Melbourne Museum

While a trip to Hogwarts or London's Natural History Museum may not be within reach, Melbourne Museum's newest exhibition brings the magic closer to home. Step into a world where mythical creatures and real animals converge at Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature, which is exclusively on display until October 8. For both the young and young at heart, this spellbinding exhibition unlocks the mysteries of the natural world and uncovers how real animals inspired mythical worlds and creatures from beloved Warner Bros books and films. You’ll recognise magical critters from the fan-favourite film series Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter, which are brought to life with custom-made models, props and original artworks from Bloomsbury Publishing. These are in good company with precious wildlife specimens and artefacts from the world-leading scientific collections of London’s prestigious Natural History Museum. Venture deeper into the Fantastic Beasts exhibition gallery and you’ll enter the wilderness where the boundaries between reality and enchantment begin to dissolve. You can explore the incredible behaviours both real and other-worldly creatures share, and learn about the many animals facing similar threats to the magical beings in the wizarding world. As you bid farewell to this mystical universe, you can chat with scientists who will teach you how to protect our biodiversity for the future.  Prepare to be spellbound as Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature takes you on an insp

From two veritable Lego masterminds (and winners of the hit reality TV show competition) comes a unique and playful exhibition, combining intricate Lego creations with antique artefacts.  Relics: A New World Rises is the latest exhibition at Melbourne Museum that combines large-scale LEGO creations with vintage treasures to create an innovative spectacle.  Set in the year 2530, the exhibition imagines a post-human world where tiny Lego people have risen from the ashes and craft their civilisations inside forgotten human objects and vintage treasures. The exhibition was born from the masterminds of Channel 9's Lego Masters winners of season two, Jackson Harvey and Alex Towler, who've designed ginormous building block creations in unusual and unexpected places with a retro-futuristic theme.  Visitors will wander in awe at highly-detailed, entire Lego cities under the hood of a Beetle car, a vintage jukebox, a piano, arcade game machines and so much more.  “The Lego minifigures are the plastic puppets of our stories, and we’ve had so much fun constructing hundreds of narratives with them," says exhibition creative director Jackson Harvey. "We hope people are able to find these stories, and create some of their own. Relics is a very weird love child between an antique shop, the Lego movie and Blade Runner.” The perfect combination of nostalgic and playful, the exhibition is sure to impress and delight the whole family. Find out more on the website.  Looking for more things to

Venture out as night falls and immerse yourself in the many wonders of our world at Melbourne Museum, welcoming those of us with nocturnal tendencies after dark. The museum will open it's doors after closing time for Nocturnal: Museum After Dark, a series of exclusive adults-only evenings, held on the second Thursday of each month. Explore the exhibitions and be enlightened by tours, curator talks and trivia, or enjoy a bev and a boogie with DJs soundtracking the night. Each event has a different theme and highlights one of the fascinating exhibitions, so there's something different to discover each time.  The first event in the series is on September 14, when Nocturnal: Far Fetched will take you on a journey where the real meets the imagined. In the Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature exhibition, you'll come face-to-face with extraordinary creatures from Harry Potter and the wizarding world. Plus, test your smarts with the Museum Masterminds trivia challenge, hosted by comedian Atlanta Colley.  On October 12, Nocturnal: Tiny but Mighty will immerse visitors in the captivating world of Relics: A New World Rises, telling the story of a post-human world where Lego minifigures rise from the debris to create intricate civilisations within discarded human artefacts.  Nocturnal: Smoke & Mirrors will invites attendees into a world of animal camouflage and natural illusion on November 9. Expert talks and tours will take visitors on a journey to explore the quirky and unexpecte