Macquerie Street
This weekend marked my penultimate weekend in Sydney. With the assumption that I will spend my last weekend with friends on a fairly consistent basis (and packing), today was my last day to check a few museums off my list. I did just that, and from the time I left the house at 10:30 it was museum after museum, hitting three Historic Houses Trust sites along the way.
I started off my morning on Macquerie Street (conveniently the home of all the museums - give or take a block - that I wanted to get to), which I got to by walking down Elizabeth Street and through Hyde Park. I had wandered around the grounds of Hyde Park Barracks, the first gaol built in Sydney as a free population started to become wary of the roving inmates around town in the early 1800s, when I first got to Sydney, but had not done the tour.
Hyde Park Barracks was phenomenal. I think that it is the best historic museum I have ever been in, as they went to great lengths to not only preserve and interpret the building by demonstrating its changes and uses over the 200 years, but also explained the methodology behind the preservation techniques. Not only did I appreciate it from the perspective of someone who knows a bit about the field (I learned to appreciate that from the Historic Preservation class I took last year), but it made the museum a pleasure to go through and very informational for just about anyone.
Speaking of excellence in preservation, I forgot to mention yesterday that in my wanderings I made it a point to explore the grounds of the old Colonial Sugar Refining Company in Pyrmont. The site (which I think I mentioned when I had been shown around Glebe last week by Tony) was in operation for almost 150 years, sprawling across much of the cliff-top areas along Sydney Harbour near the Anzac Bridge. It closed in the late 90s, and is still being converted to large condo and apartment blocks as well as incredible parks which have views out to the Harbour. Wandering through the site, up and down the cliff faces, it was clear that a lot of planning has gone into the development. There was a lot of analysis, interpretation, and, where appropriate, preservation of the structures and site. Through all my education I have learned that it is neither practical, nor necessary to save every building from the past. However, interpreting the historic, making it legible, and allowing people to learn and discover around every corner, is a fantastic technique, though not always executed well. I will say it again, I was very impressed with their handling of all of that, and it really was a pleasure to wander the huge site.
Anyways, back to today. From Hyde Park Barracks I wandered down Macquerie Street, past the old mint (closed on the weekends, sadly) and Sydney Hospital to the State Library of New South Wales. I was going mainly because it is a beautiful old edifice, but when I arrived I discovered that there was a large exhibition of photographs from the Sydney Morning Herald. I went in and wandered around through a huge crowd, but enjoyed the photos as well as going through the historic parts of the old building. On my way out I came acorss the beautiful (and shockingly expansive) old reading room.
I turned left from Macquerie Street down Bridge Street to Museum of Sydney. On the site of the first Government House two blocks from Circular Quay, it does its best to interpret the long lost historic fabric in the heart of the CBD. Overall, it did an okay job, at best. The best part of the (fairly small) museum was an exhibit about Australia during World War II, but not as great as the National Museum's exhibition in Canberra on the subject.
I then went down the block to the Justice and Police Museum, housed in the police and courts buildings from the 1850s. In honour of 150 years of the NSW police force (police is run by the state, not at the local level, in Australia) there is a special exhibition relating to the history of the NSW police. I ended up showing up just in time to catch a talk by two of the most "experienced police officers [of the NSW police]: Superintendent Terence Dalton, hostage negotiator and former Commander of the NSW Water Police, and Assistant Commissioner Carlene York, who recently led Strike Force Durkin to capture Australia’s most wanted fugitive, Malcolm Naden" (http://www.hht.net.au/whats_on/event/no-presale/lectures_and_talks/dispatches_from_the_front_line). They told some very interesting stories and shared some really neat pictures (Dalton was head of the VIP division for a bit and had pictures running with George HW, walking with the Queen, and meeting Nelson Mandela). The museum itself didn't take long to go through, and not anything too exciting. By this time, it was pushing 3:30 and I ended up catch a bus back home from Circular Quay.
Tonight for dinner I went over to 'the house' for roast chicken and veg. Candice really outdid herself; we were all so full by the end but didn't want to stop eating!
