Hyde Park Barracks

Designed by convict architect Francis Greenway, these barracks were completed in June 1819. Macquarie was so impressed by Greenway's design that he gave him a full pardon.
Macquarie noted that since opening, "not a tenth part of the former Night Robberies and Burglaries" occurred. But others complained that collecting "depraved and desperate characters" in one area had just condensed the problem. Originally designed for 600 men, up to 1400 men were housed in the Barracks at any one time. Around 30,000 men and boys passed through the Barracks between 1819 and 1848.
Convict transportation ended in 1840, and in 1848 the Barracks became the Female Immigration Depot, the Orphan Institution until 1852, and the Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women between 1862 and 1886. In 1886 the women were moved out and the courts expanded into the site.
Conservation works in the 1980s unearthed about 100,000 artifacts preserved for over 150 years under the floorboards. Since the restoration the Barracks have been open to the public as a museum. The clock is the oldest public clock in Australia, and still wound by hand every week.
In 2010 the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.