Entrance Nicholson Museum, Sydney University

Sir Charles Nicholson was one of the founders of the University of Sydney.  He was a visionary collector, dedicated to bringing the cultural wealth of England and Europe to Australia so that for centuries to come descendants of the people who migrated here from that part of the world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, would understand the traditions associated with their collective cultural heritage.

In 1856 Nicholson travelled to Egypt and Europe where he bought many artifacts, which were readily available for purchase at the time. In 1860 these objects were moved from Nicholson’s house to three rooms in the Sydney University Quadrangle and the Nicholson Museum was founded. The collection of the Nicholson Museum has been expanded over the years through fund-raising,  bequests, acquisitions and excavations, resulting in collections of artifacts from Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Egypt, the Near and Middle East.

Nike earrings, 200 BC courtesy Nicholson Museum, University of Sydney

Located in rooms that form part of Sydney University’s original Gothic Revival Style Quadrangle it was my privilege for many years to work with a committee of dedicated people raising funds to assist the expansion of its collections and to aid scholarly international research. We belonged to the Institute for Classical Archaeology guided over by much respected Alexander Cambitoglou AO, Emeritus Professor of Classical Archaeology and Emeritus Curator of the Nicholson Museum and, Director of the Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens.

Today at the Nicholson Museum everyone has an opportunity to wonder at the richness of its collections and enjoy being transported to different worlds without having to pack a bag or catch a plane.

If you haven’t been make a date to go soon. The good thing is that because of many of the Nicholson’s initiatives it remains FREE to the public.

When you go look out for my favourite artifact in the museum. It is a small blue faience tile, which depicts a man in Ancient Egypt (19th or 20th Dynasty New Kingdom 1570 – 1070 years before Christ) taking his dog for a walk on a lead.

It gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘walkies’.

The Nicholson Museum
Location: Quadrangle A14
Free Admission

Enquiries Curator Michael Turner
(02) 9351 2812 michael.turner@sydney.edu.au

Carolyn McDowall February 2010, updated June 2011

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It seemed poetic on Saturday that, as I was working on the production of the Roman epoch and destruction of Vesuvius in 79AD by the forces of nature, when wild storms unleashed their full fury on Melbourne.

Huge golf ball size hailstones cut swathes through people enjoying the festivities at Flemington races and those at the Moomba festival set up alongside the banks of the Yarra and they were covered physically with cuts all over their legs and arms to prove it.

Parents cowered in doorways shielding children while everyone ducked for cover just like the residents of Pompeii had done, to no avail, so long ago.  Flinders street became a river, while the accumulation of hailstones formed a giant iceberg on the glass roof of the cities main central station and down it came.

At South Yarra my son was forced to quickly tape up our glass windows in case they shattered inward and we were reduced to sitting and talking, which we both admitted later was a wonderful experience.  The power failed for hours giving us time for reflection and reading while also reminding us vividly of how crippled our civilisation is when energy sources failed.

It also strengthened and confirmed how important is the retention of knowledge and what can happen when it is lost. As darkness approached and we lit our candles it reminded us of the European dark ages, where often for so many of its inhabitants,  all must have seemed completely lost. Then suddenly, as a symbol of hope, the lights came on.

As the rain and gale force winds subsided my son returned to his world of websites while I returned to the land of which 19th century swoon poet Lord Byron said… ‘Oh Italia, thou hast the fatal gift of beauty……the orphans of the heart must turn to thee.

Carolyn McDowall at Melbourne – March 2010

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1. Hell hath no Fury…fire, why do we not learn from what has gone before?
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3. Brisbane – in the aftermath of nature’s fury