Museum sights in Melbourne
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Johnston Collection
The collection of sharp-eyed antique dealer William Johnston is on show in this characteristic East Melbourne mansion. Rooms are decorated in an English country-house style, and also highlight specific interior-decorating fashions from last century – almost as fascinating as the pieces themselves. Visits come with a sense of mystique; for privacy reasons, you need to book a tour and be picked up from the nearby Hilton on the Park rather than just rocking up to the door. Tours depart three times daily; phone to reserve a place.
reviewed
-
B
Melbourne Museum
This confident postmodern exhibition space mixes old-style object displays with themed interactive display areas. The museum's reach is almost too broad to be cohesive, but it provides a grand sweep of Victoria's natural and cultural histories. Walk through the reconstructed laneway lives of the 1800s or become immersed in the legend of champion racehorse Phar Lap. Bunjilaka, on the ground floor, presents Indigenous stories and history told through objects and Aboriginal voices. There's also an open-air forest atrium featuring Victorian plants and animals and an Imax cinema next door.
reviewed
-
C
Living Museum
This charming museum focuses on the unique history of the area, home to a high proportion of migrants and traditionally working class. The museum promotes local participation in its programme of documenting and interpreting the area's social, industrial and environmental history. It keeps 400 oral histories on various topics, such as migration, the role of women, and the meat industry. Old-school exhibits of photographs, maps, drawings and text thumbtacked to a display board are highly accessible. It's set in the grounds of Pipemakers Park, featuring a Discovery Park, wetlands area and indigenous gardens, which re-create the landscape of the basalt plains and valley as it…
reviewed
-
D
National Sports Museum
The new National Sports Museum features five permanent exhibitions focusing on Australia’s favourite sports and celebrating historic sporting moments. There are some choice sports fetish objects on display: the handwritten notes used to define the rules of Australian Rules Football in 1859; Bradman’s baggy green cap; olive branches awarded to Edwin Flack, Australia’s first Olympian in 1886; and our Cathy’s infamous Sydney Olympics swift suit. There’s also an interactive area that gets kids trying out their skills.
reviewed
-
E
Immigration Museum
The Immigration Museum uses personal and community voices, images and memorabilia to tell the many stories of immigration. It's symbolically housed in the old Customs House (1858–70).
reviewed
-
F
Australian Racing Museum
Not November? Never mind; trackgoers can sample some Spring Racing fervour at this museum dedicated to thoroughbred horses, jockeys and trainers. Exhibits cover the history of racing and reverently trumpet the social and cultural importance of the sport in Australia. The line up of Melbourne Cups is a fascinating look at changing tastes.
reviewed
-
G
Captain Cook’s Cottage
Captain Cook’s Cottage is the former Yorkshire home of the distinguished English navigator’s parents (although the jury is still out on whether or not he ever slept there). It was dismantled, shipped to Melbourne and reconstructed stone by stone in 1934.
reviewed
-
H
Chinese Museum
The interesting Chinese Museum documents the long history of Chinese people in Australia over five levels. The entrance of the museum is guarded by the 218kg Millennium Dragon, which snakes its way through the city streets during Chinese New Year.
reviewed
-
I
Old Treasury
The Old Treasury is an elegant edifice built in 1862 with basement vaults to store much of the £200 million worth of gold mined from the Victorian goldfields. The City Museum, housed within, has three permanent exhibitions.
reviewed
-
J
Jewish Museum of Australia
Interactive displays tell the history of Australia's Jewish community from the earliest days of European settlement, while permanent exhibitions celebrate Judaism's rich cycle of festivals and holy days. Follow St Kilda Rd from St Kilda Junction then turn left at Alma Rd.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
K
Australian Centre for the Moving Image
ACMI manages to educate, enthral and entertain in equal parts, and has enough games and movies on call for days, or even months of screen time. 'Screenworld' is an exhibition that celebrates the work of mostly Australian cinema and TV and, upstairs, the Australian Mediatheque is a venue set aside for the viewing of programs from the National Film and Sound Archive, and ACMI.
reviewed
-
Dow’s Pharmacy
Dow’s Pharmacy has lotions and potions from the early days; it’s been a chemist since 1859.
reviewed
-
L
Williamstown Railway Museum
This has a fine collection of old steam locomotives and mini-steam-train rides for kids.
reviewed
-
M
Chinatown
Red archways across either end of Little Bourke St's Chinatown are your gateways to clattering woks, glowing neons, exotic aromas and shops with floor-to-ceiling chambers of medicinal herbs and tinctures. Melbourne's Chinatown has been thriving since the 1850s when Chinese prospectors joined the rush to find gold.
The single-storey brick buildings were built in the 19th century, a time when brothels, opium dens and boarding houses were the main tenants. Today the area is chock-a-block with discount shops and authentic Chinese restaurants.
It's the best place for yum cha (dim sum), and to sate that craving for sea slug in Sichuan sauce.
Chinatown's Chinese Museum (tel: 96…
reviewed
