I have been wondering how Berejiklian was going to get herself out of this one. When the CFMEU recently refused to demolish the heritage houses at Parramatta, she was snookered.

QUOTE: The Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo has been thrown an extraordinary 11th-hour lifeline and will not close but instead operate across two sites, including one in western Sydney.

Five years after the move was first announced by her predecessor, Gladys Berejiklian's government will abandon plans to sell the Ultimo property and will now use the Parramatta site as a second Powerhouse location.

Her staff are quoted as saying that Berejiklian has only set foot in the Powerhouse once and found it boring.

However, I will give her credit for dumping another of Baird's dopey ideas, albeit only when forced to either by a court or a trade union.

Its surprising how many people have never been there , I have always taken the Kids there ,But I have met Tons of people that have never been there . Well to each there own I guess , Ive never been to a football match !! Thank Goodness!

Pete

I wasn't necessarily against the idea of the museum heading west but my issues were with what would end up on the existing site - most likely handed over to the luvvies to create yet another arts centre that Sydney does not need and the new site was a bit unsuitable for heritage displays given that it was a big white building on stilts.

I am amazed at how many architects who say that something cannot be done and when it was claimed the other day that it was not possible to keep the old buildings and build around them I just shook my head in disbelief. In The Rocks, there is a residential tower bein built right next to a row of terraces and each terrace has been preserved and will be structurally seperate to the new building. Why can't this happen in Parramatta?

I've been to the Powerhouse Museum once, being about ten years ago. The railway displays are quite comprehensive and the site it is on, which was originally the Ultimo Power Station, is fit for purpose.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

The thing about the Powerhouse Museum is that it is nowhere near where the bulk of Sydney's people live!
The other thing is the amount of exhibits that no one ever see's as they are in storage and never see the light of day.

The whole thing is driven by people that are city centric and still have not realised there is something past Redfern if you go West!
They cluster in the city and worry more about rainbow fairys and bicycle lanes.

Just like the Airport in thinking, the argument there was "nobody would need an second Airport out in the far West like Blacktown and why would people travel that far to catch a plane?" SERIOUSLY!
My London friends just laugh at us. The last time I counted there were about 10 airports about London within the same area as Sydney!
We have about 2.5 if you count the RAAF base.

Now they use the same argument for a Museum. Why would you drive from Potts Point to Paramatta to go to a Museum?
I say old chap, that's just not on! Out there with those..western people........they dont wash...........

We should have SIX Museums in the Sydney area and at least TWO major installations.
The Powerhouse is great, I used to drive in from Toongabbie straight to the car park and bingo you are there.
BUT, now its a nightmare to drive there (Just like a Zoo visit) so I dont.

If we had a Major installation at Paramatta with good train or road access I would go.
How about shifting the Train Exhibition, the Flight Exhibition with Hargreaves stuff out for starters?
After all Paramatta is WHERE it all happened! Sydney got dumped as the center back in 1820 somehow nobody seems to have noticed!

Fred.

Fred , That's true about storage they have tons of stuff nobody ever gets to see . I was involved in Restoring a Car for the powerhouse and its rarely seen upstairs its in the Basement with all the other stuff , Only twice did I get to show it to my Kids

pete

I won't begrudge London a few extra airports as they have three times the population of Sydney to make it viable but that is another good point about the museum. It has so much stuff that it all has to take turns to be on display and a lot of it can be missed.

Now that trams are about to come back to Parramatta, they should build the museum along the new line. There's dozens of hectares of wasteground along the Sandown line where Goodyear, James Hardie and the like once were. Build it there and build it big I reckon. But there is no reason why the new and old sites cannot co-exist. Keep the steam related stuff in Ultimo and move the rest to Parramatta, so it call can be appreciated.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Canberra has Amazing museums, The National Australia Museum has this mind-blowing 3D world,, where "you" design a car and a House on a Computer and then you go into this 3D Cinema with everybody else , You than have to hold on to the railing and everybody views your Design in a 3D moving movie type film on a Convex theatre Screen
Its Fantastic! I have taken lots kids there for work and my own Kids .. They love it !
Hands-on is Important for Kids . Pete

what would end up on the existing site

My guess is a 30 storey block of apartments.

I have only been to the Powerhouse Museum once.

My mistake was to take the family. Seriously, it was like herding cats. Better to go alone.

I did love what I got to see, apart from having to endure the "Lego display," that was on at the time.

Wayne.

I went to the Power House Museum back in the 90's when they had the Russian Space exhibition there.
It was absolutely fascinating.
I spent the whole day there and enjoyed it immensely.
I was so pleased when I heard it had been given a reprieve.