Seeing Sydney, Knowing Country: Museum of Sydney | 2025

Today, Sydney is known for its iconic harbour, scenic foreshores, bushland reserves, and ever-growing urban and suburban areas. But how were its landscapes experienced and understood in the past?

Seeing Sydney, Knowing Country explores the development of the NSW colony through a selection of significant historical maps, plans, sketches, artworks and objects – including the first land grant issued in the colony – from the Museums of History NSW and other institutional collections, alongside picturesque colonial landscape prints from the collection of Beat Knoblauch. Inscribed over this colonial perspective is an innovative artistic intervention by designer Alison Page that layers First Nations understandings of Country. Traditional owners’ knowledge of Country offers a way to gain a deep understanding of the landscapes we encounter in Sydney today.

This exhibition was developed in collaboration with Dharawal and Yuin artist and designer Alison Page, with input from the Sydney Coastal Aboriginal Women’s Group.