Conservation

View of a bedroom with faded and torn wallpaper with an old map of the world on one wall, a single bed, dressing table and view through a door to the top of a staircase, with faded and damaged paintwork.

A House In The Making

After 162 years of being continuously occupied 62 Gloucester Street was opened to the public for the first time in 2006

Ramshackle wooden building with tin roof and wire enclosed coop at one end.
Conservation

A herculean task: clearing the woolshed

The first stage of a major conservation project at Rouse Hill Estate involved removing thousands of objects accumulated over 150 years of the property’s occupation

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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

Internal view of the timber shed at Rouse Hill Estate
Conservation

A strong and simple structure: conserving the woolshed

The second phase of a major conservation project on the woolshed at Rouse Hill Estate has seen the rustic 160-year-old structure strengthened and stabilised

Absconding with the silver

Why we recreated the butler's pantry at Vaucluse House along with a fascinating tale of 'light fingered' servants

Musical instrument with music book open on stand above keyboard.

An unassuming instrument

By delving into an old harmonium at Rouse Hill House & Farm we hope to learn when it came into the house, who played it, and how we can best look after it

ABTS - Unboxing a glass plate negative

Archives behind the scenes - unboxing a glass plate negative

In this episode we visit the Conservation Lab where Elizabeth shows us how to unbox glass plate negatives - very gently!

Objects in storage at Vaucluse House.

Barcoding our collection

During the 2021 COVID lockdown, a team was busy working behind the scenes to implement technology that will improve how we manage our collections & make them more discoverable for our audiences

Oil portrait of Mary Elizabeth Pye (1827-1910), painted c 1845

Collections care in a time of coronavirus

Museum closures earlier this year due to COVID-19 gave Museums of History NSW staff a valuable opportunity to spend even more time caring for our historic houses and their precious and diverse collections.