Too much tech - a visit to Sydney’s upgraded Hyde Park Barracks museum

Sydney's Hyde Park Barracks (1819) is one of the city's most important heritage buildings. In 2019, the World Heritage listed former convict barracks closed for an $18 million bicentennial renovation. It’s open again and we recently headed back for a look at the upgrade.

World Heritage listed Hyde Park Barracks in the heart of Sydney, is a striking piece of early 19th century architecture connecting with the city's early convict past, women in the colony across the 19th century, and the dispossession of the city’s indigenous people.

I've visited Hyde Park Barracks numerous times in the past and was excited to see what $18 million would look like as an investment in a museum upgrade - especially in one of Sydney's most precious heritage assets.

Sydney Living Museums, the people who run Hyde Park Barracks and other historical sites across Sydney, brought in exhibition and media designer, Local Projects, to design the new experience. The New York based firm was commissioned to bring "contemporary interpretative techniques, immersive installations and unconventional interactive elements."

Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Sydney

Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Sydney - superb original features.

I came away from my recent visit a tad underwhelmed by the upgrade.

At the heart of the new “experience” is a high-tech audio guide that tracks you through the museum. Sensors detect your movement and automatically trigger audio presentations in each location.

The first rule of fancy tech is that it must work. In my case, the audio presentation kept jumping from one exhibit to another if I took a step back or forward. And the devices, that looked like iPhones, had no manual controls. So I couldn't manually return to a particular segment in a presentation, or repeat something of special interest. It felt a little too clever and not as functional or flexible as I would like. I mentioned this to staff as I left and their reaction seemed to indicate that other visitors had encountered the same issues.

Had the technology worked smoothly, I would still have been frustrated by the rigidity of the experience. There are almost no written words in the museum. This was a design decision of big consequence. Visitors follow a course set by the audio guide and the visual experience - minus text.

Author and Sydney historian Ian Hoskins told me, "The first thing that struck me was the absence of text, whether in the form of interpretative panels or object labels. With little or no context the objects - tools, clothing, clay pipes - become props in a narrated 'experience' rather than centrepieces in themselves."

The best museum experiences allow for both superficial skimming and deep dives, depending on the interests of the visitor. Museums can't hope to be able to adequately cover the range of visitor expectations from school groups to educated history buffs, in a single narrative. But that's what the new barracks fitout seems to be attempting.

Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Sydney

Nothing in my decades of visiting museums across the world has convinced me that it is time to remove text from the museum experience. While I don't doubt that the appetite for text may be decreasing in many traveller segments, I still see museum visitors of all ages devouring text panels. Text enables museums to broaden their outreach to different traveller interests.

I'm reminded of a developing world museum that recounts a traumatic story, the Tuol Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh. Tuol Sleng operates on a modest budget, but the core buildings and displays are impactful. It's not uncommon at Tuol Sleng to see tourists of all ages engaging for long periods with text-intensive panels. My experience is that when the story is compelling, there will be an appetite for text and depth. Text provides a better means of retention of information - assuming that is a priority. Like Hyde Park Barracks, Tuol Sleng is a deeply atmospheric setting that provokes engagement. Unlike Hyde Park Barracks, a lot less than $18 million was spent on creating the visitor experience.

Reading panels of text - Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh

Reading panels of text - Tuol Sleng Museum, Phnom Penh

The languages of Australia’s key international tourism markets are overlooked in the audio tour as well, negating the obvious advantage that audio tours provide for multilingual presentation. How can Australia in 2020 be producing big-budget museum upgrades that are not multilingual? (Sydney Living Museums advises that a Mandarin version of the audio tour is in the pipeline).

The thematic emphasis taken in the new presentations - convict life, indigenous dispossession and women, all work well. The presentations are fine too - as far as they go. The display installations in some rooms felt heavy handed and unaware of the untreated quality of Hyde Park Barracks as a setting.

I don't want to be too negative. I enjoyed my visit and love the Hyde Park Barracks structure and setting. The $18 million price tag created an expectation that I felt went unmet. I recommend you check out Hyde Park Barracks for yourself. Tickets are $24 with a discount for residents of New South Wales.