Melbourne Day 3

28 May 2012

Yesterday was a long day.  And this morning was another early morning.  Only the thought that it’s really only 7.45am in NZ makes getting up at 5.45am bearable.  I’m in Hungry Jacks, which appears to have been taken over by Burger King some time in the last 20 years, having an unpleasantly greasy breakfast.  Sad.  As a ten year old I remember they had huge burgers and good crayons.

I went and checked out an exhibition of Roman replica machines yesterday morning, which sadly was a bit of a disappointment – it was aimed more at children.  The most interesting part was the documentary they were playing in the theatre space – which could be bought on DVD and was screened on the History Channel.  All in all, not really worth the AUD $22 it cost to get in.

In the afternoon I went to the immigration museum.  I assumed this would discuss the social history of the country from the first people to arrive here, ie the aborigines, but no, after one brief panel mentioning a creation myth it then jumped to European settlement.  It was very interesting, don’t get me wrong, but I’d hoped to kill two birds with one stone and educate myself about the aborigine peoples as well. 

I was interested to see the different perspective on immigration here in comparison to NZ.  I hadn’t realised there was an official policy to bring white people to Australia up until the pretty recent past.  Was there something similar in NZ?  I don’t recall ever reading about anything…  Probably just worth the $10 for entry.

So today I’m off to a museum of aboriginal culture.  I confess I’m almost completely ignorant of their history and culture, so it will be very interesting.  I now know how tourists must feel about Maori cultural exhibits back home.  Interesting without any baggage.

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I enjoyed the Koorie Cultural Museum, and have added a new word to my vocabulary.  Koorie is the name the aboriginies give themselves.  I haven’t quite figured out if this is only in the Victoria area or whether it is all over Australia, but either way I’m surprised I’ve not heard it before.  The exhibit was quite an eye opener, and again I am surprised how much of the conflict is in the recent past.  For example I didn’t know that the aboriginies only became citizens of Australia in the 60s.  And oddly enough I didn’t notice anyone in the museum who wasn’t of European descent.