Touring Sydney Australia
What to see in Sydney after the Opera House
Updated Apr 2022
Everyone is familiar with the famous Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, so I won’t bother with photos or information about these. Instead, I will describe some great but less-famous places worth visiting in Sydney.
Australian Museum (of Natural History)
The name “Australian Museum” does not tell you what this museum is about. I think it should be called the Australian Museum of Natural History. Anyway, except for the name, it is an excellent museum and well worth a visit if you are interested in nature. Building started in 1844 and opened to the public in 1857. The building is rather plain compared to some of the beautiful 19th-century buildings around Sydney. However, it is what is inside that is worth seeing.
The first (ground) floor contains exhibits of animals of the world, such as giraffes and rhinoceros, and Australian animals, including the extinct Tasmanian Tiger.
If you like rocks, minerals and gemstones, the next level has an abundance of them to satisfy any would-be geologist.
The next floor up was my favourite. There is a vast room devoted entirely to Australian birds, insects and spiders. I spent a lot of time here and found it most interesting. If you are in Australia for birding, here is your chance to get to know your subjects before you go looking for them in the wild. The many displays of spiders are fascinating also.
There is also a great display of dinosaurs. This is a wonderful museum and not to be missed.
There is also a rooftop restaurant with a panoramic view of the city. Worth visiting but very expensive. We shared a small coke for $3.50. A muffin will set you back $4.00. (Everything in Australia is very expensive).
Prison Barracks Museum
As you no doubt know, Australia began as a prison colony for convicts from England. About 162,000 prisoners were transported here between 1788 and 1868. Sentences were seven years for minor crimes; up to life for serious offences. Prisoners, from petty thieves to murderers, all lived together. After their release, most stayed on in Australia. Today, about 20% of the Australian population is descended from these prisoners.
The first shipment of convicts had to construct their own prison. The first prisons were just simple wooden structures. The three-story brick prison was constructed between 1817 and 1819, also by the prisoners.
Each of the three floors was divided into four large rooms. The prisoners slept in long rows of hammocks. There was no privacy. There is also a courtroom for people convicted of crimes after arriving in Australia. It served as a prison until 1848.
The prisoners went out to work on various projects around Sydney during the day. For private structures, they received a small payment for their labour. (See pubs below).
From 1848 to 1886, it became an immigration and asylum accommodation. Immigrant women and children lived here until they found employment or a relative came to pick them up. The top floor was an asylum for aged, infirm or destitute women.
In 1887, it became an office building for the courts and lawyers’ offices. This continued until 1979. In 1984, it opened as the Hyde Park Barracks Museum.
This small but fascinating museum is a must on your tour of Sydney. Tour guides in the form of a recording with headsets are available in several languages.
Queen Victoria Building
There are many impressive Victorian-era buildings in Sydney. The best of these is the Queen Victoria Building. This massive structure is four stories tall and a whole block long. It was constructed between 1893 and 1898, originally as a market. Over the years, it served a variety of purposes. In the 1950s, the city considered tearing it down to make a parking lot. Fortunately, this did not happen. From 1930 to 1960, magnificent Victorian buildings were considered old buildings of no value and should be torn down to make room for more modern structures. This fate befell the wonderful castle-like city hall and the opera house in Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA, in 1955 to make room for an office building and a parking lot. I bet they wish they still had it now.
Luckily, Sydney decided to keep the Queen Victoria Building, and in the late 1900s, it reverted to its original purpose as a marketplace. This does not mean vegetable stores. Instead, the building is full of little shops that sell interesting and unusual items. It is an excellent place to shop for souvenirs, visit one of the many restaurants for lunch, or walk around to see this fantastic building.
Other buildings
Several other beautiful buildings are worth a short visit if you are interested in architecture. Here are just a few of the best ones.
The old Post Office (left) and St Andrew’s Cathedral
St Mary’s Cathedral and the old Town Hall
Land Dept Building (left) and the Downing Centre (right – law offices)
War Memorial
The Sydney war memorial was built in 1934. It was initially a war memorial for Australian forces in the First World War and was primarily constructed by veterans of that conflict. This later changed to be a memorial for Australian and New Zealand forces in all wars. The memorial has some interesting figures carved into it near the top. Inside, there is a small museum.
Government House
Government House was originally the home of the Governor of the British colony of New South Wales, now the Governor-General of Australia. It was constructed between 1837 and 1843. It is open for tours only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and you will need identification to get in.
What is now the Royal Botanic Gardens was once his private domain. It is now a public area with an outstanding collection of plants and a wonderful place to go for a picnic lunch. Besides the plants, it has excellent views of the Opera House and the harbour, and there are lots of birds, including Cockatoos and Kookaburras. It is a lovely and peaceful place. Be sure to take a stroll through it. (There is a gate next to the Opera House. It is locked when it gets dark, but there is a small gate where people can get out but not in).
Pubs
If you want to visit a couple of pubs for a cool drink after a day of exploring the city, there are a couple of notable ones.
The Hero of Waterloo, built in 1843 and named after the famous Duke of Wellington who defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. This pub has a tunnel in the basement that leads to the dock. It is reported that men who had a little too much to drink might wake up in the morning to find that they were now crew members of some ship on the way to China or some other faraway land. The pub was built with convict labour.
The Fortunes of War is Sydney’s oldest pub. It opened to the public in 1828.
A beer in Sydney pubs will set you back between six and ten dollars, so you probably will not be drinking too much unless you are rich.
Mythatchedhut Shopping Tip
Australia is one of the more expensive countries in the world. The cheapest place to shop is at Paddy’s Market. It is located in the basement of the Market City building. There are no stores, just people selling things in stalls and over tables. In North America, we call these kinds of places a flea market. Paddy’s market is only in the basement. The floors above are a regular shopping centre. At Paddy’s Market, you will find a vast selection of souvenirs, clothing, suitcases and other items at the best prices in Sydney.