GalleryMigration Museum

out of 100 points
based on 2 reviews
No. 3 out of 4 Museum / Exhibition / Gallery in Adelaide

Detailed review by Caradawn

Caradawn(36)
Adelaide, Australia

96%

good

I have to admit I was a bit dubious about taking my children to visit the Migration Museum despite wanting to visit it myself. My parents had been for a quick look around whilst in Adelaide and didn’t seem very impressed. I also thought that it might be a bit boring for young children. However, my children wanted to give it a go and we didn’t regret it.

You enter through the gates into a courtyard where there is a statue on display depicting a family arriving in Australia. The central bricks of the courtyard have names and the home countries inscribed on them of people or families who have migrated to South Australia. A plaque on the building fronting the road tells visitors that it used to be a facility for destitute pregnant women until about 1919. Directly ahead is the entrance to the museum proper. A note on the door says that entry is upon a donation. The definition of donate is to make a gift and this sign makes it seem compulsory. The lady behind the counter is friendly and welcoming though and welcomes us in. Gesturing to our left she tells us to feel free to look around. This takes the pressure off a bit, but then before you reach the door there is a donation box slap bang in front of it. The suggested donation is $2, which is actually quite reasonable; I just wish it wasn’t thrust quite so much in your face. It’s one of those ones where you put in a coin and watch it do zigzags down to the box, so I gave the children a dollar each and discovered they went a bit too fast to observe properly.

The museum isn’t very big and the first room was dedicated to a temporary exhibition called Selling an American Dream: Australia’s Greek Cafe. It was basically wall to wall black and white photos which my eldest daughter unfortunately announced as boring . There was, however, also a television there telling the story of the exhibit and that captured my youngest’s interest, while offering her an opportunity to sit down. The end room failed to capture their interest as well. This was also a temporary exhibition on the Tanzanian cultural community. The second room housed a permanent exhibit and this just captivated the children allowing me to actually start reading some of the information available. The exhibition is very interactive with buttons for scrolling down, ropes to pull and discover new things, wheels and handles to turn and rotate displays and drawers to pull out and discover surprises or more information.

As you can probably imagine there is only so much you can use in a display about immigration, so most of what is there is written material. The museum tries to take the positives from Australia’s immigrant history, like its cultural mix and the wonderful mixture of foods that you would be hard pressed to find in other countries. They also acknowledge the impact it has had on the native population and there is really no way to put a positive spin on that. They try to keep it all as upbeat as possible though and there is a wall which has cartoons from various sources taking a humorous look at some past prejudices. My favourite was a cartoon depicting the arrival of the first convict ships with and Aboriginal pointing and calling out "Boat people!" the inscription underneath read:

"JANUARY 1788: Boatloads of illegals arrive off Australia’s eastern seaboard. Many are criminals, expelled from their own country. Many are sick and have chronic diseases unknown here. None possess valid travel documents. Locals oppose them coming ashore..."

You could probably spend hours reading all the information there is here, but there is only so much reading you may want to do. Admittedly my children probably learnt very little about immigration, but enjoyed themselves immensely while I learnt something. For a subject that is so hard to make interesting the museum has done surprisingly well.

The shop, it turned out, was the little room in the entrance. It sold postcards, greetings cards and was rather disappointing if I'm entirely honest. You can also make donations here and any donation of $300 or more gets you a brick to have inscribed and set in the courtyard.

The museum is located on Kintore Avenue which is off the main street of North Terrace. There is a map at the junction of Kintore Avenue and North Terrace showing the locations of the main points of interest in the area and that is a great help in finding the museum. There is no car park for the museum, but ticket parking is available on the road outside. For free parking you would need to park on the outskirts of the city and walk in. The museum is accessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs.

Migration Museum7