Open Day: The Mint

Sydney, Australia’s ‘Sin City’, has been home to some of the most cunning, dangerous and desperate criminals in the country. Discover the intriguing crime stories drawn from MHNSW collections including the Shark Arm murder and the strange story of a serial killing grandmother.

For almost 100 years from the late 19th century, department stores dominated and changed Sydney’s CBD. They altered the landscape both physically through their landmark buildings, and culturally by attracting huge numbers to the city. How did these department stores grow so big and what led to their demise?

Discover highlights from the vast collection of Government Printing Office glass-plate negatives in the State Archives Collection. More than 65,000 digital images are now available online, providing greater public access to this extraordinary pictorial and social record of NSW in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Many of us know the myths and legends of the bushrangers. Possibly less well known is how the NSW Police responded to this outlaw “scourge”. Discover MHNSW’s records from the 1860s relating to Ben Hall and his gang, how the telegram played a curious role in bringing bushrangers to justice, and how the MHNSW archive reveals very human, lost, hidden, or forgotten stories from the period.

Throughout its history – as the south wing of the ‘Rum Hospital’, the Sydney branch of the Royal Mint, and the home of various government departments and courts – photographers and artists have documented changes to the Mint and streetscape. Explore the site’s evolution through images in MHNSW collections.

The use of photographic portraiture to identify and document men, women and children incarcerated in NSW was introduced in 1871 as part of a suite of measures to improve the management of the colony’s, and later state’s jails.

Portraits were embedded into photographic description books that contained information about an offender. This included their name (an aliases), year and country of birth, religion, height and weight, distinguishing features, crimes committed and sentences served.

Some offenders were ‘habitual’, imprisoned repeatedly throughout the course of their life. Their offending typically involved property-based crimes, like stealing, or offences against ‘good order’, such as vagrancy, indecent language and drunkenness. Today these records provide a powerful account of a person’s life – for some offenders, the documents span 40 years.

Probate and deceased estate records offer a treasure-trove of information, providing a fascinating insight into the worldly possessions that people accumulate over a lifetime.

View the records of some well-known figures from our past and discover items owned and cherished by ‘ordinary couple Clara Jane and Hugo Youngein, tenants of Susannah Place, The Rocks, in the early 1900s.

When we view depictions of Australian landscapes of the past, what do we see? Wilderness or cultivation?Do we see a ‘gentleman’s park’ – as described by artist Sydney Parkinson, who accompanied Captain Cook on his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768-71 and if so, who managed the land?

Do we see abundance with awe inspiring views? Or does it seem a harsh and unforgiving place? Can it be tamed, or do we learn to live sustainably? It is a land of opportunity, and for whom? How we changed the land and how it has changed us?

From brick embossed with hearts to love letters, postcards, furniture adorned with flying cupids, songs, marriage certificates, wedding photographs, a mugshot of a gangster’s lover and records of so-called crimes of passion, our collections tell a timeless story of love imagined, love lived and love lost.

Accessibility: Access to this display is via a staircase and is not suitable for those using wheelchairs or walking aids.