Melbourne Museum

Australia's largest museum, with Phar Lap and a living rainforest inside

The Melbourne Museum, opened in 2000 in a striking modernist building behind the Royal Exhibition Building, is the largest museum in the southern hemisphere. Its permanent collections cover Indigenous Victorian culture (Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre), natural history (a full sperm whale skeleton, dinosaurs, an indoor live rainforest), Melbourne's social history including the mounted body of Phar Lap, and a dedicated children's museum.

Allow at least half a day if you want to do justice to more than one wing. Entry is free for Victorian residents and a moderate fee for visitors; the museum is open 364 days a year (closed only on Christmas Day) and combines well with a stop at the Royal Exhibition Building tour next door.

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A story
The mounted body of Phar Lap, the New Zealand-bred chestnut who won 37 of his last 41 starts and became the symbol of Australia through the Depression, is the museum's most-visited single object. He died suspiciously in California in 1932 — the official verdict was acute enteritis, but Australians have argued ever since that he was poisoned by American rivals.

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