Hyde Park Barracks

Hyde Park Barracks (1914)

The Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney , Australia is a brick building designed by convict and architect Francis Greenway and constructed from 1818 to 1819. The building on Macquarie Street in downtown Sydney, listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List as Australian Convict Sites and on the Australian National Heritage List , was designed to house male convicts. Today it is operated as a museum by the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales .

The building is in close proximity to the historic Sydney Mint and Hyde Park Sydney .

history

Governor Lachlan Macquarie ordered the construction of brickwork to house convicts who had to work for the colonial government of New South Wales until 1838 . With this building, Macquarie deviated from the previously practiced British colonial policy of creating convict camps, in which strict discipline and religious education were practiced, and thus liberalized them. From 1848 to 1886 it was used for young immigrant women looking for work and waiting for their families. From 1887 to 1979 it housed courts and government offices.

In 1981 the building was restored and today it houses a museum about the history of the convicts. In July 2010 it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The museum can be visited daily with a few exceptions on certain days.