AUSTRALIA: A list of things you may like to do

The Carlton Gardens is one of several gardens established on the edge of the CBD. They all have lots of grass and some nice plants and so on, but Carlton Gardens also has two large buildings in it, the Royal Exhibition Building, and the Melbourne Museum. There’s a weird juxtaposition going on in the shared courtyard between the two buildings which were built about 100 years apart.

Royal Exhibition Building

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Royal Exhibition Building (not to be confused with the Melbourne Exhibition Centre) was built to host the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880 and later hosted the opening of the first Australian Parliament in 1901. Between 1901 and the completion of Old Parliament House in Canberra in 1927, the Victorian Parliament met here while the Commonwealth Parliament lived it up in Parliament House on Spring Street.

At the time of construction, it was the largest building in Australia — although much of the building has since been lost to fire or short-sighted demolition works, it remains one of the most ridiculously ornate buildings in the country.

Melbourne Museum

This Melbourne Museum was built in the late 1990s and it often has interesting exhibits on, as well as these permanent displays:

• Science and Life Gallery
• Melbourne Gallery
• Mind and Body Gallery
• Evolution Gallery
• Forest Gallery — a big room full of plants and animals
• Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre — exhibits by and about the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria
• Te Pasifika Gallery - showing the history and watercrafts of Pacific Islanders
• Children’s Gallery

It is the largest museum in the southern hemisphere and home to Phar Lap, a stuffed racehorse from the 1930s who was a big deal. There is an IMAX theatre in the basement.