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?