Sydney Open Series

The Sydney Open Series is a continuation of the Sydney Open annual program throughout the calendar year and will present talks, workshops, and tours in addition to the City Pass program.

The series will focus on history, architecture, design innovation, sustainability and heritage.

Tickets for the series are now available. Sign up to eNews or become a member to be the first to find out about our latest news, events and more.

What's on

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Exterior of Rose Seidler House
4 May, various times
Tour

Curator-led tour of Rose Seidler House & Julian Rose House

Enjoy a tour of Rose Seidler House with Museums of History NSW curator Michael Lech, plus a rare peek at the Julian Rose House with Brian Seidler AM

 White Bay Power Station
9 May 12pm & 1.20pm
Tour

Members heritage tours: White Bay Power Station

Decommissioned in 1984, Sydney’s longest-serving power station at White Bay will once again energise Sydney as part of the 2024 Biennale of Sydney

Queen Victoria Building
30 May, 5.30pm & 7pm
Tour

QVB Twilight Tours

Join us for a special-access tour of one of Sydney’s best-loved architectural icons, the Queen Victoria Building (QVB)

Two visitors observe the well at Parbury Ruins during Sydney Open
1 June, various times
Tour

Tour of Parbury Ruins and Arthur Payne's House

Enjoy a tour of two archaeological sites and uncover some of the rich history of The Rocks

Architecture & design stories

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The Mint
Museum stories

The changing face of the Mint

As photographers documented the evolving face of the Mint, they recorded changes to the site and streetscape

Black and white image of a sandstone building. A man can be seen in the foreground.
Museum stories

Gritty business

Immerse yourself in Sydney's chilling criminal past in this unique water-front museum of policing, law and disorder – with its grizzly collection of underworld weapons along with tales of mayhem and lawlessness, aptly described as an educational resource befitting a 'professor in crime'

[First Government House, Sydney] / watercolour drawing by John Eyre
Museum stories

First encounters

The Museum of Sydney is built on and around a site that links us to the very beginnings of modern Australia

A large group of men stand in front of a train carriage at the Eveleigh Workshops in 1917

Eveleigh Workshops during the 1917 railway strike

On 2 August 1917 the General Strike began. It started in the Randwick Rail Workshops & Eveleigh Carriage Workshops & quickly spread to other industries until about 100,000 workers were on strike

Deck and Harry Seidler mural at Rose Seidler House.

A new way of living

Once word spread about the newly built Rose Seidler House in 1950, it was the ‘most talked about house in Sydney’. Seventy years on, it's impossible to deny the strength and daring of Seidler's vision

Large 2 storey building with deep verandahs, steps leading to lower verandah and bushes and driveway in the foreground.
Museum stories

A rum deal

When Lachlan Macquarie began his term as governor of NSW in 1810, Sydney was in desperate need of a new hospital

Fireworks above the Opera House on the night of the official opening, before the commencement of the opening concert. October 20th 1973.

Opening of the Sydney Opera House

The Opera House was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen on 20 October 1973. This was followed by a two-week festival of events

Government Printing Office 3 - 20815 - First live concert in the Sydney Opera House for the purpose of testing the acoustics [Public Works; concert halls] [17/12/1972]

Productions & performances held at the Sydney Opera House

We hold records of productions and performances held at the Sydney Opera House