Hyde Park Barracks

The Hyde Park Barracks, a world heritage listed site, is located at the end of Macquarie Street and Hyde Park in the city of Sydney. 

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 For the first 30 years of the convict colony of Sydney, the criminals were provided no housing and were left to fend for themselves after their mandatory work shifts. This led to the authorities having to roundup the prisoners to work, and a loss of productivity for the colony. In 1819 the fifth governor, Lachlan Macquarie -- a name inescapable in current street names, monuments and markers -- commissioned the building of a barracks to house the prisoners. 

Hyde Park Barracks

The old Sydney juxtaposed with the new Sydney

 The Hyde Park Barracks also has the oldest working clock in Australia! 

Interior working of the clock from inside the barracks

This impressive brick building was designed by convict architect, Francis Greenway who also built the St. James church around the same time, which is right across the street from the barracks -- the oldest continually used church in Australia.

ST. James Church

View of St. James church from inside the barracks

Outside the barracks, the deputy superintendent and guard house archeological sites are also on display:

Deputy Superintendent site

Guard House

 Inside the barracks, I joined a tour through the building. It only cost me five bucks because i'm a student: normal fee is ten dollars. 

1828 census of convicts at the barracks

Maybe my relatives were there?

 The barracks were renovated to represent what they would have been like during different periods in its history. The third floor was the convict level:

 One display had cardboard cutouts of convicts with the offenses they committed written on them. 

Tour guide showing us how many times this man was flogged

Lash for whipping

Iron shackles

 The second floor displayed the second stage of the Hyde Park Barracks. From 1848 until the end of the nineteenth century, the barracks was used to house women. The colony was mostly men for the first 50 years. In an effort to balance the sexes, the English government gave free passage to young Irish women left homeless from the Potato Famine and single English girls. The Hyde Park Barracks was the first home to many of these girls in the mid to late 1800's. 

Bonnet

A women inmate and a dentist in the 1800's

 In the 1970's the barracks underwent a massive renovation and archeological dig. A room full of small artifacts found litter a room full of cases:

Clay Pipes

Cloth

The final stop on the tour was the convict Sydney exhibit:

Panorama of old Sydney

Convict Sydney

The convict Hyde Park Barracks