History House Closing for Lift Works History House will be temporarily closed from 19 October 2026 until March 2027 as we prepare for the installation of our new lift. The new lift is another important step in making History House more accessible and welcoming for everyone. While our doors are closed, the RAHS will still be busy! Our team will continue to answer emails and voicemail messages, and we have a range of online events and excursions planned over the coming months. Members will...

New Lift and Upgrades Planned for History House With the new roof complete, we are turning our attention to the next major stage of work at History House: installing a new internal lift. The lift will improve disability access and make History House easier to visit. It has been ordered through Harwel, a lift company based in Gloucester, New South Wales. The lift is being specially manufactured in Spain to fit within the existing lift shaft while meeting current accessibility requirements. Once...

An evening to celebrate the new roof and look ahead to the new lift Members, donors and supporters gathered at History House on 16 June 2026, in person and online, to mark the completion of the new copper roof. RAHS President Carol Liston AO opened the evening by reminding everyone why this roof mattered so much. Without it, History House faced a real risk of water damage, the kind that could have put the library, the collections, and the heritage fabric of the building in danger. Then came...

History House Update: January 2026 Members and visitors may notice public signage relating to proposed basement works outside History House. These notices have been placed by the City of Sydney as part of the Development Application process. The application is now on public exhibition, with further details available online via the City of Sydney ePlanning website. Roof works The roof works are now almost complete, with a small amount of additional work scheduled to commence next week on the...

A View from the Top: External Roof Works Begin Back in July 2025, the Royal Australian Historical Society shared the exciting news that we’d received $112,790 in funding from the NSW Government’s Caring for State Heritage Grants program. The announcement featured the Hon. Penny Sharpe, MLC, Minister for Heritage, standing proudly in front of History House as we celebrated this important investment in conserving our much-loved heritage building. This week, the external roof works started. This...