We all know Sydney to be a dynamic, lively metropolis and perhaps one of the most enviable destinations in the world. As someone who has lost many a friend and compatriot to Australia’s most prominent city – for love, work or otherwise – I can personally testify to Sydney’s magnetic pull.
While it’s all too facile to expound at length on the city’s wide range of attributes, our focus today is instead on eight magnificent museums that mark Sydney as supremely special in the realm of arts, sciences and culture. Here they are then, in no particular order.
Although it comprises a mere 1% of Sydney’s total metro population of 4.3 million, the Jewish community has historically had a vital role to play in the civic and political life of the city. This is all on display at the Sydney Jewish Museum, which chronicles the heritage of the city’s Jews, from first settlement until the present day. One entire floor of the museum is devoted to a Holocaust exhibit.
The most historic European estate left in all of Australia, Elizabeth Farm was a vast plantation of almost 4 square kilometres west of Sydney Cove that overlooks the Parramatta River. The former brick cottage, built in 1793 for John and Elizabeth Macarthur, is now a superlative museum that attempts to re-create what colonial homestead life was like for recent expats from England in the early 19th century. Elizabeth Farm overlooks the Parramatta River, pictured below.
On Observatory Hill in The Rocks area of Sydney is the functional and interactive Sydney Observatory. At over 150 years old, the landmark contains beautiful sandstone structures and a refractor telescope from the late 19th century that still works to this day. Bring your camera: the views of Sydney Harbour are incredible.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
Within Sydney’s massive recreation space know as The Domain are a number of terrific attractions. The Art Gallery of New South Wales is just one of them, with a collection that makes it the most important in the entire city. The vast gallery has a permanent exhibit that feature native Australian works from the past two-hundred years, as well as a steady rotation of special exhibits that range from Renaissance to Modern.
The first museum in Australia was built in 1845 with a beautiful Neo-Classical design. The Australian Museum today is no less fine a facility and a mainstay on the Sydney cityscape. As far as exhibits on natural history, anthropology and palaeontology go, the museum is the best in the country, with myriad Aboriginal artifacts and countless samples from Australia’s eclectic geology, fauna and flora on display.
The de facto city museum of Sydney was appropriately, built over what was left of the house of the first governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip. With old documents and modern multimedia exhibits, this is the place to learn about the evolution of Sydney from small colonial outpost to a global capital.
Near Hyde Park and the Sydney Mint, Hyde Park Barracks is difficult to pin down as a former dormitory to convicts from England who came to built the city’s early infrastructure. The indelible landmark is one of the best works left in Australia by architect Francis Greenway. The museum today features exhibits on what convict life was like in colonial Sydney, as well as the early penal system in Australia.
Australian National Maritime Museum
Home to a world record natural harbour and the ubiquitous sight of boats everywhere, it makes sense that Sydney has a maritime museum. The superb Australian National Maritime Museum touches every possible facet of the topic, with exhibits that cover almost every facet of commercial, military and leisure maritime activity. If you get to Darling Harbour in Sydney, as well you should, give this special museum a couple hours of your time.
Discover the best hotel deals in all of Sydney.
Photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Nice post, I just got back from Australia and we hit up most of these. We didn’t hit the farm or observatory, but all the places we went were very exciting.