Doing the maths on a new Sydney museum

I just read a New York Times article about New York’s latest museum – the Museum of Mathematics, or MoMath.

Now I love a good science museum; I freely admit to a complete and overwhelming bias. We spent last year travelling around the world and visiting science museums almost everywhere we went. I also admit I have real issues with the Powerhouse Museum which is not run as a world-class science museum. I am so jealous of cities in Asia, Europe and the US that have well-run, imaginative ways of engaging children and adults with science.

Anyway, it would be nice to think that Sydney in seeking that elusive ‘world-class city’ appellation would put some thought into creating and funding a decent range of museums. But it’s difficult, it takes vision and will and also practical things like some available space.  Hey, but what about Barangaroo Central? A huge hunk of space which doesn’t really have a function yet beyond becoming:

a stimulating place with civic, educational and recreation spaces and things to do. It will be an area for the community with buildings and open-air spaces for festivals, entertainment, arts, culture and educational activities.

Wow! That sounds perfect doesn’t it? There’s got to be scope there for a real science museum, maybe something focussing on technology and tied in with the old working harbour Sydney used to have? Or perhaps something with lots of hands-on activities built around the water that the area sits beside. Or, best of all, perhaps something easy to build that celebrates Sydney’s aim of being a creative centre, something like San Francisco’s superlative Creativity Museum.

Or maybe a high-roller casino to teach the extremely rich how to play the odds.

Which one will it be? Sigh. Ah well, we Sydneysiders might not have a MoMath, but we certainly know how to do the political maths…