Exploring Melbourne

A quick and comfortable flight from Sydney to Melbourne this morning and an afternoon getting to know the geography of this bustling city. The free hop on and hop off city tour bus offers the best way to see what there is to see. I stayed on the bus until the Immigration Museum which occupies the old, very grand Customs House building. 

History, the politics of Australian immigration past and present and a personal discovery made this a very special visit for me. My paternal grandmother would have been one of the many who emigrated from the UK in 1928 or thereabouts. She left my Father with his grandparents to start a new (married) life in Sydney as did so many others who came here to Victoria. Reading the stories of people who arrived at the same time as she did was very moving but imagine my surprise when I went on to read about people who arrived in the 1950’s and early 60’s on a ship called the Castel Felice. That was the ship that my Mum & Dad, Beverley, Graham and I travelled home from New Zealand on in 1960! The Castel Felice has a long history, it was refitted many times and in 1956 gained a UK government contract to carry assisted migrants. It took passengers on its return journey to the UK and we were amongst them. I remember my Mum saying that it was not as good as the ship that took us to NZ, the Corinthic, and that we were five of only a few passengers. The museum librarian kindly photocopied some pages about the Castel Felice for me so now I know the history of a ship that I travelled on for six weeks all those years ago … amazing.

I left the Museum rather overwhelmed –a quiet few moments in St Pauls Cathedral in view of a stunning stained glass window and a long walk back to my hotel past some of the city’s old and new buildings was just what I needed.

Thanks to my Rough Guide  I had a meal tonight in Truck, a local restaurant in a building that was originally a synagogue, at one time housed a Salvation Army centre for the homeless and has also served as a crèche for children of the poor. Tonight it was full of multi ethnic young people reflecting the spectrum of people from other nations who came to live here in the past and others who continue to arrive nowadays. It feels rather wonderful to be in a city that has given me the chance to connect with some important points in my history.