Inside the Collection

Latest Posts

'I'm Voting Yes' poster, Unions NSW, 2017

Marriage Equality: for posterity

November 15, 2017

  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.

New Acquisitions: Kate Rohde’s Deer Vase and bespoke wallpaper

November 7, 2017

The artworks of Melbourne-based artist and designer Kate Rohde are recognisable for their exuberant embrace of form and pattern. Baroque in style, highly ornate and vibrating with colour, the works claim a unique position in contemporary Australian design.

Bromley’s model of the Antikythera Mechanism

November 1, 2017

In early 1900, a sponge diver diving off the coast of Antikythera – a small Greek island between Crete and the Peloponnese – discovered the remains of an ancient, wrecked cargo ship. Dated to between 200 and 100 BCE, amongst the ship’s surviving contents of bronze and marble sculptures was a curious piece of rock with an embedded gear wheel.

More than Just Digital: Before the Computer

October 25, 2017

Imagine life before smart phones, maybe you remember? What about before computers? Our computer technology looks a lot different today than it did in the past. It’s smaller, lighter, more powerful and a whole lot faster.
The famous Holden 48-215 (FX) standard sedan, production No. 1440 S, made in 1951. Powerhouse Museum collection. B1662.

Holden is history

October 20, 2017

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. Image: Marinco Kojdanovski.

200th Anniversary of the Bicycle – Highlights from our Collection

October 18, 2017

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.

Stories of love, migration and community

October 3, 2017

Love takes us on a journey. Today I'd like to take you on a heartfelt journey exploring some experiences of women with Greek heritage unearthed during my research for a migration and community story for the Love Is…Australian Wedding Fashion exhibition.

3D Printing and the Open Source Movement

September 26, 2017

If you have been to a maker fair or school in the last few years, then you may have seen 3D printers in action. But when did this manufacturing technology first emerge and why was there so much hype? 3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing, where the object is created by laying down successive layers of building material until the desired form is reached.

Inspiration, Expiration and Methods of Release

September 21, 2017

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.
Mannequins of George and Charis Schwarz with their motorcycle on display in the Museum's Love Is exhibition. Charis is wearing her mother's wedding dress and George is in motorcycle gear. The background image shows them leaving Almunecar, Spain, in 1965. Image: Ryan Hernandez.

Love affair with a 1965 BMW motorcycle

September 20, 2017

I recently acquired a classic 1965 BMW R50 model 500cc touring and sports motorcycle. It's in wonderful condition and has been lovingly owned and maintained by the donors, Charis and George Schwarz, in Sydney for over 50 years.

Ask a Curator Day 2017

September 12, 2017

The Museum staff have a huge job caring for our enormous collection of over 500,000 objects. Our team includes experts in a vast range of areas, including: fashion, health and medicine, architecture, engineering, sciences, design, decorative arts, technologies and contemporary culture.

Nightingales, Sirens, Ventriloquists and Gramophones: This is a Voice

September 6, 2017

Plutarch (b. 46 CE) tells the story of a man who plucks the feathers from a Nightingale and on finding nothing more than a scrawny body not worth eating, exclaims ‘You are a voice and nothing more.’ The power and potency of the voice, in this case, the human voice, is the focus of the exhibition This is a Voice which opened at the Powerhouse Museum on August 10.