What's Life Really Like?

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the Bonegilla Migrant Centre in Wodonga Victoria, many times. After World War 2, it was a place where people were to arrive from overseas, to make a new beginning and find amity. It makes one of my favourite museum experiences because my mum’s family migrated from Yugoslavia to live in a country where everything changed. They ate different food, spoke a different language, and slept in a different bed. Now when we visit, they still feel as though they’re visiting a home they once lived in. The centre is a massive land, still situating the cabins that people once slept in, the cafeteria that everyone ate in, as well as a made up school for children to learn. They have updated the facility over the years, having old artefacts from that era on display, migrants speaking on a computer about their experience, sound effects in particular rooms, along with a list of the refugee names.

My Gran outside the Bonegilla Migrant Centre, taken November 1969

At Bonegilla Migrant Centre, bedroom cabin, taken 25 September 2015

This museum also enhances my familiarity, because I have my mum and grandma there to describe details and provide a clear cut image of what it would have been like at the time. It’s not only just a personal experience. When individuals visit a place like this, there is a sense of relation because everyone has arrived from different parts of the world at one point. Walhimer considers a museum as an ‘environment where it works with guests on numerous stages, specifically to inform the community’ (2015, pp. 3). Therefore, people visit museums to gain knowledge about the past, present and future, yet through an engaging manner. If there were just signs of information plastered everywhere and only a few images, it would lose the concentration and attraction from the public, especially those who have different abilities and ages. Which is the reason for exhibits having specific themes and objects to showcase, so people find interest when they discover things they can relate to, will be on display.

At Bonegilla Migrant Centre, artefacts on display, taken 25 September 2015

Furthermore, this interest doesn’t just have to occur in a building, it can be from all around. I love old things. My favourite place to visit is the antique warehouse near my house. Someone once said I’m like an old woman in a young women’s body. That got me offended, because I generally have an interest. I literally see the beauty and wonder in old things like record players, old lamps, and especially old books. I like to think that each object has its own story and its lived its own adventure. Museums have been designed to preserve old items, thus having the objects and its background stories be passed down through generations. They ‘maintain the precise visualization of the originator’ (Walhimer 2015, pp. 4). Therefore, museums hold a connection between its items and its owner. Doesn’t that mean an antique warehouse is considered a museum? Except without the information and instead replaced with a price tag. Which then leaves the viewer making up their own mind about the object and its originality.

Antique Warehouse, taken 14 April 2016

Therefore, I consider life its self as a museum. Look at the stumps of the trees, it gives a clear insight into the past right there. A museum is not necessarily a building with objects and information. A museum is where objects are protected by those interested in it and then passes down information about it for generations to come. Ultimately, the universe is a museum which is filled with wonder, knowledge and elements conserved by us. And every day, those elements are being engaged with us, hence more knowledge and development is acquired in preparation towards the unknown.

References:

Walhimer, M 2015, Museums 101, Rowman and Littlefield, United States.