I’m not usually one to visit museums, unless it is one that is dedicated to a topic of interest to me. When I found out that there is a museum in Melbourne on immigration, I knew that I had to see what it was all about.
Prior to visiting Australia, I had heard that immigrants were not treated very well in Australia, so I was interested to learn more about the history and whether ill feelings towards immigrants was warranted.
The museum opened at 10:00am the day that I visited and the entrance fee was $15AUD. The exhibits were spread out over the building’s 3 floors, with the main exhibit on the 2nd floor.
The main exhibit started with stories of immigrants leaving their homes in the 1800s, with accounts of historical events being detailed by decade.
I really enjoyed reading up on the differences from decade to decade, and seeing the changes in numbers and the influences that these immigrants had on the development of Australia’s cities and towns.
There was also information about some of the discrimination that immigrants faced, including a different dictation tests. It said that the officials would provide dictation tests over and over until they got to a language the immigrant could not speak. An example of the dictation test was available for us to try.
Another part of the museum was dedicated to Australia identity and language. It was quite interesting to learn about how the Australian language has evolved in the past 50 years or so.
Overall, this was a fantastic museum and I ended up spending much more time there than I had expected. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the exhibits and would return again if I were to visit Melbourne again.
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