On a historical wander around Parramatta, I thought I'd better do the dutiful thing, and check this…read moreout. Was surprised to find one of the best local history exhibitions I'd ever trod my weary way in to. In through the glass doors and I was met by a cheery smile from the gentleman staffing the Visitor Info counter and by a welcome blast of arctic-level aircon. Twas rather warm. Past the old (mail?) cart and a giant photo of Lennox Bridge (just outside) in times previous, down a somewhat underlit corridor and I found myself in the 'Parramatta People and Place' exhibition. With an emphasis on migrant contribution and a larger than usual recognition of Indigenous history (although it never really feels enough), the exhibit presents a wonderful collation of poignant objects and info spanning the history of the city. There's a lace christening gown made by convict women at Darlinghurst jail, who were later housed in the infamous Parramatta Female Factory. Leather shoes found in an archaeological dig. An artwork reconising the work of the nine Swann sisters - you don't see CV's like 'wife, mother, dentist, activist for international peace' often enough. There's a haunting poem by Oodgeroo Noonuccal honouring the Darug people, and the photo of Samuel Marsden, the notorious 'flogging preacher' which shows he had a drunkard's nose. The exhibition's free, there's a lovely spot to sit overlooking the river while the kids play on a big pirate ship, and a moving exhibition upstairs about the Chinese community's part in local history next to the Local Studies and Family History Library. A real treasure.

I had to write a piece on an historical site and decided to write about the Female Factory at…read moreParramatta - an unused site (except for parts that are now Cumberland Hospital) that used to be a gaol in colonial times. A friend and I went to the actual site to see what it was like for ourselves, took a few photos etc, but because it was unused there was no information we could have gotten other than from our own observations. Luckily, Parramatta Heritage Centre is like a miniature museum cum historical library with all the information I could possibly need for this paper. They also have exhibitions on site, and a permanent one called Parramatta: People and Place which is all about the Burramatta Aboriginal people and European settlement of the area. The information centre upstairs is volunteer run, and I have to say they are amazing people - I don't think people realise how much of a good job they do here. The man I spoke to was a great storyteller, providing me with a verbal account of what he knew of the Female Factory and pointing me towards some great sources. It's a great opportunity to find out more about the area, meet tons of interesting people, or like me, research and write up a decent essay.

You come around a corner through suburban streets and suddenly, on top of a little rise, is this…read more1830's home with gardens sweeping down to the creek. You half expect someone in an empire-waisted sprigged muslin number and parasol to come tripping out desperate to spot some soldiers. And, joy of joys, it was open! My Harris Park Heritage Walk experiment was not a complete failure then. The volunteers looked a little startled to see me and after a little confusion over the tickets (you can buy a joint one with Old Government House valid for a month for $13) I was appointed a guide (no self-guided wandering allowed) and off we went. Before I go on, I should mention entry to this National Trust-run site is $7 for adults, $5 for kids and concessions, $19 for a family. My guide had obviously imbibed a good amount of info in his tenure as a volunteer and I was regaled with tales of James Ruse, the ex-convict first 'given' this land (incidentally the first land grant in Australia) as an 'experiment' to see if some scruffy excon from Cornwall could actually grow some food. That he did, and was subsequently bought out by the Surgeon John Harris, who built the house you see today. And if the portraits inside are any indication, was a bit of a smug bastard. There's lots of info on the house and its residents (including renters up to the 1960s) and the period appropriate furnishings. The cellar is particularly creepy, once you negotiate the scarily steep steps, and houses a rubbing of Ruse's tombstone, which he carved himself no less. He was obviously proud of having 'sow'd the first grain' in the colony. Carved his own tombstone - next time you meet someone who thinks they're tough - well! I felt a little bad that I didn't let on to my guide earlier that I'm actually a historian, and the quick version probably would have been fine, but he seemed to be enjoying himself so much, I didn't want to spoil his fun.

From the owner: Australia’s first convict land grant and discover an extraordinary historical precinct in Western…read moreSydney. A starving colony. A journey up the river. One convict’s experiment in self-sufficiency. Standing on the lands of the Burramatta Dharug people, Experiment Farm Cottage is the fascinating site of Australia’s first convict land grant to James Ruse in 1789.

