During my trip last year, one of the museums I visited in Sydney, Australia, was the Hyde Park Barracks. It is located conveniently downtown, and it is free. This type of museum, in which a historical place has been converted into a museum with items of its era, can be just as intriguing as a museum of fine art or craft. Certainly it is educational.

The Hyde Park Barracks does a wonderful job of telling the story of its convict system roots as well as its use as an immigrant asylum. My favorite display is the collection of hand-carved pipes of inmates-such intricate design. Also, the three floors of the original building hold personal items, clothing, bedding and letters from the woman who sheltered here. Additionally, working tools of the convicts are on display. A room full of hammocks show how they slept.

There are audio guides in the museum that you can hear on the free set of headphones. Every room will fill you with new information of history. It does not overwhelm one, either, as it can be completely seen in an hour or so. Include it on your list of things to see when in Sydney.

Footnotes on the song “The Boarding House Dog”
Lyrics are in the Wordie Thirty (Modern) poetic form. A Wordie Thirty poem consists of 30 letters. They can be in five lines of six letter words, (like this one,) six lines of five letter words, two lines of 15 letter words (hard to find,) or one line of a 30 letter word (if you can find one!) The words do not have to rhyme, but they should portray a comprehensive image or idea.

Lyrics
A. Friend-1Farmer-Tracks-Hounds-IamDog2
B. Smells3-Murder-Fright-Growls-IamDog
C. Sniffs-Fields-Always-Digger-IamDog
D. Wiener-Puppy-Steady-Scooby-IamDog
E. Canine-Sleuth-Follow-Pursue-IamDog4
F. Bowwow-Collar-Harass-Muzzle-IamDog5

  1. The hyphen (–) connotates a new line. Here, Friend is line one, Farmer is line two, …etc. ↩︎
  2. “IamDog” is the name of Silvia’s, (a resident of the Boarding House,) dog. ↩︎
  3. Every word has six letters. ↩︎
  4. The total for each Section A through F is 30 letters. ↩︎
  5. In Wordie Thirty, each Section could be a separate poem. Yet, this poem has 6 Sections of 5 words each, for a total of …. 30! ↩︎

About the author