Museum gives voice to diversity

The Immigration Museum has launched its Multilingual Museum Tour app made in partnership with the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS).

The free downloadable app provides a personal tour of the museum in six languages: Arabic, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and English.

The tour was launched by Victorian Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Robin Scott who spoke to museum staff and representatives from the Victorian Multicultural Commission, City of Melbourne, Melbourne Visitors Centre, the Yulgilbar Foundation, Multicultural Arts Victoria and English language provider, AMES.

Introducing the tour app, a statement on the Museum Victoria explained “we also had had the Consulate Generals of Spain, Italy, and France and our project partners SBS.

"The Minister spoke of the importance in recognising Melbourne as a successful, contemporary multilingual society and the significance of the Immigration Museum as a place to celebrate Victoria's multiculturalism."

The tour features detailed text, audio commentary and historical imagery that reveal the stories of the people, businesses and architecture that have transformed Melbourne and Victoria.

SBS radio presenters are the voices behind the Arabic (Iman Riman), Italian (Carlo Oreglia), Japanese (Miyuki Watanabe), French (Christophe Mallet) and Mandarin (Liu Jiang) guides, while the English guide is presented by Manager at the Immigration Museum, Padmini Sebastian.

The Multilingual Museum Tour builds on the technology initiatives and programs that Museum Victoria has been developing in recent years which assist in increasing audience access to its museums and collections.

These include Melbourne's Golden Mile, Spotswood Industrial Heritage and Carlton Gardens walking tour apps, as well as the Field Guide to Victorian Fauna app.

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