Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney

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The Hyde Park Barracks are at the southern end of Macquarie Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The barracks are located near the north-east corner of Hyde Park, opposite Queens Square and beside the Sydney Mint. Hyde Park Barracks were designed by the colonial architect Francis Greenway and built between 1818 and 1819.

1 History
2 Today
3 Gallery
4 External links

[edit] History

Constructed by the convict labour in the 19th Century, the Barracks is one of the most familiar works of the accomplished colonial England-born, Australian architect Francis Greenway. As the principal male convict barracks in New South Wales it provided lodgings for convicts working in government employment around Sydney until its closure in mid 1848.

It has had many occupants since then. It was an Immigration Depot for single female immigrants seeking work as domestic servants and awaiting family reunion from 1848 to 1886 and also a female asylum from 1862 to 1886. From 1887 to 1979 law courts and government offices were based at the Barracks.

[edit] Today

Hyde Park Barracks is a museum operated by the Historic Houses Trust. Tourists who visit the building discover the daily lives of convicts and other occupants through exhibitions on Sydney’s male convict labour force, Australia’s convict system, an innovative soundscape, excavated artefacts, exposed layers of building fabric and the complex’s rooms and spaces.