Look Daddy a Rhinosaurus

So I spent my day at the Melbourne Museum. Say what you will, but it was only 8 bucks to get in and I saw a lot of interesting things. I learned about dinosaurs, and minerals, and even about the human body. Mostly I spent a lot of time in the Australian history wing.

Phar Lap in the flesh (sort of speak).

I found a lot of interesting tidbits specifically in the Melbourne history section. Melbourne was founded by John Batman in 1835, who settled a treaty with the Aboriginals that secured him 600,000 acres of land. Of course that treaty was conveniently voided by Australian government later, but that’s another story. It was named by Governor Richard Bourke in 1837, in honor of William Lamb, the 2nd Viscount Melbourne. Melbourne was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria in 1847. In 1851, it became the capital city of the newly created colony of Victoria. During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the world's largest and wealthiest cities. After the Federation of Australia in 1901, it then served as the interim seat of government of the newly created nation of Australia until 1927. Today it is the capital of the Australian Arts movement. It consists mostly of cafes, bistros, and car dealerships. It is where the Australian Movie Industry started, and they seem oddly proud of the fact that the movie Ghost Rider was filmed in and around Melbourne. Sufficed to say there is a lot of history here.

The museum had a rather large and interesting display set out on a horse named Phar Lap. This horse is one of Australia's biggest heroes (I'm not kidding). You must first understand that horse racing is a big sport in Australia, especially around Melbourne. During the great depression this horse was the hope of the entire nation. "Between September 1929 and November 1931, the champion ran 41 races, winning 35 of them and becoming Australia's first sporting superstar." (That is an excerpt from the plaque near Phar Lap's case) The horse itself died in South America while competing in an international horse race. It was poisoned by arsenic. Poor Australia, they finally get a sporting superstar and it is brutally killed at the height of its career. The country was of course crushed, with people openly weeping on the streets when they heard the news. So in memory of Phar Lap, they removed his skeleton, his vital organs, preserved everything, and stuffed the hell out of him. Now he is sitting in a glass case in the Melbourne Museum. I actually think this is a great idea. I'm now of the mind that we should dig up Babe Ruth and Johnny Unitas and see if we can put some sawdust and stuffing in them.

All kidding aside the museum was very informative. My favorite story comes from the 1966 visit of Lyndon B. Johnson to Melbourne. I watched the original footage and it was just thousands upon thousands of Aussies waving American flags. I am sure Johnson liked it. God knows he never got that kind of reception in America. (Truthfully it made me a little homesick.) LBJ was in town to thank Australia for their support in sending troops to Vietnam. As you can imagine, not everyone was too thrilled about that. I am just going to quote my favorite part of the plaque at the exhibit. "During his visit to South Yarra, the President's limousine was pelted with red and green paint by anti-war protestors... The protestors were charged, and... apologetically wrote to Johnson that they had been 'excited to a fever pitch by your presence and the consequent air of exaltation and triumph.'" I love Australia, because they are some of the nicest people you can meet. I mean even their anti-war protestors write apology letters. Again, I am sure that’s more than LBJ ever got back home. So once again, and I'm sure not for the last I marvel at this odd and wondrous country where they apologize for protesting and idolize horses.