Plan your visit
Plan your upcoming visit to the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.
Event_
Guided tours
The perfect introduction to our collections, exhibitions and campus environment
Join us for a guided tour of the Museum or University of Sydney Campus. Our expert guides can introduce you to collection highlights or the Gadigal culture and history of the surrounding grounds.
Monthly Museum Highlights Tour
Join us for a one-hour guided tour of the highlights of the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
An expert guide will take you through our exhibitions, from visual arts to natural history, Mediterranean antiquities to Indigenous culture, and scientific instruments to historic photography. Come and find the unexpected with us in one of Australia’s most diverse museum collections.
Bookings essential
Price
Full: $15
Students and seniors: $10
Upcoming tours
Saturday 23 September, 2 pm, book here.
Saturday 28 October 2 pm, book here.
Saturday 25 November 2 pm, book here.
*Note that Saturday 26 August is University Open Day and the museum will run a program including free tours
Quadrangle Heritage Tour: Gargoyles and Grotesques
The Quadrangle represents the heart and soul of the Camperdown campus of the University of Sydney; the neo-gothic building is home to a rich history.
Between the gargoyles and grotesques, the sandstone and the stained glass are the stories of the architects, the scholars and students who have breathed life into the building.
The Oxbridge-imitation Victoria Gothic Revival style of 'The Quad' belies the fact the building was constructed in several phases, beginning in 1855 under the design of eminent colonial architect Edmund Blacket. It was at one stage the tallest building in Sydney.
The facade of the building also served as a backdrop for key moments in university and Australian history from royal visits and student protests, from graduations and enrolment days.
Discover the University's history as written in the architecture of this building; from Great Hall to clocktower with our expert guides.
The Old and The New
And additional half hour add-on tour is also possible with an additional tour of the Law School Building and/or the Anderson Stuart Building (Medicine).
Please note: access to the Great Hall or other areas of the Quad may on certain days not be possible due to graduations and other university activities.
Details
We are currently accepting groups. Tours can be booked for a minimum number of ten people Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) and run for approximately one hour. Bookings are essential and must be made at least two weeks in advance.
Price per person
Full: $15
Students and seniors: $10
University of Sydney groups
We offer a reduced rate for group tours booked by University staff. Contact us to organise a tour for your visiting scholars, conference delegates or committee members.
Contact
For enquiries, please contact our team.
Phone: +61 2 9351 8746
Email: museums.education@sydney.edu.au
Indigenous Heritage Walk
Join Koori guide and Museum Cultural Heritage Officer Uncle Jimmy Smith as he leads us across the campus, exploring the remarkable Indigenous history of the location and stories of the University’s historic relationship with community. Jimmy will touch upon the Sydney basin, the Freedom Rides, ritual and ceremony, bush medicines and the trees, astronomy and life in his imitable style. This is a unique opportunity to explore the campus and expand your perspective.
The walking tour covers the campus of the University of Sydney so wear comfortable shoes and sunscreen. In wet weather, the tour will focus on Aboriginal collections of the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
Bookings essential
Price
Full: $15
Students and seniors: $10
Upcoming tours
No future dates scheduled, please check back again.
Audio Descriptive Tours: Object/Art/Specimen
Audio Descriptive tours of our exhibition 'Object/Art/Specimen'. This event is tailored for people who are blind or have low vision.
All sessions are followed by an optional 30-minute activity and conversation with tea and coffee.
Booking is required
The exhibition Object/Art/Specimen brings together archaeology, art, ethnography, natural history and science. They are presented in a kaleidoscope of themes, revelling in the diversity of the collections and demonstrating their ongoing relevance in an interdisciplinary world. Six evocative themes explore human experience from ‘Sex, love, death’, to ‘Chaos, pattern, order’ and ‘Performance, ritual, belief’. This tour will focus on key works in the exhibition.
We will begin the session through audio description and strategies using tactile objects in the gallery. The tour will be followed by tea and coffee in the creative studio where we invite participants to engage in an informal discussion along with art making to trace some of the streams that run through the works.
The tour begins in the museum foyer.
Your tour will be lead by Dr Lisa Andrew
Lisa is an artist whose research-based practice and pedagogy centres on the potential of Audio Description (AD) for an inclusive audience by weaving close looking, writing and expression with access in mind. A multisensorial approach that does not privilege sight, which asks, what can Museums do for AD? And what can AD do for writing about art?
Upcoming audio descriptive tours:
Chau Chak Wing Museum tour for groups
Bring your group of ten or more friends and family, colleagues, members or other community group for a guided tour of the diverse and unique collections of the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
The Chau Chak Wing Museum is home to a wide range of collections covering natural history, visual arts, antiquities, historic photography and Indigenous cultural history. In this one-hour tour, our guide will take you on a journey through the exhibitions and provide context for the displays and highlight the cultural, historic and scientific items within the Chau Chak Wing Museum.
Experience the University’s collections and the stunning architecture of the Chau Chak Wing Museum, with the option of coffee and a snack at Sounds café before or after the tour.
Further information
Tours can be booked for a minimum number of ten people Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) and run for approximately one hour. Bookings are essential and must be made at least two weeks in advance.
Price per person
Full: $15
Students and seniors: $10
University of Sydney groups
We offer a reduced rate for group tours booked by University staff. Contact us to organise a tour for your visiting scholars, conference delegates or committee members.
Contact
For enquiries, please contact our team.
Phone: +61 2 9351 8746
Email: museums.education@sydney.edu.au
Featured image (top of the page): A tour group look at Coastline, with curator Dr Ann Stephen.
