Opened in May 1995, the Museum of Sydney was built on the historic site of Australia's first Government House.
Its particular role is to tell the story of Sydney — through its people, places and cultures — from the land the indigenous people owned to what Sydney has now become.
The Museum of Sydney thus explores the worlds of colonial and contemporary Sydney through objects, pictures, stories and digital-media technologies, starting from before 1788 when Australia was colonised by Europeans.
Early building
On the site of today's Museum of Sydney, one of Australia's first permanent buildings was erected in 1788 and completed the following year to be home and office of Governor Arthur Phillip.
It was on this site that first contact between the European settlers and the Aboriginal people took place.
Sydney's first Government House was poorly built and despite extensions and repairs it was demolished in 1846.
Insight into past and present
The Museum of Sydney provides an insight into the city's first people, together with models of the First Fleet ships and the archeological remains of the first Government House and the objects found onsite.
A changing exhibition program reveals the many facets of contemporary Sydney.
Public sculpture
In the forecourt of the Museum of Sydney stands the award-winning public sculpture, Edge of the Trees, created through collaboration between a European and Aboriginal Australian.
Edge of the Trees comprises 29 pillars of materials from Sydney's built environment — wood, sandstone and steel, with Aboriginal inscriptions and organic material — a distinctive and easily recognisable feature of the Sydney city landscape.
- Museum of Sydney, Phillip and Bridge Sts, Sydney. Admission: adults $10, child/concession $5, family $20, members free. Open daily 9.30am-5pm.
