Hyde Park Barracks

Standing proudly at the southern end of Sydney’s Macquarie Street, the Hyde Park Barracks is an imposing yet restrained building with a chequered past.

Perhaps the most significant survivor from Australia’s colonial period, this place has witnessed the development of Sydney – from convict beginnings and free migration to landmark legal decisions and heritage debates. From its opening in 1819 until the late 20th century, the barracks provided accommodation for convicts, female immigrants and aged and destitute women, and later housed courtrooms and government offices as a legal and administrative hub.

As the centre of the colonial convict administration and a crossroads for tens of thousands of convicts, Hyde Park Barracks is recognised as one of the world’s most important cultural heritage places, inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list along with 10 other key convict sites around Australia. This listing acknowledges the key role the barracks played in the British Empire’s forced migration of people around the world, an unprecedented event in human history. ​

For more information visit: https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/hyde-park-barracks-museum