Hyde Park Barracks

Australia was a nation based around crime, as convicts arrived from England to be kept, instead of in their own over-crowded gaols at home. Sydney was the first location to be developed in Australia, and Hyde Park Barracks showcases the history of this city, as one riddled with crime, convicts and captivating stories.

Hyde Park Barracks was actually built by the convicts themselves, for the purpose of housing them and providing them with work and a place to live. Inside the buildings existed everything they needed, including a bakery, workshops, eating areas and sleeping areas. Over eight hundred convicts could be housed at one time, and this development was to keep them contained in one location, rather than causing further crime and destruction in the new streets of Sydney city.

The convict life was hard, and very demanding. After they arrived from a long and arduous journey by ship from England, to an unknown country, they were required to work long days through cruel conditions. The human rights expectations for criminals today, did not apply back then, and the stories of their experiences are shocking and dramatic.

flickr image by uli harder

This lifestyle is so foreign to current residents and visitors of Sydney, especially as Hyde Park Barracks is located right in the current office and retail district. This building offers a contrasting glimpse into Australia's early years, and this gives an understandable reason for why Hyde Park Barracks is as popular as it is today.

Hyde Park Barracks is now a museum and tourist attraction, dedicated to the education of early Australian life and the history of Sydney as a convict settlement. School groups and visitors from around the world attend the Hyde Park Barracks as a key source of information and a fascinating journey of discovery.