Melbourne Full Report Part One: The People and the Place
Coming from a city where pollution is high, crime is rising, politics is very dirty, and where many people with enough money and qualifications are making the decision to emigrate in fear of political or economic instability, Melbourne looks like paradise.
Melbourne is actually very small. You can easily walk from one end of the central business district to the other. The vast majority of Melbourne residents live in the suburbs, which doesn't look anything like Kuala Lumpur suburbs: there are no neighbourhood malls or showy condominiums, and it is scenery after scenery of one or two-storey buildings after another. For a Kuala Lumpur resident used to national debt-inducing mega structures, the suburbs look almost underdeveloped: not all the freeways have lights, and many of them have only two lanes.
Left: A portion of Bourke Street has been converted entirely into a pedestrian-only zone. Right: Transportation in Nicholson Street.
Melbourne city is linked by a tram network that was established in the 1800s. The existence of this tram network means that many residents of Melbourne are used to relying entirely on public transportation. The majority of Melbourne residents seem to travel on foot. They come into the central business district by around seven to eight in the morning. At around five in the evening, droves of them can be seen walking towards the main train station, Flinders Street Station. By seven at night the city centre is almost entirely dead, with the exception of a few cafes, bars and restaurants that open late.
Left: Old buildings are maintained, at least in terms of their external appearance. Right: St. Paul's Cathedral, an Anglican church located near Federation Square. It was built in the 1800s.
Melbourne does a good job of maintaining the facade of its old buildings. You will find many old buildings in Melbourne serving as homes to banks, offices, shops. There are also many churches in Melbourne, although I suspect that apart from the ethnic Greek population and the migrant Evangelical Asians, there aren't many devotees. I could be mistaken though. I didn't get to go to church in Melbourne.
The people are very polite. Melbourne residents speak in a very slow, mellow and polite manner, more commonly associated with the nature of small towns than of big cities. I felt very rude in Melbourne. Perhaps Kuala Lumpur in general is rather rude.
Left: A poster for a political campaign features a white man for Mayor and an East Asian man for Deputy. Right: One of the many Malaysian companies operating or planning to operate in Melbourne. Other Malaysian companies I've spotted include Papa Rotti and SP Setia.
This pleasant environment has brought in a wave of migrants to Melbourne, many of them from Asia. The city is almost 30 - 40% Asian. Melbourne Airport uses two languages: English and Mandarin. Many Melbourne whites can eat Asian food with little problem, and some can speak Mandarin. Although the countryside is still mostly white, the city itself is a strong Asian-Western mix.
It's not like the Asians are all working in low-class jobs either, doing dirty work that the locals won't do (the way it is in Kuala Lumpur, and how some Malaysians treat Indonesians or Myanmarese, letting them do all the dirty work for slave wages). In fact, there's very little class division in Melbourne. Serving in restaurants, cleaning tables, or working in hotels aren't 'lowly' jobs. Without this stigma there is less class conflict. There does seem to be a stronger likelihood of Asians working in shops and convenience stores, but when it comes to jobs like cleaning tables or collecting garbage, Australian whites don't seem to have an issue with doing 'dirty work' that cripple the employment choices of middle-class Malaysians.
Exhibition of aborigine peoples, part of the Melbourne Museum's displays. Their aborigine section was closed for maintenance when I visited it.
The name 'Melbourne' is not entirely divorced from terrible things. Australia has a terrible relationship with its aboriginal population -- the entire country is the creation of colonization. And unlike Malaysia, the colonizers were hostile, violent, and never left. To this day, there are a number of Australian aborigines who still regard the arrival of the white Europeans as that of foreign conquerors dispossessing them of their land: they call their version of national day, Australia Day, as Invasion Day -- the day they lost their land.
As someone of indigenous heritage, the plight of the aborigines moved me greatly. It was only a matter of luck and fortune that the colonizer of Sarawak, James Brooke, had some eccentric ideas of his own and declared himself a king of a new country with himself as a benevolent father figure over the population. This move protected Sarawak from intrusion of other colonial parties who wanted to exploit the native population there.
