A silver gelatin dry plate glass negative in landscape format.

Country Always

Caring for Country

A Corner of the Empire

The Garden Palace

Sepia photograph of the Technological Museum and a cow in the foreground

The Holding Pen

The Agricultural Hall

Sepia photograph of the Technological College and Museum in Broken Hill

Regional Networks

Across New South Wales

A Museum of Doing

Technological Museum

Black and white photograph of man walking through eucalyptus plantation

Expanding Stories

Evolution of the Castle Hill site from botanical research station to Museum Discovery Centre

Colour photograph of red corrugated iron building from a high vantage point

Transforming the Tramsheds

Powerhouse Stage 1 and the Harwood Building

A Symbol in Time

Sydney Observatory

A group of workers surround the front engine of a steam train to pull and push it on a track into the museum.
Powerhouse Museum, Stage 2 exterior from high angle, city skyline in background

Ongoing Transformations

Powerhouse Ultimo

Blurred image from film with museum object number

Applied Arts and Sciences

Defining the terms in the 21st century

Powerhouse Renewal

Artist Xin Liu floating with arm outstretched against a black background. She wears a full-length grey body suit with long sleeves with bare feet and hands.

Sydney Science Festival

Across Sydney10—17 Aug
Shadows cast by the Powerhouse Parramatta exoskeleton on concrete

Exoskeleton

Powerhouse Parramatta

A woman stands on stage in front of a large audience. She has her left hand raised in the air and a microphone in her right hand. The audience are holding their phones up recording the woman.

Blak Powerhouse

Powerhouse x We Are Warriors

Slider thumb1988
A group of workers surround the front engine of a steam train to pull and push it on a track into the museum.
Program

Powerhouse Collection Objects

Tag iconExhibition
when
Ended 4 Feb 2024
where
Ultimo

Boulton and Watt steam engine

The Boulton and Watt steam engine played a key role in the development of the modern world and may be the most significant technological artefact ever to reach Australia.

It was built in England in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution (1780s) and was one of the first rotative (wheel-turning) steam engines.

As Boulton and Watt engines were prime movers in the Industrial Revolution, this very significant engine represents not just invention and entrepreneurship, but also wealth creation, mass consumerism, great changes in working life, a massive shift in the use of resources, and consequent damage to the natural environment.

The engine in our collection is the oldest Boulton and Watt steam engine in existence and one of the oldest in the world to still work regularly under steam.

Please note the Boulton and Watt steam engine does not operate on Tuesdays, when it receives regular maintenance.

Strasburg Clock

The Strasburg Clock model has been one of the most popular exhibits at Powerhouse Museum for more than a century.

It was built between 1887 and 1889 by young Sydney clockmaker Richard Bartholomew Smith (1862–1942) and modelled on the astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral, France.

Strangely, Smith based his design only on a postcard and a book as he claimed to have never visited Strasbourg (often spelled as Strassburg or Strasburg in his time).

The NSW Government bought the model in 1890 for £700 and arranged for it to be displayed at the Technological Museum, as this museum was then known. It soon became the main attraction.

The front of a large steam engine with a red front bar, black body and gold cylinders.

Locomotive No. 1

No.1 Locomotive hauled the first passenger train in New South Wales on the line between Sydney and Parramatta in 1855.

No.1 Locomotive was designed by James McConnell and built in England by Robert Stephenson & Co of Newcastle-on-Tyne.

It has been in the museum's collection for more than a century and is one of the most significant objects relating to the history of New South Wales.

It is also an important representation of British railway history as it is a very rare surviving McConnell-designed goods express locomotive from the early 1850s and believed to be the only example of its type in the world.

on the move

Archival photograph of horses moving a steam train
Black and white photograph of men standing on a steam train in front of a brick building
Archival photograph of a men moving a large steam train
Black and white photograph of men moving a train
A group of workers surround the front engine of a steam train to pull and push it on a track into the museum.

Kings Cinema

The Kings Cinema at Powerhouse Ultimo is a recreated art deco cinema modelled on those built by the famous Kings Cinema chain in many of Sydney’s suburbs during the 1930s.

Sadly, many of the buildings housing these old cinemas were demolished. The foyer includes interior fittings from the landmark Queen Victoria Building and the seats are from the Manly Odeon, built in 1932 and demolished in 1985.

Model based on the astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral, France.