Chinese Museum, Melbourne (must see)

Melbourne’s Chinese Museum is located in the CBD’s China Town and chronicles the history of Chinese people in Victoria. Many Chinese came to Victoria during the gold rush of the 1850s and sent money back to their villages while panning for gold themselves, running market gardens or shops. Many of these immigrants came from poor areas of Southern China around Canton. At the Chinese Museum, you can learn all about the history of this significant minority group and their place in broader Australian society through the many artefacts, photographs and other memorabilia that is on display.

There are several permanent displays and exhibitions within the museum including:

- Discovering Melbourne’s Chinatown: Our History and Heritage;
- Finding Gold, where you get to experience the gold rush through Chinese eyes; - Melbourne’s Dragons, see processional dragons going back a century;
- Bridge of Memories, which charts the social and economic backdrop against which more than 500,000 Chinese have immigrated to Australia over the past 50 years;
- Chinese Australians, is the history of Chinese-Australians going back to convict times.

The Chinese Museum is open daily from 10am to 4pm and is also home to the Chinatown Visitors Centre. Some exhibitions are free and others have an entry fee.

Why You Should Visit:
To see the Chinese contribution to the Australian way of life.
Perfectly situated in the heart of Melbourne and close to Chinatown itself.

Tip:
There don't appear to be any regularly scheduled museum tours but they hardly seem needed and with your entry fee you'll get a double-sided sheet of paper with basic info about the museum and how to take yourself on a self-guided tour.