Hyde Park Barracks

There is a old building in Sydney, built by the convicts called the Hyde Park Barracks. It was built in 1818 by Francis Greenway an england born architect.

It is located at the southern end of Macquarie Street Sydney, on the north east corner of Hyde Park opposite queens square. Today it is managed by the historic houses trust of new south whales as a museum that is open to the public which now shows the history of the convicts.

The best way to get to get to the barracks and see this historic attraction is by train. You can catch a train to St James train station and then walk to hyde park barracks from there as it is 5mins walk from station. It is open every day from 9:30am to 5pm and it is $10 entry.

It is important Sydney attraction because it holds because it holds part of the history of sydney and it is a rare old building still standing which we can see what it must have been like for the convicts and others living at that time.

The building has an interesting history. It was built to house convicts who were working in sydney in the early 1800's. About 50,000 convicts passed through the barracks, most convicts were charged for propery crimes in britain. Its reason was to house, clothe and feed the convicts till 1848. After this the main building turned into housing female immigrants will 1886 which also involved housing sick and homeless woman. From 1887 it became a legal centre having legal court houses till the late 1970's.

This building helps us learn more about the history of sydney and shows us how the government at that time was treating and caring for the many immigrants coming to sydney.