What’s on
Events
Various dates
Performance
Sonic Spaces
Sonic Spaces returns for 2025 with an exciting new series of music performances, held in one of the city’s most unique venues
Queens Square, Macquarie Street Sydney NSW 2000
Friday 7 March 6.30pm–7.30pm
Tour
International Women’s Day Walking Tour of Castlecrag
Celebrate International Women’s Day 2025 with a walking tour that honours three pioneers of 20th-century Australian architecture: Marion Mahony Griffin, Ruth Lucas and Eva Buhrich
Saturday 8 March 10am–12.30pm
Talk
An Appetite for History
Cookbooks and manuscript recipes from the 1830s to the 1970s
The Mint, 10 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Wednesday 12 March 6pm–7.30pm
Tour
Members Tour: Wentworth Mausoleum
Enjoy a members-only walking tour of the rarely opened Wentworth Mausoleum and learn about William Charles Wentworth’s extravagant 1873 state funeral
Wentworth Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030
Thursday 13 March 2pm–3.30pm
Tour
Putting W.C. Wentworth to rest – Wentworth Mausoleum walking tour
Join us for a walking tour to the rarely opened Wentworth Mausoleum and learn about William Charles Wentworth’s extravagant 1873 state funeral
Wentworth Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030
Friday 21 March 2pm–3.30pm
Workshop
Sculpture-making workshop with Kate Stehr
Join Meroogal Women’s Art Prize 2024 finalist Kate Stehr for a hands-on workshop inspired by the memories held in everyday objects
Corner West and Worrigee streets, Nowra NSW 2541
Saturday 22 March 10am–3.30pm
![Cover label Small debts registers [Newcastle Court of Petty Sessions]](https://images.mhnsw.au/fotoweb/embed/2024/12/4ba709e2a1c2428bb82ee7470b3cd642.jpg)
Online talk
Small Debts Registers
This webinar will explore the newly indexed and digitised Small Debt Registers held in the NSW State Archives Collection, and how they can highlight the history of NSW local communities
Friday 28 March 10.30am–11.30am
Tour
Sin City: Sydney Crime Stories
Visit real crime scenes from the past and hear the stories behind the crimes
Corner Albert and Phillip streets, Sydney NSW 2000
Sunday 30 March 10.30am–12.30pm
Workshop
Bird Watching with the Sydney Bird Club
Join us for an inclusive bird watching tour that will explore the Vaucluse House Estate and Nielsen Park
Wentworth Road, Vaucluse NSW 2030
Sunday 30 March 10.30am–12pm
Event series
Sydney Open Series
Building on the Sydney Open program, this series offers talks, workshops, and tours throughout the year, with a focus on history, architecture, design innovation, sustainability, and heritage
HomeGrown Series
Exploring Australian homes, gardens and domestic life past and present through a rich and eclectic mix of workshops, tours and talks held in Museums of History NSW’s beautiful historic houses and gardens
Collections Series
Join our expert curators, archivists, researchers and conservators for talks, tours, viewings and discussions as they highlight some of our most fascinating collection material
Coming soon
Opening April
Exhibition
Hope by Hiromi Tango
Museums of History NSW is delighted to announce a dramatic new art installation by renowned multidisciplinary artist Hiromi Tango, on display at the Hyde Park Barracks from 12 April 2025
Saturday 12 April
Opening April
Featured exhibition
Seeing Sydney, Knowing Country
This exhibition depicts the development of the NSW colony through a selection of historical maps, plans, sketches, artworks and objects
On display
Featured display
Madjeri
Madjeri (pronounced mud-jer-ee) is the Dharawal word for canoe or small floating vessel
On display
Featured display
A Generous Gift: The John and Phyllis Murphy Collection
Our current library display features an array of colourful and evocative historical wallpapers from the John and Phyllis Murphy Collection
Tuesday 29 October
Permanent display
Alexander Riley, legendary Aboriginal police tracker
The remarkable talents of Aboriginal trackers who worked for NSW Police in the 20th century are featured in a display at the Justice & Police Museum
Permanent display
Healing land, remembering Country
A powerful work by Kuku Yalanji artist Tony Albert
Permanent display
Yura Nura: People & Country
Yura Nura: People & Country presents contemporary Aboriginal reflections on the history of Sydney and colonisation
Touring exhibitions
Touring exhibition
How cities work
Enter an immersive cityscape full of magical, tactile experiences to discover how the city works. Peek inside buildings, duck underground, and explore the streets to find out what’s going on above your head and beneath your feet
Touring exhibition
On the Move
Grab your ticket and enter an interactive transport world created in collaboration with illustrator James Gulliver Hancock
Touring exhibition
Street Photography
Before the days of Instagram, personal cameras, copyright and privacy laws, street photographers were a familiar part of city streets during the 1930’s to the late 1950’s, inadvertently creating a vast archive of black-and-white, postcard-sized candid images
Touring exhibition
Underworld: Mugshots from the roaring twenties
Welcome to the dark side of the Roaring Twenties. Descend into a seedy underworld where the only rules were never squeal to the police and always, always shoot first