More Melbourne...

Last Monday DH and I visited the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. Because we are Seniors, entry was free! The building that the museum is in, is very beautiful. It was originally the Customs House for Victoria.
The exhibits ranged from static displays, videos, captioned photographs, artifacts etc,  right through to interactive media.

The front of the immigration Museum

One of the very elegant corridors inside the museum

One of the exhibition halls focused solely on shipping which was obviously the way most immigrants came to the colony/then state of Victoria.  In the middle of the hall, was a construction which resembled a ship's hull. Inside this hull  were 'mock ups' of 19th century ships passenger quarters as well as 1950s passenger cabins.

hammock above cargo in 'steerage class' aboard an early sailing boat

Another example of passenger quarters on an old vessel

The 'privy' on an old ship

Salon, first class on an early C20th vessel

Cabin typical of post WW2 immigration ship

The first immigrants, the convicts, had little choice but the displays were very informative on reasons for later immigration to Victoria; better living conditions, safer living conditions,  or escaping war, political or religious persecution. Obviously the lure of the gold rushes swelled the colony's population rather quickly in the mid 1800s.

In later years migration to Australia was encouraged to overcome skills' shortages and for family reunions.
We had already learned from our stay in the gold mining towns that there were many immigrants in those early days from Germany and 'their' stories were told at the museum displays.
The Chinese and US immigrants who came for the gold rushes in the 1850s were also showcased. There was quite a bit of information about how the 'White Australia Policy' was to evolve due to fear of the large numbers of Chinese immigrants in those early days of the state.

Other displays focused on the post WW2 immigration from Europe and how these people faced hardships settling in and overcame much adversity to make a life for themselves and their families.  In more recent times, immigrants come from  diverse countries and cultures and there were a number of displays and interactive media showing this. The main theme in these displays was tolerance and respect of other cultures.

This display represented a haberdashery hawker's cart, similar to what  Simcha Myer Baevski  (Sydney Myer)  would have used

Myer was a Russian-Jew who escaped persecution in Russia and went on to found the famous Myer stores' chain

We 'shared' our visit with a number of school groups; there seemed to be children everywhere with their clipboards looking for answers in the captions on the displays. It was great for me, watching the teachers and helpers counting heads and rounding up slow coaches or trying to get recalcitrant students to fill in the sheets...I don't have that responsibility any more! Yay!

A short break...

Late yesterday afternoon I arrived back home after a short break in Canberra with DH. He flies home late this evening as he has had 1 1/2 days training for this contract job which he has been doing. That was basically the reason why we went to Canberra on Saturday morning; free airfares for him and accomodation which we expected to pay for some but the organisation he is working for are paying for Sunday and Monday nights as well! On Saturday we drove up from Canberra to Cooma (about an hour) which is in what is called the 'High Country' . Canberra is in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and is not a state of Australia. However it occupies an area that used to be New South Wales. Cooma is not in the ACT, it is in NSW. (You see we had colonies originally which became states at federation in 1901 and the 2 powerful states 'fought' over which state would 'house' the new Federal government. Apparently the site chosen is about halfway between Melbourne and Sydney and Canberra was a purpose built city; originally farm paddocks)



This row of flagpoles (and flags too of course!) in Cooma represents the different nationalities of the workers on the Snowy River Scheme. The mosaic wall was fascinating and very colourful



In 1988, a mosaic wall was completed in Cooma depicting scenes in the area's history. This mosaic shows the moving of the town of Adaminaby to higher ground as the dam filled with water and flooded the area.

Cooma's heritage listed railway station. As in a lot of Australian towns, the trains don't run any more except for 2 vintage railmotors which take tourists on a short ride. We were too late, just missing the second and last ride of the day by 1/2 an hour!

At Cooma we went into a centre which has displays etc relating to the 'Snowy River Scheme which was a project started in 1949 and completed 25 years later. Many workers from overseas were employed on the project which built a number of dams, then diverted water from the Snowy River via huge tunnels through the mountains. This water provide energy for Hydro electric power stations as well as some water diverted to drier inland areas for irrigation. I couldn't help but think as we watched a DVD in the centre's theatrette that such a project possibly wouldn't happen today because of environmental issues. In fact the Snowy River had become so degraded by the less flow that authorities have recently started releasing water back into the river.
Next morning we drove up into the Australian Alps area to Perisher (ski resort) and Charlotte's Pass. We could see patches of ice/snow on the mountains in the distance but the landscape which is covered in snow in winter was absolutely covered in wildflowers! very beautiful. It was my first time in this high country area although I've had a number of trips to Canberra before.

The road into Perisher



The closer white 'spotches' are not snow; they are daisy-like wildflowers



An early explorer of this region

I was fascinated by these huts/ticket booths?  at the bottom of the ski-lifts. DH explained that in winter the level of the snow would be up to the bottom of the doorway so you wouldn't need the ladder then.

Our timing for the trip wasn't that good though. Many businesses were closed for the holiday break so some craft shops weren't open even my beloved 'Woolshed' at Manuka was closed. We still had a lovely time enjoying each other's company, the beautiful scenery, some beautifully cooked meals, and a recent model hire Camry which we upgraded to. More about Canberra, our nation's capital in another post!