University of Sydney

Newtown & the Inner West


Australia’s oldest tertiary institution (1850) has around 50,000 students and boasts its own postcode. You don’t need a PhD to grab a free campus map and wander around. Flanked by two grand halls that wouldn’t be out of place in Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, the sandstone Quadrangle has a Gothic Revival design that tips its mortarboard towards the stately colleges of Oxford. The excellent Nicholson Museum will merge with other university collections in the new Chau Chak Wing Museum in 2020.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Newtown & the Inner West attractions

1. Nicholson Museum

0.03 MILES

Within the University of Sydney's quadrangle, this is a great under-the-radar attraction. Combining modern ideas with ancient artefacts, it's an…

2. Chau Chak Wing Museum

0.11 MILES

This new museum at the University of Sydney is scheduled to open in mid-2020. It will combine the three former university museums and greatly expand the…

3. Victoria Park

0.22 MILES

The green gateway to the Inner West and the University of Sydney, Victoria Park is a 9-hectare grassy wedge revolving around pondlike Lake Northam and…

4. Verge Gallery

0.26 MILES

Part of the University of Sydney, this gallery has two exhibition spaces that show challenging, often avant-garde exhibitions by contemporary artists…

5. Carriageworks

0.59 MILES

Built between 1880 and 1889, this intriguing group of huge Victorian-era workshops was part of the Eveleigh Railyards. The rail workers chugged out in…

6. White Rabbit

0.66 MILES

In many ways Sydney's best contemporary-art gallery, White Rabbit is tucked away behind the Central Park development in Chippendale. It's the project of…

7. Central Park

0.69 MILES

Occupying the site of an old brewery, this major residential and shopping development is a striking sight. Most impressive is Jean Nouvel's award-winning,…

8. Mortuary Station

0.78 MILES

This ornate disused Victorian sandstone station used to be the departure point for funeral trains out to the Rookwood cemetery in Sydney's west. It's a…