Thanks to the support and involvement of our regional communities, audiences, peers and partners, our work and remit stretch across the state.

Our governing legislation, the Museums of History NSW Act 2022, charges us with responsibility for increasing statewide access to our collections, museums and historic sites, and to the stories that shape the social, cultural and political histories and identity of NSW.

This page highlights some of the many activities, resources and projects developed with, for or about our regional and remote audiences.

Regional framework

With the establishment of Museums of History NSW on 31 December 2022, a Regional Coordination Framework was prepared to ensure that audiences in regional NSW have access to MHNSW’s rich and diverse collections, sites and resources onsite, online and on tour. These include the vast and globally significant State Archives Collection of over 14 million items, which MHNSW holds in trust for the people of NSW. This framework details how we ensure that regional and rural audiences are key in the planning and delivery of our statutory and strategic objectives.

A view from the back of a crowd standing on the main street listening a speaker

Regional Archives Centres

A network of Regional Archives Centres provides access to state archives of regional significance and to copies of key state archives

News

Behind the scenes
Latest News

Significance matters

As part of an ongoing partnership with Museums & Galleries of NSW, our Curatorial and Digital teams have been hard at work making a suite of vocational videos that explore the importance of assessing and communicating the significance of museum collections

Objects from a collection sit next to archival storage boxes
Latest News

Storage on a Shoestring: collections care videos launched

Our Collections Care and Digital teams have been hard at work making make a suite of vocational videos for volunteers and staff working in museums across the state

A film crew set up outside a heritage building

Museums & Galleries of NSW

We are thrilled to announce our partnership with Museums & Galleries of NSW to support its Storyplace Roadshow project

On tour

Look out for our exciting program of collection tours and travelling exhibitions

A federation style house under construction

Collections on Tour 2024

Museums of History NSW is on the road again, sharing our stories with the people of regional NSW

captured.jpg
Touring exhibition

Captured: Portraits of Crime, 1870 – 1930

Now on tour

Saturday 1 April
Girl with superimposed illustration of aeroplane and clouds
Touring exhibition

On the Move

Now on tour

Saturday 28 October
How Cities Work illustration.
Touring exhibition

How cities work

Now on tour

Saturday 10 June

Webinars and resources

Many of our programs or resources can be streamed or accessed online

Sophie Reid, Producer – Learning Programs; Carlin de Montfort, curator; and Naomi Manning, Producer – Learning Programs, stand in front of a series of cameras as they present a virtual excursion. They are standing behind a table of historical objects in the Meet the Convicts room on the top floor of the Hyde Park Barracks.

Virtual excursions

Our interactive virtual excursions connect your class live with a museum educator and focus on specific curriculum content, concepts and skills. We currently offer virtual excursions for Stages 1 to 4

Government Printing Office; NRS 4481, Glass negatives. NRS-4481-3-[7/15883]-M2439 | Government Printing Office 1 - 30700 - Supreme Court, King and Elizabeth Streets, Sydney [From NSW Government Printer series: City Views]
30 August, 10.30am
Online talk

'Equitable Relief': Equity Court records in the State Archives Collection

This webinar will explore records of the Equity Division of the Supreme Court, how to find them, and what they can tell you

Friday 30 August 10.30am–11.30am
Government Printing Office; NRS 4481, Parramatta [Gaol] [Department of Public Works] [no date]
27 September, 10:30am
Online talk

Tracing NSW Gaol Inmates: Researching criminal offenders in the State Archives Collection

This webinar will show you how to use the State Archives collection to trace your ancestors through the NSW prison system, uncovering their crimes and incarcerations

Friday 27 September 10.30am–11.30am
Government Printing Office; NRS 4481, Glass negatives NRS-4481-4-161-[AF00198139] Agricultural College Boys [Department of Agriculture] [no date]
25 October, 10:30am
Online talk

Raising the Farmer: Glass negatives taken for the Agricultural Gazette of NSW, 1890-1914

Explore with us some of the 6,000 unique and beautiful glass negatives taken to illustrate articles in the Agricultural Gazette of NSW - now digitally available on our website as a unique slice of rural life

Friday 25 October 10.30am–10.30am
Government Printing Office; NRS 4481, Glass negatives.  NRS-4481-3-[7/15880]-M1925 Government Printing Office 1 - 34395 - General dining room, Liverpool Asylum [From NSW Government Printer series: Department of Public Health]
22 November, 10:30am
Online talk

The records of Liverpool Asylum

This webinar will explore the records of the Liverpool Asylum for the Infirm and Destitute (1862-1933) and was later known as the Liverpool State Hospital and Home (1933-1961)

Friday 22 November 10.30am–11.30am

Collections

Explore our collections from anywhere, anytime

Regional stories

Browse all
Painting of a small water basin in the bush with birds

Duall

When Duall was born in the mid-1790s conflict over resources and competing land use practices in districts surrounding Sydney was giving rise to tensions between the original inhabitants of the land and the newcomers

Pencil drawing of Bathurst 1818, Plans of Government Buildings at Bathurst, Main series of letters received [Colonial Secretary], 1788–1826.

Convict farmer Antonio Roderigo and a ‘dastardly massacre’

A dispute over potatoes farmed by convict-settler Antonio Roderigo was one of many hostile events between colonists and Wiradyuri people that led to the Bathurst War of 1824

A steam train travels along a railway cutting with a cliff face on one side and a cliff drop on the other

Westward, Ho! The Great Western railway arrives

While the railway had arrived at Penrith in 1862 the Blue Mountains, once again, seemed like an impassable obstacle