Surging popularity at Powerhouse Museum rebuts 'reckless' move to Parramatta

Surging crowds to the Powerhouse Museum have cruelled government claims that it must be moved to Parramatta to arrest its "rapid decline", with visitors to its inner-city site growing by a third. 

Almost 570,000 people visited the Ultimo museum in 2015-16, a 33 per cent increase on the previous year. The Powerhouse's performance outpaced that of the Art Gallery of NSW, Australian Museum and Sydney Opera House.

Popular exhibition The Art of the Brick: DC Comics helped to drive visitor numbers at the Powerhouse Museum. Photo: Peter Rae

The strong result countered repeated claims by Arts Minister Troy Grant that the museum was in "rapid decline" and must be moved west because fewer people were using it. 

Greens MP David Shoebridge, who is deputy chairman of a parliamentary inquiry into museums and galleries, said the Powerhouse's soaring patronage showed the government should scrap the controversial move.

"These figures prove just how much the people of Sydney and visitors love the Powerhouse Museum," he said.

"Only a truly reckless government would destroy a museum site that has seen a 33 per cent increase in attendance."

Shoebridge said relocating the Powerhouse to Parramatta would cause a decline in visitors from regional NSW.

"For regional visitors it is a step backwards in terms of access to have a major museum moved from the centre of Sydney to Parramatta," he said. "If the museum is moved it will almost certainly see a drop-off in the proportion of visitors from outside Sydney."

Arts Minister Troy Grant, Powerhouse director Dolla Merrillees and Premier Mike Baird near the proposed relocation site for the museum.  Photo: Louise Kennerley

Dubbo mayor Cr Mathew Dickerson said in March that people from regional NSW did not want to visit western Sydney: "When people are coming to Sydney, they're usually coming for services and facilities in Sydney, not in western Sydney."

The museum enjoyed 569,186 visitors in 2015-16, according to its annual report, almost half of whom came from outside Sydney.

The Powerhouse Museum recorded a 33 per cent surge in visitors for 2015-16 over the previous year. Photo: Powerhouse Museum

But a spokesman for Grant insisted that moving the museum to western Sydney would further increase visitors. He cited a decline in patronage between 2007-08 and 2013-14. Visitor numbers have since bounced back by 49 per cent.

The spokesman attributed this improvement to the introduction of free admission for children and a "renewed management team" under director Dolla Merrillees. "Ms Merrillees is leading the charge on the museum's relocation to Parramatta, which will bring even more visitors through its doors," he said.

The Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), which includes the Powerhouse and Sydney Observatory, reported a 28 per cent increase in visitors to 730,000, "driven by strong attendance at Powerhouse Museum most of the year".

The Powerhouse marked one of its most popular summer seasons in recent history, driven by 164,000 visitors to the exhibition The Art of the Brick: DC Comics.

The museum's popularity in 2015-16 overshadowed increases in patronage to the Australian Museum (up 7 per cent), the Art Gallery of NSW's Domain site (up 5.7 per cent) and the Sydney Opera House (up 4.9 per cent).

The MAAS did not respond when asked whether the latest visitor figures would be included in the business case for the relocation to Parramatta. 

Labor arts spokesman Walt Secord, meanwhile, called for a formal inquiry after the MAAS was forced to reveal it spent $268,000 on overseas trips by staff from 2011-12 to 2015-16.

The details were provided to the parliamentary inquiry after a protracted freedom of information process.

"At a time when arts organisations are desperate for funds, it is very surprising that the Powerhouse would spend more than a quarter of a million dollars on travel," Secord said.

An MAAS spokeswoman said overseas travel was essential for "exhibition development and negotiation, collections loans, object couriers and attendance at meetings and conferences".