Powerhouse Museum

1238 Sydney, Australia (New South Wales)

Wikipedia:
The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney, the other being the historic Sydney Observatory. Although often described as a science museum, the Powerhouse has a diverse collection encompassing all sorts of technology including
Decorative arts,
Science,
Communication,
Transport,
Costume,
Furniture,
Media,
Computer technology,
Space technology and
Steam engines.

It is home to some 400,000 artifacts, many of which are displayed or housed at the site it has occupied since 1988, and for which it is named — a converted electric tram power station in the Inner West suburb of Ultimo, originally constructed in 1902.
 

Key attractions

The Powerhouse Museum houses a number of unique exhibits including the oldest operational rotative steam engine in the world. Dating from 1785, it is one of only a handful remaining that was built by Boulton and Watt and was acquired from Whitbread's London Brewery in 1888. This engine was named a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1986.

Another important exhibit is Locomotive No. 1, the first steam locomotive to operate in New South Wales, built by Robert Stephenson in 1854.

The most popular exhibit is arguably "The Strasburg Clock Model", built in 1887 by a 25-year old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Smith. It is a working model of the famous Strasbourg astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral.
 

Exhibitions

The museum hosts a number of permanent exhibitions including:
Cyberworlds: computers and connections

This exhibition is about computers and connections through them, and looks at the very first computing machines to the latest designs at the time of launch.

Space

This exhibition looks at space and man's discoveries relating to it. It includes a life size model space-shuttle cockpit.

The steam revolution

This exhibition is remarkable in that nearly all of the engines on display are fully operational and are regularly demonstrated working on steam power. Together with the Boulton and Watt engine, and the Museum's locomotives, steam truck and traction engines, they are a unique working collection tracing the development of steam power from the 1770s to the 1930s.

Engines on display include
an 1830s Maudslay engine,
a Ransom and Jeffries agricultural engine
and the Broken Hill Fire Brigade's horse-drawn pump-engine.

The museum owns a collection of mechanical musical instruments, of which the fairground barrel organ is located in the steam exhibition, where it is powered by a small fairground engine

Experimentation

This science exhibition is very popular with children because of the many interactive displays demonstrating aspects of magnetism, light, electricity, motion and the senses.

Transport

This exhibition looks at transport through the ages, from horse drawn carts through steam engines, cars and planes to the latest hybrid technology.
On display is Steam Locomotive No. 1243, which served for 87 years, oldest contractor built locomotive in Australia. It stands beside a mock-up of a railway platform, on the other side of which is the Governor of New South Wales's railway carriage, of the 1880s.

Also in this exhibition is the original Central Railway Station destination board, relocated to the museum in the 1980s when the station was refurbished.

Powerhouse Museum restored the locomotives 3830
and 3265, restored in 2009 after 40 years off the rails.

TEMPORARILY CLOSED

A $300 million revitalisation of the much-loved Powerhouse Ultimo museum. Delivering new and expanded exhibition spaces to showcase the Powerhouse Collection alongside new and exclusive international exhibitions.

Powerhouse Ultimo is set to undergo a transformation that will celebrate the best of its past with innovative museum exhibition and educational spaces, following the announcement of the winning architectural design for its renewal.

The Powerhouse is one of Australia’s oldest and most important cultural institutions. It is Australia’s only museum of applied arts and applied sciences with an exceptional collection of approximately 500,000 objects.

To achieve a world-class standard, the Powerhouse is undertaking significant renewal through the creation of Powerhouse Parramatta, expansion of Powerhouse Castle Hill, the digitisation of Powerhouse Collection, and the renewal of Powerhouse Ultimo.

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