AIX290: Immigration Museum of Australia - A Detailed Site Report

This report provides an analysis of the Immigration Museum of Australia, located in Melbourne. It emphasizes the museum's role in documenting and presenting the immigration history of Australia through exhibitions and educational programs. The report highlights the importance of understanding different cultures and the experiences of immigrants, using examples of love stories and human connections found within the museum's exhibits. It concludes that the museum effectively showcases the exchange of cultures and promotes understanding and acceptance across different backgrounds, emphasizing the importance of preserving and sharing these stories for future generations. The report (AIX290) underscores the museum's significance in fostering cultural awareness and social cohesion.

Running head: IMMIGRATION MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA
Immigration Museum of Australia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The modern world has become extremely pragmatic and practical in its
orientation. People are more or less, always interested in the pursuit of personal gain
in monetary terms. They have forgotten the peace and contentment that is located in
their own culture (Falk and Dierking 2016). The values and traditions of the society
has taken a backseat in the face of financial wealth. This necessitates the need for the
people to take some time out of their busy schedule of their daily lives and explore
their rich cultural history. Cultural places located within a country helps the present
generation to gain knowledge about the past historical incidences of the country (Cole
and Brooks 2017). It shows to the people what were the past glories achieved by the
concerned country through the medium of paintings, artistic creativity, sculptures and
historical monuments. All these culturally rich places therefore hold a significant
position in the lives of the people. Culture helps an individual to understand the
unique characteristics of their own society and therefore, allows people to better
understand the needs of the society. Culture is what sets an individual apart from that
of another individual and therefore, the perseverance of culture is of utmost
importance (McManus 2016). This essay seeks to deal with the Immigration Museum
of Australia. It looks in to a detailed analysis of the Museum and how the contents of
the Museum helps in the promotion of the culture. The essay concludes with the
importance of museums in our daily lives.
The process of globalization has played an important role in bringing the world
together by the means of allowing people to travel from the country of origin to some
other host country (Drotner et al. 2018). This has been done primarily for the
convenience of the people to understand more about the ways of the world and not
remain confined to one particular place. This is a political move as much as

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economical and educational. Politically, the migration of people has brought about the
countries together and has made them dependent on one another as their citizens is on
the foreign soil; all the activities of their citizens in some other country is the
responsibility of the country of origin (Witcomb 2015). As a result, the issue of
immigration is significant is bringing people together. This culture of travelling has
been given a place in the form of a Museum in Australia, known as Immigration
Museum. The Immigration Museum of Australia is situated in Melbourne on the
Flinders Street in the Old Custom House. The Museum was established in the year
1998 and is known for hosting the immigration history of Australia (Griffin and
Paroissien 2011). Along with the documentation of the immigration history of
Australia, the Museum is also famous for arranging several exhibitions related to
travelling and is also known for several of its educational programs. The Museum
thus provides knowledge about the individuals living across oceans and their way of
life. This is an important source of understanding about the perspectives of human
beings who had to travel and be separated from their loved ones in the event of
necessity (Robinson 2018).
The artefacts secured away in the Immigration Museum holds the stories of many
people. These people found support in individuals who did not belong to their culture
or ethnicity and sometimes, did not even belong to their homeland (Watson, Barnes
and Bunning 2018). Immigration takes place not simply because of work purposes,
but also because emotions. During the visit to the Immigration Museum, I came
across many such artefacts which had incredible love stories inscribed in them. For
instance, the story of Bill Nicholson and that of Erika Polifka. Bill Nicholson fell in
love with Erika Polifka at first sight when he first laid eyes on her in Halesville. Their
cultures were different as Erika was the daughter of a German migrant while Bill was

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a Wurundjeri individual. To both of them their cultural differences did not matter as
much and they decided to spend their lives together by overcoming any such barriers
on their path. They tied the knot on 6th May, 1961 and had six beautiful children from
their marriage. After spending a lifetime together with each other, Erika unfortunately
passed away while Bill still holds her dearly in his memories. Such incredible stories
of human strength and human passion really sets the tone for love stories. The stories
inscribed in each of the artefacts within the Immigration Museum has a lesson to
teach all of us. They are simply not meant to be seen, but rather to be observed and
understood. The main objective of the Immigration Museum is to let the people know
about stories from beyond the seas.
Evaluating the depiction of Australia’s history of migration, the Immigration
Museum is full of such small inspiring stories. The stories have a way to make the
observers draw important life lessons from them and also to understand the
importance of human emotions. Differences in culture should not be barrier to human
interaction. The story of Lester Mascarenhas and Vern O’Hara is another inspiration.
They met together in a concert in 2013, outside of Hamer Hall. They found a
connection through their love and passion for music. They began to play together and
soon started to fall in love. This gives an important lesson to us that the sharing of
social values is just as important as following our own. Accepting the cultures of
different people is what is needed in the society in the present day of spreading
intolerance. The Immigration Museum shows us exactly how this love spreads across
borders through the inter mixing of social values and cultural differences.
In conclusion it is observed that the Immigration Museum of Australia holds
inspirational stories of the exchanges in different cultures all across the world. The
Museum showcases the stories of people belonging to different religions and different

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ethnic background and how they found love and support in people who do not hold
the same cultural values.

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References:
Cole, A.J. and Brooks, E., 2017. Inclusive Indigenous Australian voices in the
semiotic landscape of the National Museum of Australia. Museums & Social
Issues, 12(2), pp.126-139.
Drotner, K., Dziekan, V., Parry, R. and Schrøder, K.C. eds., 2018. The Routledge
Handbook of Museums, Media and Communication. Routledge.
Falk, J.H. and Dierking, L.D., 2016. The museum experience revisited. Routledge.
Griffin, D and Paroissien, L. eds., 2011. Understanding Museums: Australian
museums and museology, National Museum of Australia, Canberra.
McManus, P.M., 2016. Archaeological displays and the public: museology and
interpretation. Routledge.
Robinson, H., 2018. Cultural policy, local government and museums: an Australian
perspective. Local Government Studies, 44(5), pp.719-738.
Watson, S., Barnes, A.J. and Bunning, K. eds., 2018. A Museum Studies Approach to
Heritage. Routledge.
Witcomb, A., 2015. Thinking about Others through Museums and Heritage. In The
Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research (pp. 130-143). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.