Constructed by convicts in 1817-1819 to house, clothe and feed convict men working on government projects, the Hyde Park Barracks is one of the finest works of convict architect Francis Greenway. By 1848, over 50,000 convicts had passed through the gates, and the buildings then began a new use as an immigrant women’s depot and, from 1862, as an asylum for aged, infirm and destitute women. From 1886, law courts and government offices occupied its spaces. Inside the museum today, the Convict Sydney exhibition, reconstructed hammocks, silhouettes, occupant databases and the sounds of voices evoke the presence of lost human experience. Since 2010, Hyde Park Barracks has been listed by UNESCO as one of 11 historic places that form the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property.

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