HISTORY WEEK 2009
The theme of this year’s History Week (5–13 September) is ‘Scandals, crime and corruption’. Join us as we journey through the dark and spooky shadows of the past at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney Observatory and Powerhouse Discovery Centre, with this series of talks and tours.
TALKS
Pub painting by Tom
Woodman, 1939.
PHM collection.
Pubs and crime (Talks After Noon event)
Wednesday 9 September, 12.30–1.30pm
Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St Ultimo
Free with Museum admission
As the Underbelly and Blue Murder series have demonstrated, crime and corruption have been major Sydney industries. Long associated with disreputable behaviour, Sydney's hotels are a central part of the city's criminal history. Join curator Charles Pickett as he talks about the heyday of pubs and crime in Sydney, as well as surveying more recent developments in the relationship between nightlife and the law. Bookings are not required.
Photo piracy in the nineteenth century
(Talks After Noon event)
Sunday 13 September, 2.00–3:00pm
Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St Ultimo
Free with Museum admission
Join curator Geoff Barker as he explores photography and piracy. In the 1850s photographs finally became affordable and millions of realistic views of people and places flooded the market. Many of these were made by publishing companies with the consent of the photographer but many others were pirated copies. These photographs were the multi-media of their day and long before the ‘ripping off’ of music and films, companies were set up specifically for the distribution of illegal photographs. Why this happened, and some of the steps taken to combat their theft, will be the subject of this talk. Bookings are not required.
TOURS
Convicts, soldiers, signallers and the children in the windmill
Saturday 5 September, 5.30–7.00pm
Sydney Observatory, Watson Road, Observatory Hill, The Rocks
$25 adult/child, $80 family of 4; Powerhouse members $20 adult/child, $70 family
Go on a torchlight tour of the Signal Station and listen to the ghosts speak. Of course for the living there will be hot sausage rolls and meat and vegetable pies. This event is presented with the generous support of the Rocks Ghost Tours. Suitable for ages 7 to 12, adults are certain to also be thrilled!
Bookings are essential, as places are strictly limited. Book by phone (02) 9921 3485.
Curious stories from the collection
Saturday 12 September, 10am – 4pm
Powerhouse Discovery Centre, 172 Showground Road, Castle Hill
General admission: $25 family, $8 adult, $5 child/ concession, (additional costs may apply for some tours or programs on the day).
To mark 2009 History Week, and the Sydney Hills Shire’s annual Orange Blossom Festival, this Open Day will focus on curious stories of crimes, corruption, and even scandal, related to objects in the Powerhouse Museum’s collection.
Highlights of the Open Day will include bushranger tales from the days of the Cobb and Co. coach, the streetwalkers and infamous characters who frequented Harry’s Café de Wheels, and the story of the enigmatic, and mysterious, French Baron Verincourt de Clambe of Castle Hill. Younger visitors will have the opportunity to participate in our CSI Castle Hill crime scene investigation activity. Bookings are not required.
For more events and activities during History Week, visit the History Council of NSW website.
