Inside the Collection

Collection stories

Kimberley Bezuidenhout at the entrance to the 'Interface: people, machines, design' exhibition

What’s this doing in a museum?

September 26, 2018

Kimberley Bezuidenhout
Week 11 as an intern at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. No sign of life in the objects. Starting to think that basing my expectations on ‘Night at the Museum’ was unrealistic. Although, I have only been here during the day, so I won’t write that off just yet.
Presenter Dr Graeme Phillips explains the finer points of time travel.

How to build a time machine

September 5, 2018

Sarah Reeves
Back in January, the Catalyst team from the ABC approached us about using some of the Museum's clocks in an upcoming episode of their show. They were producing an episode entitled ‘How To Build A Time Machine', which would delve into the nature of time, whether time travel could ever become a reality, and what rules you'd want to follow if you did indeed find yourself in possession of a working time machine.
A steam engine with a large flywheel on display in the Powerhouse Museum

Industrial Revolution in Australia – impact on manufacturing in the 1800s

August 29, 2018

Margaret Simpson
When we think of the Industrial Revolution in Britain with its steam engines powering machines, the mass production of goods, thousands of poor farming families leaving the countryside to work in 'satanic' mills and factories and the rise of the wealthy middle class, it's hard to see how this could be applied to Australia.
Colour printed photographic postcard depicting a river scene in Cairo, Egypt, in the early years of the 20th century.

An ANZAC Postcard: From Cairo, on the banks of the Nile, 1915

April 25, 2018

Kathy Hackett
This colour printed photographic postcard shows a river scene in Cairo in the early years of the 20th century. It is one of 33 postcards sent from Frederick E Boddington and his brother George K Boddington during their years of service in World War I.
The Museum's International Auto Buggy

The International Auto Buggy – a real “horseless carriage”

January 23, 2018

Margaret Simpson
On Australia Day, 26 January 2018, the CARnivale classic day display will be held in Parramatta Park in Western Sydney. The car I’ve chosen from the Museum’s eclectic automobile collection to exhibit at the event is a 20 hp International Auto Buggy made in 1910.
Detail of 'Round the World in the Lockheed Electra' envelope

Amelia Earhart’s last contact

November 29, 2017

Margaret Simpson
This ordinary looking stamped-addressed envelope in the Museum's collection features two signatures, one is of the famous American aviator, Amelia Earhart, and the other F. (Fred) J. Noonan, her navigator during their pioneering world flight in 1937.
'I'm Voting Yes' poster, Unions NSW, 2017

Marriage Equality: for posterity

November 15, 2017

Damian McDonald
  In 2004, the Liberal government under John Howard rushed legislation into parliament which changed the definition of marriage in Australia. The 2004 amendments are: 5 (1) marriage means the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.
The famous Holden 48-215 (FX)

Holden is history

October 20, 2017

Margaret Simpson
Australians are reeling with the announcement on 11 December, 2013, that Holden, an Australian icon, will stop building cars here in 2017. How has this happened? With some 66 makes available in Australia these days, twice the choice US drivers have, clearly we don't like football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars quite enough any more.
Wall of bikes, Museums' Discovery Centre, Castle Hill

200th Anniversary of the Bicycle – Highlights from our Collection

October 18, 2017

Margaret Simpson
The year 2017 marks 200 years since the invention of the bicycle, a mode of transport that revolutionised personal travel. The Museum has an eclectic collection of bikes, some of which are currently exhibited in an impressive wall display at the Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill in north-western Sydney.
Glass negative, imperial plate, ‘School girl life saving demonstration'

Inspiration, Expiration and Methods of Release

September 21, 2017

Kathy Hackett
This elegantly choreographed image from the studio of Kerry & Co. shows young women from the Bronte Surf Life Saving Brigade modelling three methods of ‘release’ used in lifesaving c. 1908.
Ambrotype of John Pascoe, third officer on the ‘Dunbar’

Sydney’s most famous shipwreck – the ‘Dunbar’

August 21, 2017

Margaret Simpson
On 20 August 2017 it was the 160th anniversary of New South Wales' worst maritime disaster, the sinking of the 'Dunbar'. On a pitch-dark rainy night with a gale blowing a total of 121 passengers and crew of the sailing ship, 'Dunbar', lost their lives not long after midnight.