Dig It!

Head to our dig site, grab your tools and become an archaeologist at the Museum of Sydney.

Dig It! delivers a rich, multisensory, family-friendly experience that invites you to experience the excitement and challenges of archaeological excavation for yourself. Unearth artefacts in a digitally simulated excavation with a 1980s video game vibe. Piece together fragments of artefacts and sketch your find on a discovery sheet that can be pinned to the gallery wall or taken home as a memento.

Dig It! is an engaging way for the whole family to explore the science of archaeology and experience life on an excavation site.

Dig It! is a free experience opening on 5 December at the Museum of Sydney.

Developed by Museums of History NSW in collaboration with Junior Major.

Montage of candid photographs from the 1983–84 and 1990–91 excavations at the first Government House site.
Featured exhibition

Unearthed

Even the most ordinary object has many stories to tell, depending on how you look at it

Friday 5 December
Corner Phillip and Bridge streets, Sydney NSW 2000

Museum of Sydney

Corner Phillip and Bridge streets, Sydney NSW 2000
  • Cafe
  • Wheelchair accessible
Plan your visit

  • From 5 December 2025

Stories from the first Government House

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A closer look at bricks

A high-tech research collaboration is giving us new insights into some very familiar objects from our vast archaeological collection

Museum stories

Excavating Australia’s first Government House

Did you know that when you walk into the Museum of Sydney, you’re walking over the remains of one of the most significant buildings in Australia’s history?

[First Government House, Sydney] / watercolour drawing by John Eyre
Museum stories

First encounters

The Museum of Sydney is built on and around a site that links us to the very beginnings of modern Australia

View of Government domain & part of Sydney, taken from Bunkers Hill, N.S.Wales
Museum stories

Life at Government House in the Macquarie era

Historian Jane Kelso describes a busy schedule of social gatherings and official events at Sydney's Government House during the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie