Today’s Featured Friday Post comes from one of my favorite travel blogs. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did! I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve got to get myself to Australia now… Take the time to stop by “You Bloody Tourist” here.

Similarly to Rachel I love free things almost as much as I love travelling. Being a student spending a year living, studying and travelling in Australia I am, unfortunately, heavily constrained by a student budget. I don’t plan to let that stop me doing absolutely anything however, especially not missing out on the proper Australian experience. So, let me start by saying thanks to Rachel for inviting me to write a guest post for her fantastic blog.

Right. Last week, being a history student, I visited the Migration Museum in Adelaide, South Australia. I didn’t realise it was going to cost nothing when I planned to go but was thrilled when I found out. Australia, as you may or may not know, has somewhat of a shadowy history. In brief, when the British arrived in Australia in the 1700’s it was far from empty. In fact people had been living here for over 40,000 years. This is where problems arise and being British, a frown often falls upon my face.

The Adelaide Migration Museum is based within the site that was once Adelaide’s Destitute Asylum. One of the most interesting exhibitions within the Museum is therefore the history of the women and children that lived here. With interesting (and slightly terrifying) exhibitions on the types of medical practice which was in place for women given birth, it’s sure to make you cringe if nothing else!

As for the main museum, it’s brilliant. It focuses on who came to South Australia and how they came. It is set out in chronological order so that walking through the Museum is literally like walking through the history of South Australia. One of the most fascinating things about the Museum is that the stories that are told are the stories of real people. They have names, addresses, voices, families – It makes the history feel so much more real than reading something in a book. One of my personal highlights of the museum is two of the temporary exhibitions they have at the moment. Firstly, one called ‘Who are we Now?’ that looks at contemporary identity and asks the question of how you define yourself and secondly, an exhibition that changes to showcase various cultures own history of migration (currently Armenian). If my description hasn’t convinced you, then hopefully the pictures of the fabulous displays will have.

So, I leave you with that question. One that I’ve pondered for years. How do you answer the question:

Who are you?

If you’d like to read more of my blogs on my travels and ramblings within Australia and beyond, please check out: www.youbloodytourist.com. I’d love to hear from you!