Sights in Australia
-
A
Susannah Place Museum
Dating from 1844, the claustrophobic Susannah Pl is a diminutive terrace of tiny houses with a tiny shop selling tiny historical wares. My, haven’t we grown? In the backyard, check out how generations of working-class Rocks women cooked and laundered their clothes in a wood-fired copper urn (near the outdoor dunny). Admission is by way of guided tour.
reviewed
-
Royal National Park
The 15,080-hectare Royal National Park was established in 1879, making it the oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone in the USA. Here you’ll find pockets of subtropical rainforest, windblown coastal scrub, sandstone gullies dominated by gum trees, fresh- and saltwater wetlands, and isolated beaches. Traditionally the home of the Dharawal people, there are also numerous Aboriginal sites and artefacts.
reviewed
-
B
State Theatre
The utterly ornate State (1929) is Sydney’s most ostentatious theatre. Originally built as a movie palace during Hollywood’s heyday, it’s now a National Trust–classified building, dripping with gilt and velveteen. Live shows (musicals, comedy, middle-of-the-road bands) take the stage, except during the Sydney Film Festival in June.
reviewed
-
Wonambi Fossil Centre
The Naracoorte Caves National Park visitors centre, doubles as the impressive Wonambi Fossil Centre – a re-creation of the rainforest that covered this area 200,000 years ago. Follow a ramp down past grunting, life-sized reconstructions of extinct animals, including a marsupial lion, a giant echidna, Diprotodon australis (koala meets grizzly bear), and Megalania prisca – 500kg of bad-ass goanna.
reviewed
-
C
National Film & Sound Archive
This excellent archive, set in a delightful art deco building, preserves Australian moving-picture and sound recordings for posterity. Highlights include the absorbing permanent exhibition Sights + Sounds of a Nation, and 100 years of audio and visual recordings, from Norman Gunston's idiosyncratic interviews to the 1943 Oscar-awarded propaganda flick Kokoda Front Line. There are also temporary exhibitions, talks and film screenings (2pm and 7pm Thursdays, 2pm and 4:30pm weekends plus a 7:30 screening Saturday nights). Teatro Fellini Café serves excellent snacks in the sunny courtyard.
reviewed
-
NSW Toy & Railway Museum & Leuralla Gardens
The NSW Toy & Railway Museum & Leuralla Gardens is an art-deco mansion set amid 4.9 misty hectares of handsome English gardens. The house is a memorial to HV ‘Doc’ Evatt, a former Australian Labor Party leader and the first UN president. Kids love the toy and model-railway museum (everything from Barbie to Bob the Builder). Make sure you cross the road to check out the awesome valley view.
reviewed
-
D
Sydney Writers Walk
A series of metal discs cast into the Circular Quay promenade hold ruminations from prominent Australian writers (and the odd literary visitor). The likes of Robert Hughes, Germaine Greer, Peter Carey, Umberto Eco and Clive James wax lyrical on subjects ranging from indigenous rights to the paradoxical nature of glass.
Genres vary from eloquent poems addressing the human condition to a ditty about a meat pie by Barry Humphries.
reviewed
-
E
Ken Done Gallery
The cheerful, quasi-childlike work of Sydney artist Ken Done is exhibited inside the lavishly restored Australian Steam Navigation Building. Expect luridly coloured Australian landscapes, Opera House renderings and comic minutiae from Done’s days. Help prop up his ailing empire (recently devalued from $61 million to around $8 million) with a visit to his shop just down the road.
reviewed
-
F
Brisbane Powerhouse
On the eastern fringes of New Farm Park stands the Powerhouse, a former power station that's been superbly transformed into a contemporary arts centre. It hosts a range of visual arts and music performances (many free), and has two restaurants with great river views.
reviewed
-
G
Eureka Tower & Skydeck 88
Eureka Tower, built in 2006, has 92 storeys. Take a wild elevator ride to almost the top (don't miss a glance at the photo on the floor) and you'll do 88 floors in less than 40 seconds. 'The Edge' – not a member of U2, but a slightly sadistic glass cube – propels you out of the building.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
H
Australian Museum
This natural-history museum, established just 40 years after the First Fleet dropped anchor, strives to shrug off its museum-that-should-be-in-a-museum feel. Hence dusty taxidermy has been interspersed with video projections and a terrarium with live snakes, while dinosaur skeletons cosy up to life-size re-creations.
There are also interesting displays on extinct megafauna (giant wombats – simultaneously cuddly and terrifying), and a sad 'where are they now' exhibit featuring stuffed remains and video footage of recently extinct species.
