The Best Museums in Sydney

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Posted 2018-02-14 by Gypsy Rose ⇒ follow

Sydney is not only the most populous city in Australia and Oceania, it is a metropolis that surrounds the world's largest harbour and sprawls about 70km. Sydney has been inhabited by Indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years and was founded in 1770.

It is filled with heritage, history, culture and much more and the list below features Top Museums across Sydney.

There is something for everyone, including enthusiasts!

There is a Sydney Museum Pass which is a great way to explore 12 museums within a month for a mere $24 per adult and $16 per child.

1. Hyde Park Barracks
Where: Queens Square, Macquarie St, Sydney
When: All year round (Closed Good Friday & Christmas Day): 10am-5pm
Cost: Adult: $12pp, Concession: $8pp & Family: $30
Details: This World Heritage-listed Museum features one of the most significant convict sites in the world! There are permanent and temporary exhibitions, hands-on displays, interactive activities, guided tours twice daily, audio tours, archaeology display, and Australia's longest continuously functioning clock. Click here for the website.

2. Susannah Place Museum
Where: 58-64 Gloucester St, The Rocks
When: All year round (Closed Good Friday & Christmas Day): 2pm-5pm
Cost: Adult: $12pp, Concession: $8pp & Family: $30
Details: The museum gives off a feel like opening a family album. There are stories inside to discover that could belong to anyone, in any part of the world. The museum is by guided tour only between 2pm-5pm. Susannah Place is a terrace of four houses built by Irish immigrants in 1844 and remarkably, Susannah Place survived largely untouched and today is home to stories of the people and families who called this place and neighbourhood home. Click here for the website.

3. Museum of Contemporary Art
Where: 140 George St, The Rocks
When: All year round- Monday & Tuesday: 10am-5pm, Wednesday & Thursday: 10am-9pm & Friday-Sunday: 10am-5pm
Cost: Free entry- Some exhibitions are ticketed- see website.
Details: There are plenty of exhibitions to see, free guided tours, and activities. The Museum is dedicated to offering a major national resource for education and interpretative programs, as well as two floors of galleries, learning library, digital and multimedia studies, seminar room and lecture theatre. Click here for the website.

4. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection
Where: The Mint, 10 Macquarie St, Sydney
When: Tuesday-Friday: 10am-4pm – Closed Mondays, Weekends and Public Holidays.
Cost: Free
Details: This Museum is open for everyone who has an interest in the history of the house and garden design and interior furnishing in NSW. It showcases a wide collection of formats, including architectural pattern books, architectural fragments, wall and floor coverings, sample books, garden ornament fittings, soft furnishings, manuscripts, photographs, books, oral histories and more. Click here for the website.

5. Vaucluse House
Where: Wentworth Rd, Vaucluse
When: House: Wednesday- Sunday: 10am-4pm & Gardens: All year round- 24hrs
Cost: Adult: $12pp, Concession: $8pp & Family: $30 – Garden entry is free.
Details: Vaucluse House is one of Sydney's few 19th-century mansions still surrounded by its original gardens and wooded grounds. The House features immersive experiences, self-guided audio tour, displays, and more. In 2015, Vaucluse House celebrated 100 years of being a museum, making it a museum to add to the list! Click here for the website.

6. Museum of Sydney
Where: Cnr Phillip & Bridge Streets, Sydney
When: All year round (Closed Good Friday & Christmas Day): 10am-5pm
Cost: Adult: $12pp, Concession: $8pp, Family: $30
Details: This modern museum is built over and around the remains of Australia's first Government House, and the museum celebrates the people and events that have shaped the character and soul of Sydney. The Museum protects the fragile remains of this deeply significant and symbolic site. Click here for the website.

