Actually, the Barracks sleep-in is directed at school students, not adults,
and yes, they do have a ghost - after all, they were a convict, not a
military barracks.  Sydney Observatory also does special sleep-over nights.
They were the first museum in Australia to do so.

CAMP-INS AT SYDNEY OBSERVATORY

These have been running successfully over a number of years (approximately 6
years).

They are geared for students attending secondary school. They are run twice
a year, in the summer and winter school
holidays with 20 students attending each camp-in.  At times if the demand is
great then two are run per holiday.

The aim of these camp-ins is for the students to have as much access to the
telescopes as possible.  The program
varies whether it is winter or summer, and naturally we have a cloudy/wet
weather alternative.

The students arrive at about 1800 and leave the next day at 0900.  On
arrival they have orientation time and settling in.
We do several activities including making a planisphere, a planetarium
session,  showing and accessing up-to-date
images on the Internet, using our astronomical computer programs, using both
the refracting and reflecting telescopes.
The reflecting telescope is computer driven and many celestial objects can
be found using this.

Food and drink are provided including dinner, supper, fruit, nibbles and
breakfast.  The students place their personal
belongings including their sleeping bags in various areas of the
observatory.  They have the choice after midnight: to
work with the computer driven telescope and do viewing,  to watch "astronomy
related" videos,  or to sleep.

The cost for the camp-in is $50 or $45 if the parent is a concession card
holder.  The camp-in is quite staff intensive as
a lot of the work is conducted in small groups under supervision.  Two or
three staff are present all night with casual
guide lecturers coming in to do the specialist work.

There has been one adult overnight conducted,  "Long Day's Journey into
Night". The time spent at the observatory was
shorter, dinner was not provided and  less supervision was needed.  This was
a very successful event and will be
repeated.  The cost was $30.

Heleanor Feltham  Sydney Mint Museum & Jeanie Kitchener Sydney observatory
[log in to unmask]

 ----------
From: daemon
To: MUSEUM-L
Subject: Re: Camp-ins--the haunted house idea
Date: Thursday, 24 October 1996 9:02AM

I wonder if the Old Melbourne Gaol does camp-ins, as it would be a MOST
spooky
place to spend the night, especially with the actual gallows at one end of
the
gallery, all the death masks in the various cells on the ground floor, one
of
Ned Kelly's suits of armour, etc., - and the staff are firmly convinced that
it
IS haunted.

An interesting overnight experience can be found at Sydney, NSW's Hyde Park
Barracks, the old convict barracks which is one of the oldest buildings in
Australia. It is directed at adults, who spend a night in a hammock in one
of
the old dormitories, where they are locked in for the night, fed a typical
convict/settler's breakfast the next morning and then marched down to the
harbour for a sail round the harbour. If ever a building ought to be
haunted,
it's this one! It's operated by NSW Historic Houses Trust, which operates a
number of other fascinating properties and museums in the state.

Harry Needham
Canadian War Museum