What is the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney?
The Powerhouse Museum is Sydney's museum of applied arts and sciences, housed in a former electricity power station in Ultimo. It displays objects from science, technology, design and decorative arts.
The museum traces its origins to the Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum, founded in 1879 after the Sydney International Exhibition. It moved into the Ultimo power station building in 1988.
Its collection includes the Boulton and Watt steam engine, one of the oldest surviving rotative steam engines in the world, as well as Locomotive No. 1 and the Strasburg Clock model.
Renewal and Parramatta
In the 2010s, the New South Wales government planned to move the museum to Parramatta, causing public debate. In 2020, it decided to keep the Ultimo site and also build a new Powerhouse in Parramatta.
The Ultimo building has been undergoing a major renewal, while the new Powerhouse Parramatta was built on the banks of the Parramatta River in western Sydney.
The museum also runs Powerhouse Castle Hill, a large collection store open to visitors on certain days, and it manages the Sydney Observatory on Observatory Hill. Its collection includes more than half a million objects, from fashion and furniture to computers and aircraft.
Did You Know?
The museum's official name is the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.