AIX290 Assessment Task 2: Detailed Site Report - Immigration Museum

This report analyzes the Immigration Museum (IM) in Melbourne, Australia, from the perspective of a social history researcher. It details a site visit, focusing on the museum's depiction of Australia's immigration history and its engagement with diverse communities. The report highlights the museum's efforts to present the stories and experiences of migrants, its collaboration with linguistically and culturally diverse groups, and its role in promoting cultural diversity and identity. It also discusses the museum's exhibits, cultural events, and resources for family history research, concluding that the IM serves as a forum for exploring themes related to immigration and cultural diversity, while also contributing to state history collections.

Running Head: IMMIGRATION MUSEUM 0
Immigration Museum
Site Report: Immigration Museum
(Student Details :)
1/21/2019

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Contents
Site Report: Immigration Museum.............................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Background................................................................................................................................2
My Site Visit..............................................................................................................................3
IM’s depiction of Australia's history of migration.....................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4

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Site Report: Immigration Museum
Introduction
This report is based on a tourist site’s analysis which is situated in Melbourne, Australia. The
chosen site for this report is Immigration Museum (IM) of Australia. Being a social history
researcher, I will express my thoughts and on-site feelings on the overall sense of the
experience of the site visit. Moreover, the discussion will also demonstrate the relevant
research and background reading so that readers of this journal can leverage the research of
my site visit to the maximum extent. The Immigration Museum narrates the moving stories of
the people who have journeyed from all around the world to make the Australia their home in
the last 200 years (Schorchh, 2014).
Background
Melbourne’s IM showcases the social history, indigenous cultures, science and environment
of the Australians. It is located at IMAX Melbourne which is adjacent to the World Heritage
which is a listed Royal Exhibition Building as well as Carlton Gardens. The Immigration
Museum which is situated on 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne is daily opens during 10am–
5pm for the tourists, anthropologists, journalists, social history researchers and visitors
(Smith, 2013). The IM is a kind of celebration of immigration to Victoria, while providing
cultural involvements of the modern Melbourne from exhibitions, dynamic stories and
festivals (Schorchh, 2014).
The IM explore the reason behind Melbourne’s newcomers’ port from their former homes.
IM also describes how those immigrants got into Melbourne and what they have received
from Australia. In this way, IM innovatively re-created the migrant experience through
displaying featuring film, audio, stories and memorabilia. As a result I had a thought- moving
and provoking experience (Service Skills Australia, 2011). Moreover, this museum is
accommodated in the grand custom house building that firstly looked out on ships knotted up
at the contiguous Queen's Wharf. Hence, the inspiring former long room is now the IM's
central area, which is featuring giant Ionic colonnades. The IM’s shop provides a broad range
of gifts, souvenirs and books for the friends, relatives and family. There is a museum café
which is also located in the museum shop, and it offers soft drinks, coffee, snacks,

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confectionery and many more things. One of the most significant touristic approaches of IM
is the enclosure of contemporary indigenous identity narratives (Griffin & Paroissien, 2011).
My Site Visit
Your own photographs (not images sourced from the internet)
During my recent visit to IM, Melbourne I got to know that its visiting hours are 10am-5m
every day and there is an admission fee of $14 for adults while concession holders and
children up to 16 years age are free to enter. First I reached to Flinders Street Station and then
through a short walk I reached to IM. I also received a visitor guide from the ticket-desk and
the best part of that visitor guide was its availability in five languages includes French,
Chinese, German, Italian and Japanese. My preparation prior visiting the IM helped me a lot
as I already downloaded as well as read the IM map over the internet which assisted in
finding location of main exhibition galleries as well as other facilities.
My visit took me through a beautiful tour of rich cultural heritage of Victoria and Melbourne
at the IM. I could hear the unblinking stories about Victorian people and the origins they have
come from along with the multicultural customs the Victorian people have contributed to
Australian lifestyle. During my visit, I felt that IM is a place which connects with the essence
of Melbourne identity through offering a beautiful walk back through time. I was feeling
lucky as I got a chance to explore how immigrants interacted with our modern Australian
society.
Moreover, I learnt a lot about the first settlers in the early 1800s from my site visit experience
at IM. My IM visit gave me info about how Australia built its great population along with the
important wave of Greek immigration which is now characterising most of Melbourne. I felt
like I went on a journey which marks the life of an immigrant in Australia.
IM’s depiction of Australia's history of migration
The best part of IM is the provision of research about family history. It means that visitors
can find out the databases, records, archives and resources which can assist them for their
family history research. Additionally, visitors can learn about their family history through
finding in the archive of immigrant details available at the Museum (Murphy et al., 2008).