Picture it. I'm on a tour of an historical home - Australia's OLDEST surviving homestead no less -…read moreand there's a kid putting his little sticky fingers all over every object he sees. It brings a tear to my history-lovin' eye. Because, for me, history has never just been words printed in a dusty old book by an equally dusty member of the academic elite. History SHOULD BE a multisensory experience for everyone of all ages. At good ol' Lizzie Farm...that's possible. For this, comrades, is a "museum without barriers." The house itself is, of course, the real Mccoy but everything in it is replica whilst remaining true to the period. So there is no stern lady pulling a cat's bum expression when you have a tinkle of the ol' ivories in the living room, throw on a lady's bonnet in the foyer, scale one of those insanely high beds they used to sleep on, pick up the chamber pot beneath, sit in the living room and read a newspaper from back in the day, or examine Elizabeth Macarthur's personal letters in her darling little letter-writing room. It is so well done, a few times I forgot everything was replica and stopped myself mid-touch only to remember that this action was both acceptable and actively encouraged by the guides! From the main area of the house you move into the sandstone courtyard area and look upon the female convicts' quarters. To the right is a beautiful big tree in the main courtyard area (could it be more serene here???? ) and to the left you can head off to the colonial kitchen with its entrance step worn down by countless shoes over the centuries and where you'll find a peep hole into the cellar beneath! (They think it was possibly for spying on the cons in case they were slacking off but also was good for ventilation). I want this kitchen. Heck! I want this house. They don't make 'em like they used' t' could! In that charming kitchen, the guide informed us, the wee'uns can make scones as part of the "Colonial Kids" program they also offer at the site. For the same program, the cellar below is closed off and darkened and is thereby transformed into the hull of a prison ship. The guide demonstrated this for us briefly and you could really appreciate how it would help children to imagine what it was like to be a convict being transported across the seas for the difficult months-long voyage. Even if you have been here before, go again! Not only is it a beautiful place to wile away a few hours,* it is also a place that changes over time as new historical research uncovers more information about the ways the original inhabitants used these rooms. Chances are, then, that the room you viewed once may now tell a different story to the one you heard previously. Our guide informed us that tours for large groups can also be tailored; e.g. if a girls' school visits they might like a feminist history angle so the tour will focus on Elizabeth Macarthur. You also have multiple options regarding how you interact with the site. There are guided tours, which are extremely engaging and informative and you are free to spend as much time as you like roaming around the site inspecting the rooms and objects at the conclusion of the guided tour. Or, if you've taken the tour before, you can opt for a self-guided tour from the get-go. The interactivity of the site is heightened by the optional iPad experience. Borrow one from the visitors' centre and click on a room in the house as you stand or sit in it and watch a short video clip with supplementary information about the room's history. They've thought of everything! The guided tour of Lizzie Farm is only 1 hour long approximately, but I bet you'll find it hard to pry yourself away from here after just one hour! I recommend you do this tour then walk (or drive) around the corner to John Macarthur's "Hambledon Cottage." Just don't think you can put your sticky fingers on the stuff at Hambledon Cottage...(it ain't replica) or there shall be cat's bum expressions aplenty. * Review originally written and posted 2 March 2013.

As I came up the hill through the little reserve, I started thinking strategically. If I was a…read morecolonial capitalist I'd pick that spot to make visible my wealth too. Defensible. Elizabeth Farm is the Macarthur's (wool industry guru) bungalow built in 1793, a stop on the Harris Farm Heritage Walk. Already stymied by calendrical difficulties at Hambledon Cottage, I found the situation worse here. Cue self-induced thwack to the head mark two. Ouch. It's only open Friday to Sunday, except January and school holidays when it's open all day. Still, got a good peek round the outside, including what must be one of the first long veradahs in Australian architecture (borrowed from India, I know). The grounds and green and lush and there were quite a few gardeners around keeping everything so. Had a giggle at the 'Eliz Farm' wheelie bin out the front too. Maybe it was the repeated blows to the head. Will update anon.

Forget Freddy Krueger et. al. Real nightmares are made of canvas!…read more I'm talking canvas straitjackets and canvas "muffs" and "mittens." Don't be fooled; for all the Louisa May Alcott-y appeal conjured by names like "muffs" and "mittens," they were designed for the prevention of excessive scratching and erm...other "excessive" devilish activities for idle hands. As for the straitjackets, according to the exhibits, you'll be pleased to know they were finally outlawed at the Cumberland Hospital by the mid-1960s in favour of more "humane" treatments. And not a day too soon... Leather ankle and wrist restraints, waxed cardboard "Brain Buckets" used during autopsies, 1930s amputation knives, a mean looking enema and douche apparatus, a cadaver-measuring ruler, a trolley from the morgue, nurses' uniforms, a cabinet of chemist's products and "quackery," a collection of ward keys that locked away patients, and a chronological display of ECT (electroconvulsive "shock" therapy) machines all make this a confronting and comprehensive repository of mental health care history. You don't get a sense of the undoubtedly heartbreaking personal side of that history here, though, with the exception of one glass case of items recovered from beneath various wards: fading, ripped sepia photos of nameless loved ones, old spoons and countless keys (what were the "locked up" locking away, I wonder?), letters, ciggies and specs. If only these objects could talk! It's all jam-packed into the upper floor of "Glengarriff House" (a.k.a. Cumberland Hospital Museum), located on the sprawling grounds of the present day Cumberland Hospital (Psychiatric). Glengarriff House itself is a significant part of the history of mental health as it was the official residence of the Medical Superintendent of the Parramatta Hospital for the Insane (1907-1963). The museum is only open during the 4 days of the annual Wisteria Gardens Festival (in September) or by appointment and admission is a mere $1 (or nothing at all if you get to the top of the stairs and find no one to collect y'coin or no place to deposit it for safekeeping...Oops! Please accept my review as payment!). I recommend you do as I did and visit the museum before or after fully exploring the grounds of the Cumberland Hospital, which is an absolute hotspot of historically significant sites dating back to Australia's colonial era. For example, as early as the 1840s, the former "Female Factory" became the Parramatta Asylum for Lunatic and Invalid Convicts, giving this site a long historical association with mental health "care" - if you can call it that. One further recommendation: I normally encourage people to take young people to historical museums, but this one is really not for the very young kiddies. Bearing in mind my personal phobia of life-sized cardboard cut-outs and things of that ilk, I think the creepy looking mannequins on display here alone possess the power to send me well 'n' truly out o' my faraway tree. If that happens I'll be making the following request: not the mittens. Please...NOT THE MITTENS! * Review originally written and posted 22 September 2013.

Hmmm... 'All welcome' said the sign…read more Walked up the steps to find a locked door, barred windows, and not a sign of opening hours in sight. I'm confused. There's a sign 'Heritage and Visitor's Centre'. It is right next to St Patrick's Cathedral, a small plaque outlines a brief history of the place, it's obviously kept up. But not open. Not searchable on the Cathedral's website. It's not like there's a lack of heritage either. 200 years or so. The Cathedral site once housed the country's first convent, early schools. A shame. If that's anyone's idea of 'welcome', you've got me stumped.