«Since its origins in 1879 in the Sydney International Exhibition, the Powerhouse Museum has striven to be a museum of the people, providing a cultural storehouse for the products of art and industry that would instruct and inspire visitors from all walks of life. Design has been the unifying theme over the past 125 years, a theme with many different facets including economic and industrial advancement, functionalism, national identity, modernism, cultural diversity, internationalism, new media, cultural renaissance and sustainability – all expressed in the museum’s diverse collection. The Powerhouse will continue to promote the centrality of design as a means of shaping the future to meet diverse demands in an increasingly challenging world.»
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
ref. Jennifer Sanders, Design Museums of the World, catalogue of the exhibition, Neues Museum in Nuremberg, 2004