Melbourne Museum
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The Melbourne Museum is located in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. It shares these gardens with the Royal Exhibition Building. It is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere.
The museum has seven main galleries, a Children's Gallery and a temporary exhibit gallery on three levels, Upper, Ground and Lower Level and was constructed by Baulderstone Hornibrook.
The Touring Hall is where temporary exhibits are displayed. Past exhibits include mummies from Egypt and dinosaurs from China. The Big Box is part of the Children's Gallery.
In addition, the museum has other facilities such as the Sidney Myer Amphitheatre and The Age Theatre. The Discovery Centre, on the Lower Level, is a free public research centre. The museum also has a cafe and a souvenir shop.
IMAX Theatre, which is situated on the Lower Level is also part of the museum complex. It shows movies, usually documentary films, in 3-D format.
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[edit] Main Permanent Exhibits
The main permanent exhibits include:
- Australia Gallery- where Phar Lap, a race horse that won the Melbourne Cup during the depression era, is exhibited
- Big skeleton of a blue whale
- CSIRAC - an early computer built in Australia by the forerunner organisation to the CSIRO
- Evolution Gallery - including a skeleton of a diprotodon (a giant wombat-like creature), skeletons of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals
- a set from Neighbours, a soap opera filmed in Melbourne and shown worldwide.
- Mind and Body Gallery - a gallery regarding the human body
- Science and Life Gallery
- Forest Gallery - a temperate Victorian forest environment, complete with birds and other fauna
- Bunjilaka - a gallery with exhibitions concerning the Aborigines of Victoria
- Te Pasifika Gallery - an exhibition which highlights the history and watercrafts of Pacific Islanders
[edit] History
The Melbourne Museum was originally located (along with the State Library and the old state gallery) in the city block between La Trobe, Swanston, Little Lonsdale and Russell Streets - the nearby Museum (now Melbourne Central Station) underground railway station was named after it. The State Library now uses all the space in that building, the gallery also having moved to the NGV site.
[edit] Festival Melbourne 2006
Melbourne Museum was one of the venues of Festival Melbourne 2006, a city-wide art festival held in conjunction of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which was held in Melbourne. Among the exhibitions held in the museum were 'Common Goods:Cultures Meet Through Craft', which featured crafts made by artists from various Commonwealth countries and 'CARVE:Indigenous carving practices', a series of demonstrations of traditional indigenous carving practices and techniques from Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Besides that, there was a producers' market, 'Victorian Producers' Market', where the best produces from regional Victoria such as wine, cheese and others were sold. A cooking competition, 'Culinary Pro Am of the Commonwealth' was also held between top Melbourne chefs, each representing a Commonwealth country.
Another crowd drawer was the large screen on museum grounds where live actions of the Games were shown.
| Melbourne landmarks | |
|---|---|
| Buildings | Melbourne Cricket Ground | Royal Exhibition Building | Arts Centre Spire | Flinders Street Station | Federation Square | Crown Casino | Shrine of Remembrance | Luna Park | Sidney Myer Music Bowl | Rialto Towers | Melbourne Central | Queen Victoria Market |
| Precincts | Chinatown | Melbourne Docklands | Southbank | St Kilda |
| Nature and Parks |
Royal Botanic Gardens | Fitzroy Gardens | Birrarung Marr | Carlton Gardens |
| Cultural Institutions | Melbourne Zoo | Melbourne Museum | National Gallery of Victoria | Victorian Arts Centre | State Library of Victoria |
| Transportation | Tullamarine Airport | Southern Cross Station | Flinders Street Station |