It also made me appreciate the fact that Malaysia has achieved Independence. It is not a perfect creation, and I can now understand why some Malaysians look to the Indonesians with high regard, as a country that fought for (and earned) its liberty by taking the Dutch colonizers to war, whereas Malaysia was granted its liberty simply because the British felt that they couldn't run so many colonies anymore. Our declaration of Independence was a very polite affair.
There is an area in Melbourne that reflects this conflict that Australia has with its aboriginal population: it recognizes that its past was established by dispossessing a people of their land and wants to make amends, but is afraid that making amends will relinquish their claim of ownership. In Victoria Market there is a plot of land that is not developed. Two aborigine warriors were executed and the place serves as their burial ground. A quick Internet search tells me that they were charged for murder of two whalers who had trespassed their land. This is the Australian version of our Rentaps, our Mat Sallehs and Mat Kilau. I feel that there should be statues or memorials built there, honouring their resistance. Instead the place is a carpark: an awkward zone that does not wish to offend sensibilities, but neither restores dignity to the wronged.
I really don't look good in this picture. Graffiti along Union Lane.
Melbourne is highly praised as an 'artistic city', with a large population of visual artists, musicians, and a number of writers. I haven't really delved into this scene, since I spent most of the time with my family. I managed to get some leads, though.
There was a very nice bookstore that I would highly recommend to other reading travellers called The Paperback Books. The lady whom I spoke to was the only person whom I bothered asking for recommendations of Australian writers, and she did not disappoint me with her recommendations. The shop was the only one that carried postcards with illustrations from Australian artists, the only one who seemed to be knowledgeable of Tan Twan Eng, and the only one who was distributing an Australian free art zine that I took home.
The Paperback Books is located to a very old Italian coffee and pasta place called Pellegrini's. It is a family business, one of the oldest in Melbourne, and probably the oldest coffee place there. Both The Paperback Books and Pellegrini's are located on Bourke Street.
Melbourne is actually very small. You can easily walk from one end of the central business district to the other. The vast majority of Melbourne residents live in the suburbs, which doesn't look anything like Kuala Lumpur suburbs: there are no neighbourhood malls or showy condominiums, and it is scenery after scenery of one or two-storey buildings after another. For a Kuala Lumpur resident used to national debt-inducing mega structures, the suburbs look almost underdeveloped: not all the freeways have lights, and many of them have only two lanes.
Left: A portion of Bourke Street has been converted entirely into a pedestrian-only zone. Right: Transportation in Nicholson Street.
Melbourne city is linked by a tram network that was established in the 1800s. The existence of this tram network means that many residents of Melbourne are used to relying entirely on public transportation. The majority of Melbourne residents seem to travel on foot. They come into the central business district by around seven to eight in the morning. At around five in the evening, droves of them can be seen walking towards the main train station, Flinders Street Station. By seven at night the city centre is almost entirely dead, with the exception of a few cafes, bars and restaurants that open late.
Left: Old buildings are maintained, at least in terms of their external appearance. Right: St. Paul's Cathedral, an Anglican church located near Federation Square. It was built in the 1800s.
Melbourne does a good job of maintaining the facade of its old buildings. You will find many old buildings in Melbourne serving as homes to banks, offices, shops. There are also many churches in Melbourne, although I suspect that apart from the ethnic Greek population and the migrant Evangelical Asians, there aren't many devotees. I could be mistaken though. I didn't get to go to church in Melbourne.
The people are very polite. Melbourne residents speak in a very slow, mellow and polite manner, more commonly associated with the nature of small towns than of big cities. I felt very rude in Melbourne. Perhaps Kuala Lumpur in general is rather rude.