7. Elizabeth Bay House
Where: 7 Onslow Ave, Elizabeth Bay
When: Friday, Saturday & Sundays: 10am-4pm
Cost: Adults: $12pp, Concession: $8pp & Family: $30
Details: Built at a 'very considerable expense', Elizabeth Bay House was once the finest house in the colony, with one of the most remarkable extravagant gardens. Today the House is a museum filled with elegant room exhibits, with self-guided and guided tours, introductory video and printed guides in different languages. Click here for the website.

8. Rose Seilder House
Where: 71 Clissold Rd, Wahroonga
When: All year round (Closed Public Holidays): 10am-4pm
Cost: Adult: $12pp, Concession: $8pp & Family: $30
Details: Completed in 1950, Rose Siedler House was 'the most talked about house in Sydney'. Today, the House is still surrounded by lush bushland with panoramic views of Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The House is one of the finest examples of mid 20th-century modern domestic architecture in Australia. Do note that you will be asked to remove your shoes when entering the house due to the fragility of the interior. Click here for the website.

9. Elizabeth Farm
Where: 70 Alice St, Rosehill
When: Wednesday- Sunday: 10am-4pm (Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day & Boxing Day)
Cost: Adult: $12pp, Concession: $8pp & Family: $30
Details: This restful homestead hides a dark and stormy past. It was built for the young military couple John and Elizabeth Macarthur and their growing family. Elizabeth Farm has witnessed major events, from the toppling of governors and convict rebellion to the birth of the Australian wool industry. Today, Elizabeth Farm is an "access all areas" museum featuring no barriers, locked doors, delicate furnishings or untouchable ornaments. It is a hands-on 'living' house museum. Click here for the website.

10. Australian Museum
Where: 1 William St, Sydney
When: All year round (Closed Christmas Day): 9:30am-5pm
Cost: Adult: $15pp, Concession: $8pp, Children under 15yrs- Free, Family (2 adults 2 children): $30 & Family (1 adult 2 children): $15
Details: Australian Museum is Australia's first and oldest museum, with an international reputation in the fields of natural history and anthropology. The museum showcases zoological and anthropological collections, several themed exhibits, displays, free guided tours, self-guided tours, discovery centre, interactive activities and much more. Click here for the website.

11. Powerhouse Museum
Where: 500 Harris St, Ultimo
When: All year round (Closed Christmas Day): 10am-5pm
Cost: Adult: $15pp, Concession: $8pp, Children under 16yrs: Free
Details: The Museum features both permanent and temporary exhibitions, hands-on displays, interactive activities of art and science, self-guided tours, talks, workshops, space, fashion, history, transport, ecologic, cinema and much more exhibits. Click here for the website.

12. Rouse Hill House & Farm
Where: 356 Annangrove Rd, Rouse Hill
When: Wednesday- Sunday: 10am-4pm- (Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day & Boxing Day)
Cost: Adult: $12pp, Concession: $8pp & Family: $30
Details: This House Museum is filled with an array and assortment of belongings and treasures of six generations of the one family. The House overlooks paddocks and across to the mountains, which features exhibits and displays including the restored 1888 Rouse Hill Schoolhouse, and section of the original Windsor Road turnpike proclaimed by Governor Macquarie in 1813. Click here for the website.

13. Justice and Police Museum
Where: Cnr Albert & Philip Streets, Circular Quay
When: Saturday & Sundays: 10am-4pm (Closed Christmas Day)
Cost: Adult: $12pp, Concession: $8pp & Family: $30
Details: The Museum takes you back into the dark side of Sydney's past with a visit to the Water Police Station and Courts that once made up one of the city's busiest legal hubs. There are exhibits, displays, a vast archive of crime scene photography and mug shots more than a century old of underworld Sydney, and tours including adults-only Murder in the Museum tour at 3pm. Click here for the website.

14. The Mint
Where: 10 Macquarie St, Sydney
When: Daily: 9:30am-5pm- (Closed Weekends & Public Holidays)
Cost: Free
Details: Sydney Mint's Coining Factory opened in May 1855 and it contained the most cutting-edge technology in the colony. Today it is opened to the public to explore and discover Sydney Mint. Click here for the website.