Immigration Museum of Australia

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

1IMMIGRATION MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA
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