Sydney Attractions

Venue: Powerhouse Museum    When: Daily

The largest museum in Australia and one of the most diverse in the world, Sydney's Powerhouse Museum displays everything from science and technology to decorative arts and Australia's history. Of its 400,000 exhibits, only three per cent are on display at any one time. The heaviest - at 200 tonnes - is Locomotive 3830, while the biggest is a Catalina Flying Boat.

Pre-empting London's Tate Modern by some 12 years, Sydney's aptly named Powerhouse Museum opened in 1988 in what was formerly the Ultima Power Station, originally built between 1899 and 1902. Its purpose was to provide power for Sydney's new electric tram system, but when the last tram stopped running in 1961, the Power Station closed.

The breadth of subjects covered by the permanent exhibitions alone is pretty staggering: everything from collections of decorative art and a history of Australian society and domestic life to the story of Australia's involvement in the Space Race. Then there are the many temporary exhibitions and such remarkable features as the Strasburg Clock - despite being over 100 years old (it was built in 1888), the clock's models still perform at regular intervals throughout each day.

For the under eights, the museum has special Kids Interactive Discovery Spaces (or KIDS), where they can have fun getting involved in games and activities which explore the themes found elsewhere in the museum. Each KIDS unit introduces children to a different topic, ranging from listening to and creating music to Australian families' lives in the past.

Perhaps best of all is the King's Cinema, where children and adults can delight in screenings of classic silent movies and early "talkies", in a cinema built in an Art Deco style and featuring some original fittings from 1930s movie theatres.

In all there are 22 permanent exhibition rooms, with a further five available for temporary exhibitions, let alone the Sydney Observatory, which also forms a part of the Powerhouse Museum extensive remit.