With most of my adventures in Sydney all taken care of, it is almost time to start cleaning up my room and sorting out how to approach packing. I think I can leave the bulk of the work until next week (after all, I have to pack and get ready for my trip to Melbourne in five days!), but I should at least begin to get rid of some of the things I don't need. I suppose this is really it - after all, I won't be extending my stay any more! With my trip to Melbourne factored in, I only have twelve days left in Sydney - ten of which will be spent at work - and I have to move out of my house on 30 July. From a pragmatic point of view, I should probably start packing soon.
I started off my morning on Macquerie Street (conveniently the home of all the museums - give or take a block - that I wanted to get to), which I got to by walking down Elizabeth Street and through Hyde Park. I had wandered around the grounds of Hyde Park Barracks, the first gaol built in Sydney as a free population started to become wary of the roving inmates around town in the early 1800s, when I first got to Sydney, but had not done the tour.
Hyde Park Barracks was phenomenal. I think that it is the best historic museum I have ever been in, as they went to great lengths to not only preserve and interpret the building by demonstrating its changes and uses over the 200 years, but also explained the methodology behind the preservation techniques. Not only did I appreciate it from the perspective of someone who knows a bit about the field (I learned to appreciate that from the Historic Preservation class I took last year), but it made the museum a pleasure to go through and very informational for just about anyone.
Speaking of excellence in preservation, I forgot to mention yesterday that in my wanderings I made it a point to explore the grounds of the old Colonial Sugar Refining Company in Pyrmont. The site (which I think I mentioned when I had been shown around Glebe last week by Tony) was in operation for almost 150 years, sprawling across much of the cliff-top areas along Sydney Harbour near the Anzac Bridge. It closed in the late 90s, and is still being converted to large condo and apartment blocks as well as incredible parks which have views out to the Harbour. Wandering through the site, up and down the cliff faces, it was clear that a lot of planning has gone into the development. There was a lot of analysis, interpretation, and, where appropriate, preservation of the structures and site. Through all my education I have learned that it is neither practical, nor necessary to save every building from the past. However, interpreting the historic, making it legible, and allowing people to learn and discover around every corner, is a fantastic technique, though not always executed well. I will say it again, I was very impressed with their handling of all of that, and it really was a pleasure to wander the huge site.
Anyways, back to today. From Hyde Park Barracks I wandered down Macquerie Street, past the old mint (closed on the weekends, sadly) and Sydney Hospital to the State Library of New South Wales. I was going mainly because it is a beautiful old edifice, but when I arrived I discovered that there was a large exhibition of photographs from the Sydney Morning Herald. I went in and wandered around through a huge crowd, but enjoyed the photos as well as going through the historic parts of the old building. On my way out I came acorss the beautiful (and shockingly expansive) old reading room.
I turned left from Macquerie Street down Bridge Street to Museum of Sydney. On the site of the first Government House two blocks from Circular Quay, it does its best to interpret the long lost historic fabric in the heart of the CBD. Overall, it did an okay job, at best. The best part of the (fairly small) museum was an exhibit about Australia during World War II, but not as great as the National Museum's exhibition in Canberra on the subject.
I then went down the block to the Justice and Police Museum, housed in the police and courts buildings from the 1850s. In honour of 150 years of the NSW police force (police is run by the state, not at the local level, in Australia) there is a special exhibition relating to the history of the NSW police. I ended up showing up just in time to catch a talk by two of the most "experienced police officers [of the NSW police]: Superintendent Terence Dalton, hostage negotiator and former Commander of the NSW Water Police, and Assistant Commissioner Carlene York, who recently led Strike Force Durkin to capture Australia’s most wanted fugitive, Malcolm Naden" (http://www.hht.net.au/whats_on/event/no-presale/lectures_and_talks/dispatches_from_the_front_line). They told some very interesting stories and shared some really neat pictures (Dalton was head of the VIP division for a bit and had pictures running with George HW, walking with the Queen, and meeting Nelson Mandela). The museum itself didn't take long to go through, and not anything too exciting. By this time, it was pushing 3:30 and I ended up catch a bus back home from Circular Quay.
 |
| Weekend wanderings - purple is Saturday, green is Sunday (with dotted being walking and solid being bus). |
 |
| Roast dinner. |
Comments
Post a Comment