Justice & Police Museum
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+61 2 9252 1144Description:
Given the city started life as a penal colony, where some of England's excess prisoners were sent, it's not surprising that a museum dedicated to policing and justice has flourished. This convict 'upbringing' has instilled a wary legacy of crime and prosecution in our psyche, which the museum documents and presents wonderfully.Housed within thick sandstone walls and behind fortified iron gates (the site was an actual police court during the 19th century), the museum contains all many of macabre mementos, including death masks of some of the city's more infamous criminals, as well as mugshots and various weapons. There's even a recreation of an 1890s police charge room, remand cells and magistrates court.
The museum often stages exhibitions. It's latest – Sin City: Crime and Corruption in 20th-century Sydney – documents that curious creature known as the Colourful Sydney Identity (the original CSI), who was just as likely to be a judge, journo, or jockey as much as a politician or policeman. The collection of photographs, interviews and newspaper clippings show just how much this city has sinned, and perhaps still does?
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