3d Visualisation
Follow this link to open a 3d model (created in Google Sketchup) of the Hyde Park Barracks during the convict period of occupation. The file is available for downloading in .skb and .kmz file formats.
Ground Plan During Convict Era
Follow this link to open a 3d model (created in Google Sketchup) of the Hyde Park Barracks during the convict period of occupation. The file is available for downloading in .skb and .kmz file formats.
Ground Plan During Convict Era
To visualise change to the site fabric of Hyde Park Barracks it may be useful to compare a modern satellite image to two historical ground plans. Follow these steps and you may view one I've prepared earlier.
The files are available by following this link.
You will find two files are available for viewing in Google Earth. Both are KMZ files (89k and 1k, respectively) which will open to show the modern satellite imagery with the historical ground map overlayed. You can toggle the ground map on and off by the options under "Places" at the centre of the left pane.
The Opinion of Francis Greenway
“..at near approach conveys an idea of towering grandeur. At the entrance gate is erected a lodge on each side for the porter and mustering clerk;..The wall that fronts the Park is also much entitled to notice being of stone, rusticated, with breaks to correspond with the whole contour, and contributing essentially to the general harmony of a style which has been studiously preserved through the edifice.”
Source: Francis Greenway, Sydney Gazette, July 17, 1819
Looking Through the Walls
“We know about surveillance through squints in the wall. They were probably introduced soon after the first batch of men sent sublime terrors through authorities at the extent of homosexual activities in Hyde Park Barracks”
Source: Peter Emmett, Convictism: Hyde Park Barracks and the Antipodean Gulag, 1992, paper delivered at the ICMOS Conference Australia: Fremantle, page 4
Guardhouse Domes
To coincide with the inclusion of the barracks on the UNESCO World Heritage List, reconstruction work is planned to return the shingle domed roofs to the pair of guardhouses originally designed by Francis Greenway. The guardhouses are described by Governor Macquarie above.
The guardhouses were once occupied by convict guards and clerks or as stated by Macquarie, the porter and musterclerk. The domes, which were removed in the 1850s to be replaced by corrugated iron, are further evidence of the attempts made in recent decades to return the site to its original appearance during the convict era. A fine article describing the project may be found here.
Management of Heritage Site
The Historic Houses Trust of NSW have been responsible for the management of Hyde Park Barracks since 1990. Prior to this time the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (now the Powerhouse Museum) were the responsible custodians.
The approach of the HHT to the role of managing the barracks is quite distinct from their predecessors. The organisation wished their interpretive narrative of their exhibitions to reflect the diversity of experiences and events that occurred during its complex history. In their 1990 Museum Management Plan, the Trust expresses his approach in the following way,
Guardhouse Domes
The guardhouses were once occupied by convict guards and clerks or as stated by Macquarie, the porter and musterclerk. The domes, which were removed in the 1850s to be replaced by corrugated iron, are further evidence of the attempts made in recent decades to return the site to its original appearance during the convict era. A fine article describing the project may be found here.
Management of Heritage Site
The Historic Houses Trust of NSW have been responsible for the management of Hyde Park Barracks since 1990. Prior to this time the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (now the Powerhouse Museum) were the responsible custodians.The approach of the HHT to the role of managing the barracks is quite distinct from their predecessors. The organisation wished their interpretive narrative of their exhibitions to reflect the diversity of experiences and events that occurred during its complex history. In their 1990 Museum Management Plan, the Trust expresses his approach in the following way,
Source: 2010 Museum Management Plan, Historic Houses Trust, p. 44The building should properly by regarded as a museum of itself, directly related to its historic uses, rather than as a venue for other museum exhibits. The Barracks is the ideal location for a serious and scholarly treatment of convict history and colonial immigration.
