Melbourne Museum
Melbourne Museum explores life in Victoria, from its natural environment to its culture and history. The museum offers a much richer Melbourne holiday experience, allowing those on holiday in Melbourne to truly appreciate Melbourne’s culture and history. The museum is located in Carlton Gardens, opposite the historic Royal Exhibition Building. This award-winning Museum houses a permanent collection in eight galleries, including one just for children.
Highlights include a complete skeleton of a blue whale, the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, a living rainforest, the racehorse Phar Lap and an IMAX theatre on site. Major international exhibitions are presented in the Touring Hall.
A visit to Melbourne Museum as part of a holiday to Melbourne offers rich and often surprising insights into life in Victoria. The Melbourne Museum shop, located in the main foyer, has a strong emphasis on local and Australian products that reflect the museum's themes. It is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere, and is a venue of Museum Victoria, which also operates the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks Museum.
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 BaulderstoneHornibrook. 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.
Bunjilaka is a space for indigenous and non-indigenous people to learn about Victoria’s Koorie (south eastern Aboriginal) people. Presentations include artworks, artefacts, stories and performances.
The 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. IMAX is the world's largest cinema format, with a screen up to eight storeys high.
