Melbourne Museum

In a city that has an abundance of galleries and museums, I found the Melbourne Museum — to my surprise — the most enjoyable of all. Housed in a striking contemporary building in Carlton Gardens, the museum stands by the splendid 1880 Royal Exhibition Building.

As I entered the spacious glass-fronted reception area, my eyes were drawn to the Forest Gallery, a fascinating microcosm of a local woodlands complete with mature trees, streams and native birds. Devoted to the First People — a more gracious name for the Aborigines — the Bunjilaka center details their often-tragic interactions with the West. I found the exhibition of Pacific Island artifacts particularly good, notably the collection of sailing craft. And at the opposite end of the building, natural history displays included one of the best mountings of dinosaur bones I’ve ever seen, as well as a full skeleton of a whale lit with such skill that the effect was sculptural.