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IM’s depiction of Australia’s history of migration can be seen from the works like it
collaborates with linguistically and culturally diverse communities through exploring,
documenting and presenting stories and experiences of cultural diversity as well as
immigration in Victoria. IM works with distinct communities during community cultural
festivals, community exhibitions as well as invites Australian community members for
contributing towards planning for future projects, initiatives, research and collections
(Henrich, 2011).
In this context of depicting Australian history of migration (Schorch, 2015), the IM’s
Community Gallery typically hosts 3 exhibitions per year which are created by the Australian
communities while collaborating with IM’s staff. Generally, the exhibitions organized by IM
community include:
 Honouring Australian Ancestors
 Exploring vibrant and dynamic cultures of West Africa
 Survival strategy of a culture (Smith, 2013).
Moreover, cultural events and festivals at IM are also a part of annual events which
encourages Australian culture related to migration (Witcomb, 2009). In this context, annual
festivals staged with the IM in recent years have incorporated the Cambodian, Brazilian,
Dutch, Pacific Islander, Ethiopian, Turkish and Vietnamese communities. In this way, the
immigration museum gives the message of respecting each community’s uniqueness (Crouch,
2018). Hence, the IM has adopted a process of developing and establishing respectful, honest
and long-term relations with diverse communities from annual consultations as well as
specific projects (Griffin & Paroissien, 2011).
Conclusion
In conclusion, with the help of this report I have articulated all key findings which were
found by me during my visit of IM. Overall, during my site visit I observed that IM offers a
forum for the visitors to narrate stories as well as investigate themes which are relayed to
cultural diversity and identity and immigration. IM also encourages Australian community
collaboration, ownership and participation. Finally, my visit’s major findings can be
concluded as IM promotes and documents the different community stories as well as
experiences which are an exclusive portion of Australian culture and history; and IM
contributes to state history collections as well.

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References
Crouch, B., 2018. South Australian tourism data shows record arrivals and spending from
British and Chinese visitors. [Online] Available at: https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-
updates/south-australian-tourism-data-shows-record-arrivals-and-spending-from-british-and-
chinese-visitors/news-story/bee495b319ff65e72ebdb4f717e9a5c5.
Griffin, D. & Paroissien, L., 2011. Understanding Museums: Australian museums and
museology. [Online] Available at: https://nma.gov.au/research/understanding-museums/
[Accessed 18 January 2019].
Henrich, E., 2011. Suitcases and Stories: Objects of Migration in Museum Exhibitions.
International Journal of the Inclusive Museum, 3(4).
Murphy, P., Pritchard, M.P. & Smith, B., 2008. The destination product and its impact on
traveller perceptions. Tourism Management, 21(1), pp.43-52.
Schorch, P., 2015. Experiencing differences and negotiating prejudices at the Immigration
Museum Melbourne. International Journal of heritage studies, 21(1), pp.46-64.
Schorchh, P., 2014. The cosmohermeneutics of migration encounters at the Immigration
Museum, Melbourne. Museum Worlds, 2(1), pp.81-98.
Service Skills Australia, 2011. TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND EVENTS environmental scan
2011. [Online] Available at:
http://www.oph.fi/download/145170_TourismHospitalityEventsScan_Print.pdf [Accessed 08
December 2018].
Smith, L., 2013. Visitor interviews immigration museum Melbourne: report to immigration
museum, Melbourne. Canberra: ANU.
Witcomb, A., 2009. Migration, social cohesion and cultural diversity. Humanities Research,
15(2), p.49.