Sydney: Exploring Museums
Our AirBnb was a fantastic location, right off of Hydes Park. From our fairly central location, we decided to take a day and do a walking tour of several free museums in the area. Since we were on a pretty tight budget, walking and hanging out at museums was the perfect way to spend the day.
Museum of Contemporary Art
Free
We have been to several contemporary/modern art museums so we were excited to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art! This was probably our favorite and the view was incredible! The main lobby was floor to ceiling windows, overlooking Sydney Harbour. We were able to take pictures with the Sydney Opera House from the outside of the museum.
State Library of New South Wales
Free
Even though the State Library of New South Wales is technically a library, from our experience, most of the big libraries in Australia also have an art gallery or exhibits. We went here specifically because of an exhibit they were doing called Dead Central. The exhibit took us through different rooms where we were able to look at pictures, read signs explaining things, and even watch videos. They provided headphones and instructions to download the podcast so that you could listen to the story, but we don’t have headphone jacks, so we picked up the written version of the story. It’s all about the main train station in Sydney, Central Station, being built in the early 1900s. They decided to build the station on top of a huge cemetery, which means they had to move bodies out of the grave, knock down tombstones, and even illegally bury bodies on pathways around the city because there wasn’t enough room. The story is so interesting and heartbreaking! If you want to read more, here is a link to the library’s story on it.
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Some exhibits free
When we walked into the Art Gallery of New South Wales, we immediately saw signs for The Essential Duchamp, the largest exhibit of Duchamp’s art in Australia. Nick had learned about his art in college and was really excited to see it. Unfortunately, that was one of the exhibits that cost to go into. The museum was closing soon, so it wasn’t worth it to us to pay. It was a bit of a bummer but we enjoyed walking around the free area.
St. Mary’s Cathedral
Free
Not a museum, but we walked by this cathedral every day so we decided to check it out. It was so much larger than it looked from afar! They were having a service so we didn’t go in, but we enjoyed walking around the grounds!
There were a couple museums we didn’t go to, but you could add to your own museum tour! Museum of Sydney has a lot of history about the city and costs $15 for adult admission. We lived literally right next to the Australian Museum, which is a natural history/zoology/anthropology museum. We were always curious about it, but never got around to going.
- Nick + Jess
