Collections on display at the Museums Discovery Centre

Some of Museums of History NSW’s most intriguing and historically significant collection items are on display to the public at the Museums Discovery Centre (MDC) in Castle Hill.

The MDC houses displays and collection storage for three NSW cultural institutions: Powerhouse, the Australian Museum and Museums of History NSW.

The Museums of History NSW collection items on display relate to aspects of the built environment in NSW, such as historical building fabric and examples of decorative arts, mostly with provenance to NSW houses and makers. Fascinating pieces include a 5-metre-long carved timber window cornice from Drummoyne House, created in the 1860s and featuring fruit and flowers grown in the house’s gardens, and two of the original fluted timber columns from the front verandah of the now demolished Burdekin House, Sydney, built in 1841 and considered one of the finest houses in the colony.

The displays at the MDC are designed to be an extension of the collection storage on site. They generally include only basic and essential information about the collection items, rather than extended stories. More detailed information about the collections on display can be found on the Museums of History NSW website and below.