Peter Khalil, Director of Corporate Affairs, SBS; Ms Padmini Sebastian, Immigration Museum Manager; The Hon Robin Scott, Minister for Multicultural Affairs; Dr Patrick Greene, Museum Victoria CEO. Source: Museum Victoria
Media Release, New Multilingual Tour, Museum Victoria, 20 March 2015
Melbourne’s Immigration Museum today launched its new Multilingual Museum Tour with the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Mr Robin Scott MP.
Coinciding with Cultural Diversity Week, the new tour guide is one of the rich cultural experiences that modern, multi-cultural and multi-lingual Melbourne has to offer.
The Multilingual Museum Tour is available to Immigration Museum visitors to personally download to personal devices as an app, or on rented iPods and tablets. Previously only available in English, it features text, audio and images of the Immigration Museum, objects, exhibitions and experiences in Arabic, English, French, Italian, Japanese and Mandarin languages.
The project is a partnership and collaboration with SBS.
Immigration Museum Manager Ms Padmini Sebastian says the new multilingual tours mirror the extraordinary diversity of this city, which is home to people from all around the world. She said the tours provide an opportunity for visitors to hear about the rich history of Melbourne and Victoria in some of the main languages spoken in the state and country.
“Today, Melbourne is more globally-connected than ever before,” said Ms Sebastian. “Many Australians are travelling far and wide, and more people are coming to Australia to live, work, study and have holidays.
“Our research has found that 24% of visitors to the Immigration Museum are international tourists. The new Multilingual Tour provides enriched experiences for tourists, students and Australians who speak diverse languages. According to recent research, Victorians and Melburnians speak over 260 languages and dialects,” said Ms Sebastian.
The Immigration Museum charts the stories of Victoria and Australia and the shaping of an ever-changing and dynamic Australia, celebrating the people and cultures of Australia.
The online ‘tour’ is approximately 45 minutes in length and is designed to enhance the museum experience for our many visitors, including students and tourists. At each stop, detailed text, audio commentary and stunning imagery reveal the stories that have transformed Melbourne and Victoria.
Peter Khalil, Director of Corporate Affairs, SBS, welcomed the partnership with the Immigration Museum.
“As the most linguistically diverse broadcaster in the world, SBS is proud to partner with the Immigration Museum to provide multilingual audio guides that allow visitors to further their engagement with the Museum’s collection,” Mr Khalil said.
Museum Victoria CEO, Dr Patrick Greene, said the launch of the Multilingual Tour builds on technology initiatives and programs that Museum Victoria has been developing in recent years.
“Museum Victoria has been developing apps and mobile devices to increase audience access to our museums and collections,” says Dr Greene. “These include the Field Guide to Victorian Fauna app, which has been downloaded over 100,000 times, Melbourne’s Golden Mile, Pumping Station and Carlton Gardens walking tour apps. The development of the Multilingual Museum Tour has built on the learnings and success of these past projects.”
Museum Victoria will develop multilingual tours for Melbourne Museum and additional tours for the Immigration Museum in the future.
For further media information, interviews or images, please contact: Carolyn Jones, External Relations Manager, Museum Victoria, 03 8341 7141 [email protected]