Left: A poster for a political campaign features a white man for Mayor and an East Asian man for Deputy. Right: One of the many Malaysian companies operating or planning to operate in Melbourne. Other Malaysian companies I've spotted include Papa Rotti and SP Setia.
This pleasant environment has brought in a wave of migrants to Melbourne, many of them from Asia. The city is almost 30 - 40% Asian. Melbourne Airport uses two languages: English and Mandarin. Many Melbourne whites can eat Asian food with little problem, and some can speak Mandarin. Although the countryside is still mostly white, the city itself is a strong Asian-Western mix.
It's not like the Asians are all working in low-class jobs either, doing dirty work that the locals won't do (the way it is in Kuala Lumpur, and how some Malaysians treat Indonesians or Myanmarese, letting them do all the dirty work for slave wages). In fact, there's very little class division in Melbourne. Serving in restaurants, cleaning tables, or working in hotels aren't 'lowly' jobs. Without this stigma there is less class conflict. There does seem to be a stronger likelihood of Asians working in shops and convenience stores, but when it comes to jobs like cleaning tables or collecting garbage, Australian whites don't seem to have an issue with doing 'dirty work' that cripple the employment choices of middle-class Malaysians.
Exhibition of aborigine peoples, part of the Melbourne Museum's displays. Their aborigine section was closed for maintenance when I visited it.
The name 'Melbourne' is not entirely divorced from terrible things. Australia has a terrible relationship with its aboriginal population -- the entire country is the creation of colonization. And unlike Malaysia, the colonizers were hostile, violent, and never left. To this day, there are a number of Australian aborigines who still regard the arrival of the white Europeans as that of foreign conquerors dispossessing them of their land: they call their version of national day, Australia Day, as Invasion Day -- the day they lost their land.
As someone of indigenous heritage, the plight of the aborigines moved me greatly. It was only a matter of luck and fortune that the colonizer of Sarawak, James Brooke, had some eccentric ideas of his own and declared himself a king of a new country with himself as a benevolent father figure over the population. This move protected Sarawak from intrusion of other colonial parties who wanted to exploit the native population there.
It also made me appreciate the fact that Malaysia has achieved Independence. It is not a perfect creation, and I can now understand why some Malaysians look to the Indonesians with high regard, as a country that fought for (and earned) its liberty by taking the Dutch colonizers to war, whereas Malaysia was granted its liberty simply because the British felt that they couldn't run so many colonies anymore. Our declaration of Independence was a very polite affair.
There is an area in Melbourne that reflects this conflict that Australia has with its aboriginal population: it recognizes that its past was established by dispossessing a people of their land and wants to make amends, but is afraid that making amends will relinquish their claim of ownership. In Victoria Market there is a plot of land that is not developed. Two aborigine warriors were executed and the place serves as their burial ground. A quick Internet search tells me that they were charged for murder of two whalers who had trespassed their land. This is the Australian version of our Rentaps, our Mat Sallehs and Mat Kilau. I feel that there should be statues or memorials built there, honouring their resistance. Instead the place is a carpark: an awkward zone that does not wish to offend sensibilities, but neither restores dignity to the wronged.
I really don't look good in this picture. Graffiti along Union Lane.
Melbourne is highly praised as an 'artistic city', with a large population of visual artists, musicians, and a number of writers. I haven't really delved into this scene, since I spent most of the time with my family. I managed to get some leads, though.
There was a very nice bookstore that I would highly recommend to other reading travellers called The Paperback Books. The lady whom I spoke to was the only person whom I bothered asking for recommendations of Australian writers, and she did not disappoint me with her recommendations. The shop was the only one that carried postcards with illustrations from Australian artists, the only one who seemed to be knowledgeable of Tan Twan Eng, and the only one who was distributing an Australian free art zine that I took home.
The Paperback Books is located to a very old Italian coffee and pasta place called Pellegrini's. It is a family business, one of the oldest in Melbourne, and probably the oldest coffee place there. Both The Paperback Books and Pellegrini's are located on Bourke Street.