I took the day off on Wednesday to be a hometown tourist. I needed to go into the city to drop some books off at the theological library so I decided to make a day of it. I caught the train into the city and then the tram up to the library. While I was there I picked up some more books and placed a piece in the puzzle of course.
Then I popped back to the tram and rode it back to Flinders Street. I walked from there to the Immigration Museum. The Immigration Museum is housed in the Old Customs House. This is the third iteration of the customs building, beginning with a tent, two years after settlement, followed by a two-storey bluestone building which was replaced by the current building begun during the Goldrush in the 1850’s. They ran out of money and had to stop the building project. It was finally restarted and a modified design was finished in 1876.
The main exhibition is called Leaving Home and it looks at why people left their previous homelands and what they bought with them. There is information on the impact of the early settlement on the Indigenous population and the various waves of immigrants since then leaving their homelands for a better life. If you exclude countries in the middle east that import millions of foreign workers, Australia has one of the biggest percentages of foreign born residents (31.5%), plus there is about another 20% of the population with at least one parent born overseas. The displays give a broad overview before focusing in and telling the stories of real immigrants. There were also various art installations and multi-media projects.
I finished just before midday and started walking towards Fed Square. I walked past the Banana Alley Vaults, which run underneath the railway and back onto the river. They were originally used to store goods off the wharf before the wharf was moved. When we were at uni we used to go to a nightclub in these called Sugar Shack and once it got full, with everyone dancing the condensation would drip off the roof—classy! I noticed as I walked past, that a new nightclub has opened, but it looks a bit fancier than the old days.
I was hungry by now so I headed quickly to Chocolate Buddha, a Japanese restaurant in Fed Square, just opposite the Koorie Heritage Center where I had booked a walk at 1 pm. I ordered Spicy Pork Ramen and read my book while I waited for it to come. The food was tasty, but why is ramen so difficult to eat? I only had a short time before the tour and so I had to eat fairly quickly and I had a couple of times where the noodles slipped off or sprung back, flicking soup on my face or jumper. Also, note to self—do not order spicy food when you don’t have a packet of tissues in your bag. Since I was carrying books today, I’d left my handbag at home to take a backpack and hadn’t transferred the contents of my handbag across. My nose started running from the spice and with no tissues that was a bit of a bother.
While waiting for the walking tour to start I people watched in Fed Square. The deck chairs were a hit on this mild day.
The Birrarung Wilam (River Camp) Walk is run by the Koorie Heritage Trust. The walk starts in Fed Square then heads towards the Yarra and the art installations at the River Camp. Along the way the guide provides information about the Aboriginal history of the area, the cultural life of the Kulin Nation and how the landscape has changed over time. After visiting the River Camp we headed back to the Koorie Heritage building where the guide showed us various replica artifacts, explaining how they were used. Even though I have been doing a bit of reading about our local Aboriginal people, I learnt a lot.
After the tour I caught the train back towards home, hoping off a stop early to do some Op shopping in Elsternwick.
Cost for the day: $94.40 consisting of Public transport $11.40, Immigration Museum $15, Lunch $28, Walk $40.
Are there tourist sites in you area that you’d like to visit and have never been to?
Comments
16 responses to “Hometown Tourist: Immigration Museum and Birrarung Wilam Walk”
Oh, this looks like a lovely day out! And yes, ramen can be difficult! Were you able to ask them for a serviette to make up for the missing paper tissues?
The one thing I haven’t done here in Cape Town is taking one of those red hop-on, hop-off tourist buses. It would be interesting to do one day – there’s a lot about Cape Town that I still don’t know!
I was able to use the serviette, so it was all good. We were on a tour when we went to South Africa, so we did a drive around with commentary.
Wow, what a cool day. I find the Immigration museum so interesting! I loved reading about it.
I never really play hometown tourist, but I should!
The immigration was interesting. I’m glad I went, there have been comments that they may need to close because the state government have reduced Museum Victoria’s funding.
That immigration museum looks so interesting! I love to play tourist in my own town. It often happens when we have visitors. When my friend visited, it prompted me to go to a Latin food market and I will definitely go back at some point as the food was so so good! There are a lot of museums I would like to check out in our city, too.
I really love guided walks. There aren’t any that I know of in my city, but that’s something I try to do when traveling. I have done many in Paris and always learn so much!
I usually do walks when we go overseas as well. There are a number of walks in Melbourne that sound pretty interesting. The street art one in particular (both my girls did one of those when they were at school).
There are several museums in a nearby city I haven’t been to yet. Someday! Nothing as cool as your Immigration Museum, though. That sounds like a lovely place.
Also, I don’t think nightclubs exist in the States anymore. I used to go dancing with my friends on the weekends, but when I ask my students about that, they just stare at me like I’m crazy. They just go to bars, I guess.
Melbourne still has a number of nightclubs. I don’t think there are the regional nightclubs as much as there was when we were younger.
What a lovely day! I love playing tourist near home.
I had ramen for the first time last year actually. I’ve had similar dishes, but ramen for the first time. So, so good. But yeah, kind of messy.
You have some great places to visit near you.
What a great way to spend a day!!
Reminds me a little of the Ellis Island, just more cheerful. The Ellis Island is SO somber. And I get that, immigrant lives were/are far from easy, but still there must have been food, songs, poetry, etc.
Anyway.
I always wanted to go to the Newark Art Museum, which is only 40 minutes away. Princeton also has an art museum, never been.
That is definitely something explore, perhaps I’ll add it to my someday-maybe list.
Yes, the museum did have a bit about what people were fleeing, but also a lot on the aspects of their cultures that they brought with them and added to Melbourne life.
Ag, the Sugar Shack. Classy indeed. Ha. I dislike spicy food – cannot imagine eating food that causes my nose to run.
There are so many tourist attractions in downtown Chicago that I have not seen. I’ve often heard how great the architecture tour is and I’ve never done it. Our kids have never been up in the Willis Tower- was called the Sears tower when I was a kid. We went whenever friends came in town to visit my parents/family.
I got the idea to do more of the tourist things in Melbourne after going on a few of our overseas trips. If I do them over there, why wouldn’t I do them here? I mean the galleries and museums I’ve been to, but there are a heap of things I haven’t done, and there’s a few walking tours that sound fascinating.
I love that you did a hometown day including a walking tour. Funny that I actually have never done that in San Francisco! It is so fun to see things in your home area, and I do love a good walking tour regardless of where I am! I also love ramen, but it can get a bit messy for sure. I am currently in Japan, and had a dental emergency that I will not go into but afterward, I really wanted ramen. However, I skipped it as I could only eat with one side of my mouth and it was already hard enough to stay tidy with both sides working! I also love spice and have been known to “cry” into my ramen more than once!
San Francisco has so many great tourist sites. I’ve loved the time we’ve spent there. I plan on going to Japan at some stage, my parents are going at the end of the month. Not good having a dental emergency, I hope all is well now. I can imagine you would need to skip the Ramen after being at the dentist. I’m glad it’s not me who struggles with it.