The World Heritage listed Hyde Park Barracks is one of the most significant convict sites in the world. A crossroads for tens of thousands of people, it played a central role in the world’s largest and longest-running system of convict transportation.

In June 1819 the Hyde Park Barracks opened to house convict men and boys working in government gangs, and over the next three decades as many as 50,000 convicts passed through its gates. Modern Sydney is built on convict foundations – on convict labour, convict skills and convict stories.  

With the end of transportation, the building was converted to a hostel for orphan girls escaping the Irish famine, female immigration depot and later asylum for aged and destitute women. Today, as a museum about itself, the barracks tells stories of convict Sydney, and of those since then who have had the misfortune to spend time there. After a fascinating guided tour we will head over to a Club for lunch and before returning home