Collections & heritage

Our year in review 2023

Caring for our collections, historic buildings and landscapes to preserve them for current and future generations forms the foundation of our work and our purpose.

Highlights of our collection conservation and management activities undertaken in 2023 include the treatment of thousands of vulnerable collection items, and thousands more barcoded to improve collection location tracking. Major heritage conservation projects completed or underway include the conservation of the Wentworth Mausoleum fencing on the Vaucluse House estate, Rum Hospital verandah at The Mint, and exterior joinery at Elizabeth Bay House, painting works at Meroogal, and kitchen garden and grounds works at Vaucluse House.

Every year our collections grow – the Caroline Simpson and Museum collections through donations, bequests and purchases guided by collection development policies, and the State Archives Collection through the legislated transfer of government records assessed to be of enduring value. Key acquisitions of 2023 include a group of six etchings by Wiradjuri artist David Nolan that show a First Nations inmate perspective not often seen in public collections, an extensive archive of historical wallpapers collected over many years by architects John and Phyllis Murphy, a spectacular woven model of the Sydney Opera House commissioned from master weavers Steven Russell and Phyllis Stewart, and 349 consignments from 220 series as new transfers into the State Archives Collection. These included 630 volumes of Fire and Rescue NSW records, over 104,000 probate packets, almost 10,000 plans from the Department of Spatial Services and over 65,000 images from the Geological Survey of NSW. Digital transfers included a substantial number of ministers’ records and our first digital transfer of the e-Births register from Births, Deaths and Marriages.