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Photo: Prajwal433, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
One of Sydney's greatest assets, from in front of the State Art Gallery, out to Mrs Macquaries chair, across to Farm Cove and onto the Sydney Opera House. The Gardens back onto the historic Sydney Hospital and Parliament House. This is the oldest scientific institution in the country and home to an outstanding collection of plants from Australia and overseas. The Domain surrounds the Royal Botanic Gardens. The walk along the harbour's edge (Farm Cove) from the Opera House (Queen Elizabeth II gate) to Mrs Macquarie's Chair (Yurong Gate) is for many the epitome of a Sydney experience. The Gardens have an example of the Wollemi Pine, raised from a seed collected from a handful of trees discovered in the wilderness and unchanged since the dinosaurs. A tropical pyramid holds examples of tropical vegetation in a controlled humidity atmosphere. See the rose garden, herb garden and succulent section. The collection has many varieties of Australian plants and grasses. During the summer months there are often open air night time film screenings inside the Botanic Gardens, entry charges normally apply to those screenings.
The Royal Botanic Garden is a heritage-listed major 30-hectare (74-acre) botanical garden in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia.
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A walk around the Royal Botanic Garden with an Aboriginal guide who will tell you about native plants that have been used by Aboriginal Australians for generations, as food, medicine, and tools. You can sample a few on the way, including fruits and herbs. Book in advance.
Includes a large exhibition space with changing artistic, historical and cultural exhibits. The Mitchell Reading Room is a historical large open book-lined room, and worth a look inside. The reference library is a modern addition, and really only of interest for research. The library collection includes a copy of every volume published in New South Wales, and many rare texts. There is a cafe on the ground floor near the entrance to the reference library and the bookshop.
Flinders' Cat
A bronze statue of Trim, the cat who accompanied Matthew Flinders on his voyages to circumnavigate and map the coastline of Australia from 1801 to 1803.
Built as a police station to Court in 1856, and closed in 1886, the museum has now been restored to its 1890s facade displaying its theme of crime and punishment.
A stately home in the Botanic Gardens. The official residence of the Governor of New South Wales (the state's representative for the British Monarch). Open to the public Fridays & weekends.
Built on the site of the first Government House, erected in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip and demolished in 1846. The remains of the building were excavated after rediscovery in 1983 and the original foundations can now be viewed through glass floor panels in the museum. Fascinating changing exhibitions of art and photography, films and state-of-the-art technology spin stories of colonial life, Aboriginal culture, environment, trade, authority / law and everyday dramas and dreams in early Sydney. The Museum of Sydney Cafe, by the museum entrance is not really part of the museum, and is much more a restaurant than a cheap and casual cafe.