm, designers at Rose Seidler House, curated Surf City, an ode to Sydney surf culture, along with a string of video, audioguide and interactive museum projects.

Conservation in action: Meroogal external drainage and pathway works

Taking care of Meroogal requires ongoing care and sensitivity. Protecting the historical integrity of the site involves managing the environment around the house to prevent the slow decay caused by moisture.

Conservation in action: Vaucluse House outbuilding conservation works

Dating from around 1840, these outbuildings are in the service yard, the historical core of household service activities at Vaucluse House

Wentworth Mausoleum, photographer unknown, 1901. Nielsen-Vaucluse Park Trust photographs, 1856–1960s, volume 5

Conservation in action: Wentworth Mausoleum conservation works

Completed in 1874, the Wentworth Mausoleum is a rare and significant example of private Victorian funerary architecture in Australia

A glimpse behind the scaffold – conservation works at Rouse Hill Estate

Digital Content Coordinator Gabriella Florek took an enlightening tour of ongoing conservation works at Rouse Hill Estate to understand some of the finer details of caring for a complex heritage site