Hyde Park Barracks Museum

On Sunday we visited Hyde Park Barracks Museum located just on the other side of Hyde Park from where we live. I walked by the museum a week or so ago and really wanted to check it out.  It was pretty small, but very interesting.  In a nutshell, the barracks were used to house convicts who were sent to Sydney while they were working for the government. The building also housed a Depot for female immigrants who were working as domestic servants, a female asylum and government offices and courts.  Now, as they say, it is a museum about itself.  

The museum

"Coopering" is barrel making

These were large silhouettes depiciting some of the convicts that stayed at the barracks.  On the back of each silhouette is written the name of a "real" person, their crime, punishment and other pertinent information.  This information was taken from the actual records from each person.  The rest of the room is completely empty.  You could almost feel the emotions of the convicts while looking around this room. Very powerful.

These are the hammock rooms where the convicts, women or whoever was there at the time would sleep.  Coop had a great time getting into one and swinging about. He fit perfectly. Cannot imagine being a grown adult in one of them let alone the heat (or cold), the amount of people in the room, the rats  and anything else that might be going on.  Creepy.

Much of the original architecture has been exposed. It was really a beautifully built building with quite a history.  I wish I had had more time to read all the signs throughout the exhibits, but it was hard with the kids.  I hope to go back one day on my own to really learn about the building and the history attached to it.

On the top floor they had computers where you could put in your family name and see if you had any relatives who lived there at one point or another. You could check ship records as well.  I looked up "Front" (my maiden name) and got no hits. Not surprising. Then I looked up "Whittle" and got about 8 hits. No way really to know if they are at all related. Pretty sure Whittle is a common name in England, but it was interesting to see some names come up.