1001 Remarkable Objects

Overview

In our own ways, we all fill our homes with interesting items. That's what galleries and museums obviously do, too. Imagine what must sit in their collections — the things they can't always display, and often don't, but are worth holding onto for an array of reasons. Actually, hit up Sydney's Powerhouse Museum until Sunday, February 4, 2024 and you'll no longer simply have to wonder.

The Ultimo venue's latest huge exhibition is 1001 Remarkable Objects. That title is indeed descriptive, with the site's curators, led by curatorium chair Leo Schofield AM, diving into its vast store of pieces. Showcasing 1001 items might sound hefty, but there's a whopping 500,000 in the full collection, making those selections tricky work.

Free to attend, this exhibition spans a wide variety of objects — celebrity-worn outfits, mousetrap-making machines, ceramic peacock and more.

Four highlights were all once donned by someone, well-known names and samurais alike. Kylie Minogue's Sydney 2000 Olympics 'showgirl' costume is on display, as is Nicole Kidman's 'pink diamonds' Moulin Rouge! dress and, still on Baz Luhrmann, the 'fruity mambo' costumes from Strictly Ballroom the Musical. Or, you can peer at an Edo-period samurai warrior's armour.

Featuring pieces that've never been shown before, and filling 25 rooms, Schofield's selections also cover the only surviving fragment of the Lockheed Altair aircraft Lady Southern Cross that Sir Charles Kingsford Smith flew in 1935 on his final flight, that 1.5-metre-tall peacock from 1870s, a Detroit Electric car made in 1917 and part of the original transatlantic cable from 1858.

And, there's more than 100 pieces of jewellery, including mourning pieces crafted from human hair — plus a focus on glass, as gleaming through French and Venetian examples from the 1800 and 1900s, plus Australian and international glass artworks.

Images: Zan Wimberley.