Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo: On-line Survey Questionnaire and Live Consultations19/20 March 2022 Introduction and background   Answers (copied or recalled) to aspects of the Survey   Comments about the Consultation sessions 1.0 Introduction and background: In early March 2022, the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) announced a free ‘Powerhouse Ultimo Open Weekend’ on … Continue reading Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo: On-line Survey Questionnaire and Live Consultations, March 2022

Kylie Winkworth, Powerhouse Museum Alliance November 2019 1 The Move of the Powerhouse does not Stack Up 1.1 After five years of community opposition to the ‘move’ of the Powerhouse Museum (PHM) to Parramatta it is time for a re-think. Closing the Powerhouse is not a fait accompli. The government can keep the Powerhouse and build an iconic … Continue reading It’s Time to Re-Think the Move of the Powerhouse Museum – Kylie Winkworth

‘Another Day, Another CEO for the PHM’ Kylie Winkworth, 13 November, 2018 After an international search for the next CEO of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS), the government has appointed Lisa Havilah, current director of Carriageworks. She will start at the museum in January. Announcing the museum’s fourth CEO in just six … Continue reading ‘Another day, another CEO for the PHM’ – Kylie Winkworth

‘Class A Asset Stripping of the Powerhouse Museum’ Kylie Winkworth 2 January, 2019 One day economic historians will document the vampire squid epoch in NSW history; the colourful term coined to describe the influence of Goldman Sachs, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In NSW the vampire squids have their … Continue reading Class A Asset Stripping of the Powerhouse Museum – Kylie Winkworth

The list below includes submissions of specific relevance to the argument for not relocating the Powerhouse Museum. These papers include support for developing a new cultural facility in Parramatta, within a strong policy for museums and galleries in NSW. They were submitted by members of the informal lobby group, the Powerhouse Museum Alliance, with related … Continue reading Submissions to Upper House Inquiry: Museums and Galleries, 2016

6 April, 2020 Ticking the Consultation Box for the PHM’s `move’ to Parramatta The Powerhouse Museum Alliance rejects the faux consultations on the Parramatta museum, now underway by Infrastructure NSW, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis.1 It is not community engagement when you are only consulting on decisions that have already been made. That … Continue reading PMA statement: Ticking the Consultation Box for the PHM’s `move’ to Parramatta

The facts about the Powerhouse Museum ‘move’. This paper takes the view that if we do not preserve and publicise the remarkable achievements represented by our heritage we have failed those that came before us, and what is worse, we have failed the generations to come. Also, the view is taken that the heritage and culture of … Continue reading The facts about the Powerhouse Museum ‘move’: Tom Lockley

Size does Matter: Shrinking the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta Kylie Winkworth, 26 June 2020 The size of the Powerhouse Precinct building at Parramatta has been continually misrepresented in public statements and media releases as larger than the real Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo. It is not.  The Powerhouse Museum’s exhibition space is being downsized at Parramatta … Continue reading Size does Matter: Shrinking the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta – Kylie Winkworth

Kylie Winkworth November, 2020 Read here, for a link to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and its reports and community responses, https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/project/26576?fbclid=IwAR0bB-du2l8qvLLOoTEoS-6fBmRsQNumHAwb5O2hQsqaoxFSoeAtba7vx1I Powerhouse Parramatta EIS and Response to Submissions SSD-10416 Heritage Impacts and Issues 1:  No Alternate Locations for the Parramatta Museum were Analysed in the EIS The RTS records that 91% of public submissions … Continue reading Heritage Impacts and Issues, Parramatta: Response to EIS Submissions – Kylie Winkworth

Rebuttal of the EIS/ RTS Site Assessment Requirements  Kylie Winkworth December 2020 Museum and heritage consultant, Powerhouse Museum Alliance Read here, for a link to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and its reports and community responses, https://www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/project/26576?fbclid=IwAR0bB-du2l8qvLLOoTEoS-6fBmRsQNumHAwb5O2hQsqaoxFSoeAtba7vx1I The Secretary’s Requirements (SEARS) for the EIS required the EIS to consider, among a range of social impacts, … Continue reading Rebuttal of the EIS/ RTS Site Assessment Requirements – Kylie Winkworth

