Sunday is crime time

August 1, 2006 at 2:58 pm | Posted in Sydney, Travel | 2 Comments
Tags: review

On Sunday I went with Amy, Tam and Jason to the Justice and Crime Museum, a series of interconnected colonial buildings nestled above Circular Quay and amongst the gleaming towers of the new city. In brief, this is an opportunity to learn about Sydney’s crime, justice and punishment and is a good outing but you can only do it on the weekend and have to pay.

I really enjoyed the experience, even though I’m quite new to the city, myself and my more seasoned Sydney-sider friends were all interested in photos and events occurring on familiar streets and locations. It was very much a “I know that place!” moment.

At the time we went they were showing an exhibit on historic crime scene photographs. Given space restrictions they displayed them via a projector in three different themes with a (monotone) voice-over. While I didn’t feel like sitting through half an hour’s worth it was interesting to watch for a few minutes. You can always come back before you leave.

I will make a special note of the Shrine of Remembrance for NSW police officers who died in the line of duty. Each of the names was read over the speakers with a summary of the events leading to their deaths and it was quite moving and set up I had not seen at other shrines before.

In one room devoted to forensics is a large box (I don’t recall the metal) that housed the “Pyjama Girl” a woman who’d been murdered and her body subsequently left on display at the University of Sydney’s medical school until her identity was determined. Slightly surreal. 

While I was enjoying wandering around towards the end I was getting a tad bored, luckily one of the tour guides, David, started telling us anecdotes. They were engaging and the human element helped to spark my brain back into gear again for the remainder of the museum. I was particularly surprised by the story of the school girls who had to go back to class straight after one of their classmates had been shot and killed in the school chapel.

Try out the museum, I think you’ll be suprised.  

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