More Museums In Sydney

Big city, lots of museums. There's plenty to see and see in Sydney and places to be exposed to all sorts of history. Time to start at a museum for the city itself.

Exterior of The Museum of Sydney, built over the ruins of the first Government House. Modern.

The museum romps through discovery, colonial eras, the development of the modern city and its original, Aboriginal past. Models of the many wood sailing vessels that came to settle another New Land. Everyday archeology, shards of bottles, dishes, the detritus of family life.

Looking at the past and the future, modern Aboriginal art.

First Nations photography by Dennis Golding and a colorful array of plates by the Coomaditchie group from Wollongong.

Next up, the Old Mint building.

Nice job preserving what's left of the original grounds and adding modern additions. Exit through the vault that's now a gift shop. From Sydney Sovereigns to dollar bill bookmarks.

Petrified penguin. At least rock hard.

Visiting An Opal Museum (Exit Through The Gift Shop)

Sydney has a cute little opal gem museum, complete with elaborate mineral displays and dioramas that illustrate the dinosaur age when opals were just being born. Or something like that narrative. The museum is actually a shop with museum trappings. No matter, anyone can go and gaze and buy only a memory.

College lecture series or HSN studio? A little confusing, a little kitschy. Take a seat.

Opals are mined! By manly miners! Way back when with a winch and beard or now with lanterns and ear protection.

The dioramas are cool, all lush and unspoiled paradise. Those dinosaurs lived it up.

Rainbows every munchie hour. Big beings, creeping through frame.

"Dino break! Dino Break! Repatriation needed immediately at diorama 12!"