Floodplain Manager Editorial by Steven Molino, 3 August 2020 Floodplain Manager is a publication provided by Molino Stewart, Environment and Natural Hazards specialists, to connect and inform floodplain managers throughout Australia and the world. See: https://molinostewart.com.au/floodplain-manager/  For this editorial see: https://molinostewart.com.au/editorial/floodplain-manager-july-2020/ See also: Kylie Winkworth, submissions to Select Committee Inquiry, No. 137a Ms Kylie Winkworth  and … Continue reading ‘Floodplain Manager’ Editorial, Powerhouse Parramatta – Steven Molino

Mystery at the Museum: The Missing Expert Committee Tom Lockley, 13 November, 2018 The idea of moving the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta is opposed, with excellent reasons, by what should be overwhelming forces, beginning with the National Trust. Public outrage forced the establishment of a Legislative Inquiry which has developed into one of the largest … Continue reading The Missing Expert Committee – Tom Lockley

Breaking up the Powerhouse Museum: 10 Years of the LNP at Work Posted on 13 May 2021 by Allison Hore in (red here:) City Hub Featured City Hub  0 Comments {photo} The same spot Perrottet and Harwin smiled for the cameras for the announcement the Powerhouse in Ultimo would stay (Photo: SMH), is today a construction site (Photo:Tom Lockley) Opinion … Continue reading Breaking up the Powerhouse Museum: 10 Years of the LNP at Work: Kylie Winkworth 13/5/21

Bulletin 46: edited by Tom Lockley, sent out 14 November and slightly revised on 24 November 2019. Over the past 3½ years 45 bulletins have been sent out to the members of an email group that includes nearly 200 people, with a wide range of experience and knowledge, but up till now including only factual … Continue reading ‘Moving’ the Museum: a disaster that must not happen – Tom Lockley

  FOR ILLUSTRATED VERSION, READ HERE:  PMA Australia ICOMOS JS Australia ICOMOS 2019 SYDNEY TALK SERIES NUMBER 6 Tuesday 1st October 2019 POLICY, POWER AND THE CULTURAL AND HERITAGE VALUES OF THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM KYLIE WINKWORTH AND JENNIFER SANDERS, POWERHOUSE MUSEUM ALLIANCE JENNIFER SANDERS THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM: ITS PLACE IN THE WORLD, OUR NATION, NEW … Continue reading Policy, power and the cultural and heritage values of the Powerhouse Museum – Jennifer Sanders

A tale of destructions: Notre Dame – Sydney International Exhibition Building – The Powerhouse Museum 17 May, 2019 The conflagration in April 2019 which consumed Notre Dame, the spiritual and emotional heart of Paris, is undoubtedly a cultural heritage disaster of epic proportions given the cathedral’s great age, beauty and its place in world history. … Continue reading The Powerhouse and Notre Dame: a tale of destructions – Jennifer Sanders

A: THE CASE AGAINST: THE NSW GOVERNMENT’S PLAN TO MOVE THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM TO PARRAMATTA B: THE CASE FOR: A DISTINCTIVE, NEW ‘CULTURAL BEACON’ IN PARRAMATTA Jennifer Sanders: update 1st February 2017 ___________________  A: THE CASE AGAINST:  THE NSW GOVERNMENT’S PLAN TO MOVE THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM TO PARRAMATTA The Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo:  since 1893 … Continue reading Briefing notes about the Powerhouse, an update: Jennifer Sanders

Kylie Winkworth                                                                                      2 December 2019 How much has been spent on consultants and … Continue reading The Consultants’ Picnic: consultant fees and related costs of the PHM to Parramatta Project – Kylie Winkworth

This paper, compiled by Debbie Rudder in October, 2017, identifies problems raised by experts who consistently draw attention to the extremely high flood risk at the proposed riverside site for the new MAAS in Parramatta, through the following documents:  Parramatta Council paper re flood risk (current document) SES submission to Greater Sydney Commission, 2017 Draft … Continue reading High risks for MAAS on Parramatta floodplain – Debbie Rudder

21 November 2018 The New Museum Western Sydney (NMWS) to be built from the rubble of the demolished Powerhouse Museum (PHM) is the ONLY museum development project anywhere in the world where the new museum and facilities will be smaller, less accessible and inferior to what the Powerhouse already owns at Ultimo. The PHM has … Continue reading Shrinking the Powerhouse to Parramatta: Lies, Spin and Delusions – Kylie Winkworth

28 September, 2018 ‘From the President – Moving the Powerhouse Museum’ President of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Ian Sloane, wrote to members in their September Bulletin: ‘I want to share with you the fact that the Council of your Society has resolved to oppose the relocation of the Powerhouse Museum from Ultimo … Continue reading Royal Society NSW: ‘From the President – Moving the Powerhouse Museum’