Yet it's the most old-fashioned section that is arguably the most interesting – the large collection of crystals and precious stones.…
reviewed
-
I
Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens, Mount Tomah
Between Bilpin and Bell, Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens is the cool-climate sibling of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Native plants cuddle up next to exotic species, including magnificent rhododendron displays.
reviewed
-
J
The Corso
The quickest route from the Manly ferry terminal to Manly’s ocean beach is along The Corso, a part-pedestrian mall lined with surf shops, pubs and sushi bars. Kids splash around in the fountains and spaced-out surfies shuffle back to the ferry after a hard day carving up the swell.
If you need some surfboard wax, you’re in the right place, but don’t expect to see much Sydney bling here – the mood is suburban and relaxed.
reviewed
-
K
Bellevue Park
This quiet suburban park has killer views over Bondi and all the heads: North, South and Middle. Early Irish convicts named it Vinegar Hill, after a battle in the 1798 Irish Rebellion, but Governor Macquarie pooh-poohed the idea and renamed it Bellevue Hill. The surrounding streets are home to a large Jewish community and some of Sydney’s rich-and-famous, including the Packer media tribe and actress Toni Collette.
reviewed
-
Dandenong Ranges National Park
Dandenong Ranges National Park is made up of the four largest areas of remaining forest in the Dandenongs. The Ferntree Gully Area has several short walks, including the popular 1000 Steps Track up to One Tree Hill picnic ground (two hours return), part of the Kokoda Memorial Track, which commemorates Australian WWII servicemen who served in New Guinea.
reviewed
-
L
Cockle Bay Wharf
The first vaguely tasteful development in Darling Harbour, Cockle Bay Wharf occupies the harbour’s cityside frontage as far as Pyrmont Bridge. Its sharp, contemporary angles are softened by the use of timber and whimsical sculptures (we particularly like the jaunty dancing storks).
Housing upmarket restaurants and bars, Cockle Bay helped yank Darling Harbour out of the financial mire in the 1990s. Sydney’s megaclub Home set a new standard for stylish clubbing and bucked the colonial trend by spawning an offshoot in London.
reviewed
-
M
Museum of Brisbane
Around the corner from City Hall, this museum illuminates the city from a wide variety of viewpoints, with interactive exhibits that explore both social history and the current cultural landscape.
reviewed
-
N
Outback Centre
A mixture of kitsch and cultural, this is a combination of souvenir store, performance space and art gallery. You'll find woomeras (spear-throwers), kalis (jumbo-sized boomerangs), musical clap sticks and bullroarers (ceremonial musical instruments). The highlight, hidden out back, is Australia's Outback Gallery. A free 'Sounds of the Outback' didgeridoo performance takes place at 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00 daily.
reviewed
-
O
St Philip’s
Completed in 1856 by architect Edmund Blacket in High Victorian Gothic style, St Philip’s is the latest incarnation of a line descending from Sydney’s original Anglican parish church (1793). It’s an unobtrusive structure dwarfed by surrounding skyscrapers and is usually kept locked outside Sunday services and special events.
reviewed
-
P
Western Australian Museum – Geraldton
This excellent museum has intelligent multimedia displays on the area's natural, cultural and Indigenous history. The atmospheric Shipwreck Gallery documents the tragic story of the Batavia, while video footage reveals the sunken HMAS Sydney. On Sunday at 2pm you can sail in the longboat moored behind the museum.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Q
Parliament House
This French Renaissance–style building dates from 1868 and is one of Brisbane's treasured historical landmarks. Free tours leave on demand from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday.
reviewed
-
Western Plains Cultural Centre
Incorporating Dubbo Regional Museum and Gallery, the cultural centre is housed in a swanky architectural space cleverly incorporating the main hall of Dubbo's former high school. The combination befits the centre's exhibitions, both contemporary and historic. There's an innovative dedicated children's gallery, so mums and dads can wander the gallery sans sleeve-tugging.
reviewed
-
Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre
About 1km from the Cooinda resort (an easy 15 minutes walk), the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre depicts creation stories and has an excellent permanent exhibition that includes clap sticks, sugar-bag holders and rock-art samples. You’ll be introduced to the moiety system (internal tribal division) and skin names, and there’s a minitheatre with a huge selection of films from which to choose.
reviewed
-
R
Nicholson Museum
Within the University of Sydney's quadrangle, this museum is a must-see for ancient-history geeks. Inside is an amazing accumulation of Greek, Roman, Cypriot, Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities, including Padiashaikhet the mummy. It was founded in 1860 by orphan-made-good Sir Charles Nicholson, a key figure in the establishment of both the University of Sydney and the Australian Museum.
reviewed
-
Federation Walk
The ocean side of the spit, which extends north from Main Beach, is home to uncrowded beaches and excellent surf. From here you can see across the channel to South Stradbroke Island and it's a popular fishing spot. A fig tree opposite the entrance to Seaworld marks the start of the Federation Walk, a pretty 3.7km trail that winds its way through patches of littoral rainforest and down to the Gold Coast Oceanway.
reviewed