Museums Discovery Centre
Museums Discovery Centre
4.5
About
The Museums Discovery Centre, Castle Hill is free and open to the public every weekend. Inside the Museums Discovery Centre you will find hundreds of treasures on display, and thousands more waiting to be discovered through booked tours of the deep collection stores. The Museums Discovery Centre is a collaboration between the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS), Australian Museum (AM) and Sydney Living Museums.
Duration: 1-2 hours
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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4.5
30 reviews
Excellent
14
Very good
12
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3
Poor
1
Terrible
0
Zero M
1 contribution
Mar 2024 • Family
If you've never been here before, you'll enjoy it, however, the grand opening of the "new" building is utterly dismal and disappointing. It is a storage facility that you can only look at through glass. The upper level is a massive open area for aboriginal art called Alchemy. Why it's called alchemy I have no idea. Since when did aboriginal art consist of cast iron pots and long felt robes?
Alchemy is the medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy whose aims were the transmutation of base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for diseases, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life, so ye that makes sense for aboriginal art. One of the areas in the old building that stored old TVs, appliances, toys and school desks has now been removed and replaced with a cafeteria.
Alchemy is the medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy whose aims were the transmutation of base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for diseases, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life, so ye that makes sense for aboriginal art. One of the areas in the old building that stored old TVs, appliances, toys and school desks has now been removed and replaced with a cafeteria.
Written March 29, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MosesPH
1,583 contributions
Sep 2020
Came here just after the lockdown when things were opening up again. They were offering free entry so came for a visit. It was a nice size and big enough to spend maximum 2 hours here and also lots of interesting things to look at. Definitely enjoyed it and have told others about it too. Will come back again if we have visitors to bring in future.
Written December 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Archaeobuff
Sydney, Australia2,033 contributions
Apr 2019 • Family
We arrived on a Friday in the school holidays and there were few people there. Which means my three grand kids (6 to 11) had it pretty much to themselves. They spent a good 75 minutes there oohing and ahhing and looking in every drawer and participating in the few interactive items. This is really the left overs museum from all the other museums in town. It does not lack any fascination for that. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and picked up some unique gifts at the little shop at reception.
Written April 26, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
David B
Greater Sydney, Australia32 contributions
Apr 2017 • Friends
The Museums Discovery Centre is part of the Powerhouse Museum, and contains a huge amount of exhibits that are not on show in Darling Harbour, but are "warehoused" in Castle Hill / Kellyville in a huge facility, until needed at the museum. It is not open to the public every day, but is very much worth a visit, when open.
Written March 4, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
icegolf
Australia147 contributions
Jan 2018 • Family
We enjoyed our visit to the museum there were many interesting exhibits for all ages and although I felt that many of the exhibits were crowded too close together.
Written January 23, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lgraham2013
Glenmore Park, Australia34 contributions
Dec 2016 • Family
The whole family enjoyed the time we spent here. You could take a whole day if you go through each section and read the captions on each exhibit. There were some people there who thought they were the only ones there and hogged certain experiences, which meant my children did not get a turn. I wasn't very happy about that. I think they need more staff around the place to ensure people move on and allow others to enjoys the exhibits too! Overall, a good day out. Cafe was OK. A little pricey and not much selection though.
Written December 28, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
mrdom
8,191 contributions
Aug 2024 • Solo
Rebranding as a Powerhouse branch but the signage doesn't mention that, plus access and signage is terrible, especially on foot, and transport here is awful and the surrounding area is very dangerous for pedestrians. If you make it, you get a nice small exhibit (they tried to give me an introductory spiel at the desk that probably would have been longer than it takes to see the museum but I just walked past), not always explained well but very interesting objects of many kinds. It's actually still focused on science and technology, whereas the Powerhouse has moved to favour things like fashion, but the one intrusive multimedia exhibit here, which startles you and then basically takes over the main room, was about, you guessed it, fashion.
Written August 23, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
dxbjamn
Kellyville, Australia369 contributions
Jul 2019 • Family
all the 'left overs' from other museums come here, but it's easily accessible, not crowded and has some brilliant exhibits. Very friendly staff.
Written July 21, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sinta
Marsden Park, Australia66 contributions
Jul 2019 • Family
We live nearby (ie 20 mins away), but new(ish) to the area. Trying to find activities for the kids over the holidays, and saw this museum. It’s a great place - educational and immersive. We took our two kids - 8 and 4 yrs old, and their friends who were the same age. It was a good opportunity to look at items and connect them to our family, like these were typewriters used at school etc. Would come back!
Written July 16, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lynne H
Sydney, Australia151 contributions
Jun 2019 • Friends
We recently took a Queensland visitor to this museum and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. A fascinating treasure trove of things from Australia's past. We could have spent a lot longer there than just a morning. Unfortunately it is not well signed on the surrounding streets and I feel should be advertised more.
Written July 16, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
When is the discovery centre re opening?
Written September 26, 2016
I do not know, sorry. I am currently away.
Written September 26, 2016
I do not know as I have been away for five weeks. It was to be late 2016. I have asked The discovery centre to answer.
Written September 26, 2016
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