Hyde Park Barracks Museum

Queens Square

Macquarie Street

Sydney, 2000

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Convict hulks: Life on the prison ships

Until Wed. 31 Dec 08

This is a long term exhibition

Free with entry

Bookings & Enquiries: [02] 8239 2311

In 1776, with its American colonies fighting for independence and its jails overflowing, the British government began converting old ships into floating prisons or ‘hulks’ to house convicts sentenced to transportation.

Convict hulks is the first comprehensive exhibition recalling the harsh but fascinating history of convict hulks in Britain and its colonies, including New South Wales. It features more than 600 rare artefacts recovered from beneath the mooring site of the Dromedary hulk in Bermuda, brought to Australia just for this exhibition.

Discover what it was like on a prison ship. Hear stories of convicts’ lives. Step inside a re-created punishment box. Try on some ankle irons. Experience sights and sounds that evoke the daily lives of the hulks’ wretched human cargo.

Hyde Park Barracks Museum | Throughout 2008 | 9.30am – 5pm daily | Free with museum entry

more @ Hyde Park Barracks Museum

Citizen soldiers: The NSW Volunteer Rifles 1854-85

@ Hyde Park Barracks Museum

Until Wed. 31 Dec 08

This is a long term exhibition
Citizen soldiers: The New South Wales Volunteer Rifles, 1854-85 Originally formed in response to the Russian scare of...