The museums have hosted a number of permanent exhibitions, including many concerning different modes of transport and communication. to Sydney in January 1949
Key attractions The Powerhouse Museum houses a number of unique exhibits including the oldest operational
rotative steam engine in the world, the
Whitbread Engine. Dating from 1785, it is one of only a handful remaining that was built by
Boulton and Watt and was acquired from
Whitbread's London Brewery in 1888. This engine was named a
Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1986. Another important exhibit is
Locomotive No. 1, the first
steam locomotive to haul a passenger train in
New South Wales, built by
Robert Stephenson & Company in 1854. The most popular exhibit is arguably "The Strasburg Clock Model", built in 1887 by a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Smith. It is a working model of the famous
Strasbourg astronomical clock in
Strasbourg Cathedral (which at that time was called Strassburg or Strasburg). Smith had never actually seen the original when he built it but worked from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions. The Catalina Flying Boat
Frigate Bird II on display in the museum is the one that Sir
Patrick Gordon Taylor flew on the first flight from Australia to South America, in which he brought home 29 soldiers from
New Guinea in 1945. It is the largest suspended plane in any museum in the world, The use of Catalina flying boats by
Qantas Empire Airways after
World War II was significant in the development of Australia's commercial air services. , of
Saltley, Birmingham, England in 1854 and used on the
Sydney to Parramatta line from its 1855 opening
Transport in Transport Hall The transport exhibition looks at transport through the ages, from horse-drawn carts through steam engines, cars and planes to the latest hybrid technology. On display is
Steam Locomotive No. 1243, which served for 87 years, oldest contractor built locomotive in Australia. It stands beside a mock-up of a railway platform, on the other side of which is the
Governor of New South Wales's railway carriage, of the 1880s. Also in this exhibition is the original
Central railway station destination board, relocated to the museum in the 1980s when the station was refurbished. Powerhouse Museum restored the locomotives
3830, restored to operational order in 1997 and
3265, restored in 2009 after 40 years off the rails. Sydney's last
Hansom Cab was donated to the museum by its driver, who left it at the gates of the Harris Street building. There is also a horse-drawn bus and collection of motorbikes. Suspended aeroplanes, which can be viewed from balconies, include the
Catalina flying boat and a Queenair Scout, the first
Flying Doctor Service plane. Among the cars is a 1913 Sheffield Simplex, one of only 8 in the world. A four-minute film shows old footage of public transport. The Powerhouse Museum also has Sydney trams
C11 (1898),
O805 (1909),
R1738 (1938. 1st of its type), steam tram motor 28A, hearse car 27s and Manly horse car 292.
The steam revolution steam engine designed by
Boulton & Watt, England, 1784 This exhibition is remarkable in that nearly all of the engines on display are fully operational and are regularly demonstrated working on steam power. Together with the
Boulton and Watt engine, and the museum's locomotives, steam truck and traction engines, they are a unique working collection tracing the development of steam power from the 1770s to the 1930s. Engines on display include an 1830s
Maudslay engine, a Ransom and Jeffries agricultural engine and the
Broken Hill Fire Brigade's horse-drawn pump-engine. The museum owns a collection of mechanical musical instruments, of which the
fairground barrel organ is located in the steam exhibition, where it is powered by a small fairground engine.
Time and space space suit The most popular exhibit is arguably the museum's model of the
Strasbourg astronomical clock in
Strasbourg Cathedral (which at that time was called Strassburg or Strasburg). The reproduction is a working model built between 1887 and 1889 by a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Bartholomew Smith, who had never actually seen the original when he built it but worked from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions. The
Space exhibition looks at space and discoveries relating to it. It includes a life size model space-shuttle cockpit. It has a feature on Australian satellites and joins the Transport exhibit through an underground temporary exhibit walkway and two side entrances. The Powerhouse Museum has a 7 1⁄2-inch
Merz Telescope that was manufactured in 1860–1861.
Environment The
EcoLogic exhibition focuses on the challenges facing the environment, human impact, and ways and technologies to stop this effect. There is a house setup called Ecohouse where people toggle light variables to see the outcome as well as other energy use simulators and a 'ecological footprint' game. The exhibition includes a section of a tree with a
time line marked on its rings, dating back to the 17th century.
Computers and connections typewriter, featured in the permanent collections of the Powerhouse Museum, as well as the
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Museum of Modern Art, and
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York; and London's
Design Museum and
Victoria and Albert Museum The 'Interface: people, machines, design' explores how humans have been impacted by technology. A gallery of computing technology from the typewriter to the Tamagotchi. It explores successful and not-so successful design approaches made in the computing technology world.
Experimentations "Experimentations" is a science exhibition and contains interactive displays demonstrating aspects of magnetism, light, electricity, motion and the senses. These include a machine that explains how chocolate is made and lets one taste four 'stages' of chocolate. There is a full-sized model of the front of a firetruck that measures the pedal-power used to sound its horn and lights, and a hand-powered model railway using a magnetic system to provide electric current to the track. One of the most popular features is a
plasma ball that shows the electric current through the glowing gas inside it, and changes when touched.
Art and industry (1988) The museum holds an extensive and significant collection of
Doulton ware and other ceramics, as well as industrial equipment and industrial design, such as furniture. ==Temporary exhibitions==