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: There is NO public interest purpose or museological case for moving the 240,000 objects stored on the PHM site at Ultimo to a less accessible location, remote from the museum’s public sites. Apart from the ludicrous costs and risks to the collection, for no cultural outcome whatsoever, such a move can only diminish … Continue reading Moving Museum Collections – Lindsay Sharp

Contents: Introduction: The Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta ‘move’ Summary of key facts and figures Part 1:  Inadequacies and implications of the NSW Government’s planning and development process and decisions   1.1 The NSW Government’s approach to planning and development 1.2 Governance: clients and manager 1.3  Lack of transparency 1.4 A comparison of Museum size and quality … Continue reading The Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta ‘move’, a critical view of the NSW Government’s planning and costing processes: Lindsay Sharp  

Tom Lockley – The Powerhouse Museum ‘move’ idea: FACTS 29 June, 2019 These facts have been consistently asserted over the past four years, and no contradictory material has emerged. On Monday 21 January the Premier, the Arts Minster and other politicians received, by mail and by email, a copy of these facts, with a covering … Continue reading The Powerhouse Move idea: Facts, June 2019 – Tom Lockley

Unfortunately, Arts Minister Don Harwin has been convinced that the Powerhouse Museum is no longer ‘fit for purpose’ as a modern exhibition venue. This untruth now haunts the museum’s Trustees, who have back-flipped recently, stating that they are keen to maintain a presence at Ultimo. Let’s look at the facts, and ask the question: is … Continue reading The big lie about the Powerhouse: Debbie Rudder

Tom Lockley is Convenor of the Pyrmont History Group PHM committee. He submitted Sections 1 and 2 of this paper to the Committee of Inquiry on 12 September 2017, and has since adapted it to share with others. [Note 28 May, 2018: see addition at end of document about the Parramatta Council’s Committee of Review … Continue reading Parramatta Council minutes document early concerns for proposed relocation of the Powerhouse Museum – Tom Lockley

Published in Artichoke, Australia’s interiors and design magazine, Issue no 55, June 2016, P14:  http://architectureau.com/magazines/artichoke/  ——————————————————————– Think about what inspired you on your first visit to Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. For me it was the moment I emerged through a tiny opening, high up in the vast industrial cavern of the repurposed turbine hall, and came … Continue reading Does the Powerhouse Have a Future? by Todd Packer

In mid-October, 2017, a position was advertised for a ‘Senior Development Officer: Museum Expert’ in Parramatta. See: AdDevManagerOct2017  also noted on 25 October, in https://powerhousemuseumalliance.com/find-out-more/a-news-chronology/ It was discovered shortly after that the City of Parramatta Council had placed the advertisement, but the circumstances remained unclear. For all those waiting in anticipation for the report on … Continue reading Parramatta project: questions of ownership, management and development procedure – Grace Cochrane

Darling Harbour, and surrounding area, is Sydney’s most important Transport, Engineering and Manufacturing Heritage Precinct. The former Ultimo Power House, currently preserved as part of the Powerhouse Museum, is critical to this precinct, firstly in its own right as heritage building, secondly an appropriate housing for the collections of large power technology, transport, engineering and … Continue reading The Significance of the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney’s Transport, Engineering and Manufacturing Heritage Precinct – Max Underhill

Following are key points regarding the Baird Government’s plans to relocate the Powerhouse to Parramatta and demolish the Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo. It is mystifying that such major and complex undertaking could be announced without a comprehensive business case or transparent evidence convincingly arguing the case for this unprecedented action. Since the announcement on 11 … Continue reading An assessment of costs and risks of the proposed relocation of the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta: Jennifer Sanders

Kylie Winkworth 29 January, 2020 Something shifted this summer as communities faced unprecedented bushfires. Quiet coastal villages, once an oasis for sleepy summers, were suddenly on the verge of the apocalypse. Inland from the fiery crisis the relentless drought rolls on, sucking the life out of the rivers, land and spirit. For many people these … Continue reading Taking out the Trash while NSW Burns – Kylie Winkworth

MOVING MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES: A BRIEF SURVEY When you search the internet for ‘museums that have been relocated’ and ‘museums that are being moved’: The only references to a large museum being relocated are for the Powerhouse Museum! Lots of media and Government announcements. The only other museum that turned up, large or small, is the … Continue reading Moving Museums: Jennifer Sanders

