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Daily 9.30am-5pm; $6.50; www.hht.nsw.gov.au. Martin Place CityRail. Next door to the old Royal Mint, the Hyde Park Barracks , designed by convict-architect Francis Greenway, was built in 1819 to house six hundred male convicts. Now a museum of the social and architectural history of Sydney, it's a great place to visit for a taste of convict life during the early years of the colony. Start at the top floor, where you can swing in recreations of the prisoners' rough hammocks. Computer terminals allow you to search for information on a selection of convicts' history and background - several of those logged were American sailors nabbed for misdeeds while in Dublin or English ports (look up poor William Pink). Later the Barracks took in single immigrant women, many of them Irish, escaping the potato famine; an exhibition looks at their lives, and there's a moving monument in the grounds erected by the local Irish community. Look out too for the excellent temporary historical exhibitions.
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