Briefing note: The Powerhouse Museum’s industrial and engineering heritage The Powerhouse Museum building is an important industrial heritage site, and it houses several large engineering objects of high heritage significance. The synergy between building and objects ensures a distinctive museum experience that inspires visitors to take an interest in technology. It helps them understand how … Continue reading Industrial and Engineering Heritage: Debbie Rudder

The government’s plans to develop a new museum in Parramatta are warmly supported. But the location, form, facilities and content of the new museum must be based on deep consultation with communities in Parramatta and western Sydney. And it should not be predicated on the closure and sale of the Powerhouse Museum at Ultimo. The … Continue reading Six Questions for the Premier on Transparency and Planning for the Development of a new Museum in Parramatta: Kylie Winkworth

Powerhouse Museum vandalism seems a monumental crime TREVOR KENNEDY, THE AUSTRALIAN, JUNE 15, 2015 12:00AM The Powerhouse Museum holds a wealth of information about the early days of colonisation. The NSW government seems to be determined to prosecute one of the most outrageous acts of vandalism we have seen in many years: the destruction of the Powerhouse … Continue reading Powerhouse Museum Vandalism: Trevor Kennedy

Q: When is a museum in or out of a cultural precinct? A : When the government wants to sell its site to developers This is the story of how Infrastructure NSW[i] helped to stitch up the case to sell off the Powerhouse Museum (PHM) in Ultimo. In just two years the Powerhouse Museum moved … Continue reading Infrastructure NSW, stitching up the case to sell the PHM: Kylie Winkworth

Speeches: Protest Rally, 10 December, 2016  At a further protest rally organised by the Save the Powerhouse lobby group held on the forecourt of the Powerhouse venue of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, eleven speakers discussed a range of compelling arguments for keeping the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, while looking at better options … Continue reading Rally Speeches: 10 December, 2016

Lionel Glendenning was one of eleven speakers at a further protest rally organised by the Save the Powerhouse lobby group held on the forecourt of the Powerhouse venue of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. They discussed a range of compelling arguments for keeping the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, while looking at better options … Continue reading Lionel Glendenning : Rally speech, Powerhouse Museum, 10 Dec 2016

Kylie Winkworth is a former Trustee, and was one of four former PHM staff who spoke with others at the Save the Powerhouse rally, May 28, 2016).         Photo: Rod Bamford Mike Baird says those who oppose the sell-off of the Powerhouse Museum are haters. This is one of Donald Trump’s favourite insults. Many of you here are … Continue reading Rally paper 1: Mike Baird’s Museum Demolition Plan: Kylie Winkworth

(Debbie Rudder was of four former PHM staff who spoke with others at the Save the Powerhouse rally, May 28, 2016) Debbie Rudder (second from left) with former PHM colleagues: Grace Cochrane, Paul Donnelly, Christina Sumner, Laurie Adams, Einar Docker, Jeannie Kitchener. Photo: G.C.   Something amazing happened right here in 1988. The Powerhouse Museum … Continue reading Rally paper 2: Save Ultimo Powerhouse: Debbie Rudder

Grace Cochrane was one of four former PHM staff who spoke with others at the Save the Powerhouse rally, May 28, 2016.                                                    Photo: Rod Bamford It is hard to believe that any government would want to be remembered as the one responsible for destroying so many things we all believe to be important. And yet, … Continue reading Rally paper 3: Expectations of audiences: Grace Cochrane

Lindie Ward was one of four former PHM staff who spoke with others at the Save the Powerhouse rally, May 28, 2016  Lindie Ward with ex-museum former colleagues: L-R:  Louise Mitchell, Carl Andrew, Kimberley Webber,  Lindie Ward.  Photo: G.Cochrane   I speak out as a former curator of the Powerhouse Museum. I would like to bring … Continue reading Rally paper 4: Speaking out! Lindie Ward

The remarkable diversity and cultural significance of the collection of Sydney’s Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences is easy to underestimate, simply because of its immeasurable breadth. The attached summary  MAAS collection 28Feb12 ,  incomplete though it surely is, was constructed by me in early 2012, in collaboration with my curatorial colleagues at that time, in an … Continue reading The MAAS Collection, scope, scale and endless delight: Christina Sumner OAM

Attached here, is a copy of my booklet, Heritage of the Powerhouse Museum , which is being distributed by the Pyrmont History Group. Its purpose is to demonstrate the heritage values of the Powerhouse Museum’s buildings. They are not fibro shacks that can be quickly bulldozed, but are beautifully built and must be preserved because of their … Continue reading Heritage of the Powerhouse Museum: Tom Lockley