Things to do in Melbourne in June

Looking for things to do now that the cool weather has set in? Rug up and head to the City of Casey, located just a 40-minute drive from the CBD, for its Winter Arts Festival from June 20 to July 20.  This celebration of creativity, community and colour is back for another year, with a jam-packed program of performances, installations, film screenings and workshops spotlighting local talent. Taking over multiple venues including Narre Warren’s creative hub Bunjil Place, the historic Old Cheese Factory and the expansive Wilson Botanic Garden, the program features a mix of free and ticketed events. Highlights include a crowd-pleasing production of the Broadway hit Mamma Mia!, performed by Windmill Theatre Company; an electric drag cabaret showcase from Queers of Concert; and live music covering everything from soul to pop by the talented South East Music students. Film buffs can catch a special screening of the heartwarming flick Memoir of a Snail, followed by an exclusive Q&A with the Oscar-winning filmmaker Adam Elliot – who just so happens to be a nearby Berwick local. There’s also Lost in Bunjil Place Plaza, a free art installation by Amanda Parer featuring giant, illuminated sculptures of endangered botanical species.  Families are well catered for, with a line-up of kid-friendly events and interactive theatre shows. These include The Owl’s Apprentice, a magical mix of shadow puppetry and physical theatre, and Imagine Live, a live-action musical adaptation of a beloved...

Melbourne's favourite illuminated event is back again for a fourth year, with more than 20 dazzling new light installations to meander through in wonderment. From June 20 to August 10, take a nighttime stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens and experience luminous pathways, lit-up tree canopies, soothing soundscapes and more spectacular sights. For the upcoming season, you can expect a reimagined 2.2km trail accompanied by stunning lakeside reflections, large-scale illuminated sculptures and other wonders, with more than 100,000 tiny lights on display. Expect 2025 highlights to be huge illuminated canopy of flowers and the mesmerising 'lawn of light'. Most importantly, you'll also be able to grab a bite to eat and warming drinks, like hot chocolate and mulled wine, at the Welcome Zone or along the trail. They say that Melbourne is at its best in winter and events like Lightscape, where you can rug up and join friends for a magical experience, are a big reason why. Adult tickets start at $36 and are available through the website – be quick as they tend to go fast.  Want more? Check out the best things happening in Melbourne this week.

Way back when Tim Burton was a much weirder filmmaker, my wee brother and I were unreasonably thrilled by the chaos engine of awfully bad behaviour that was Michael Keaton’s unhinged and unwashed demon, Betelgeuse.  The grotty stripe-suited monster ate up the 1988 film of not quite the same name – the studio figured folks would stay away unless the title was simplified to Beetlejuice. Named after the red supergiant star blazing ferociously in the constellation of Orion, some 600 light years from our solar system, Betelgeuse is an outcast from the hilariously bureaucratic afterlife, aka the Netherworld. Which leaves him preying on the naïve recently deceased, like sweet young couple Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), in an attempt to crowbar open the sort of ridiculous loophole the Greek gods are fond of. Say his – apparently too complex – name three times and he’ll be unleashed on the mortal coil once more.  But Betelgeuse’s sleazy attentions are soon distracted by Winona Ryder’s goth child Lydia, when she reluctantly moves into Adam and Barbara’s now-empty house with her dad, Charles (disgraced actor Jeffrey Jones), and his new squeeze, OTT sculptor Delia (fabulously demented goddess Catherine O’Hara). A smash hit, Beetlejuice is a wild and unruly thing writhing with unhinged ideas, from its stop-animated black and white sand worms to characters shrunk into a model of sleepy town Winter River, and on to the hilariously-depicted dead of the surreal...

Snakes have curled their way around mythology for millennia. Present in countless creation stories from Egyptian, Greek and Indian to Norse and First Nations cultures (including the Rainbow Serpent), the loaded symbolism of this coiled creature clasping its tail between its fangs – the ouroboros – evokes eternity.  Sometimes the serpent holds the world together. Other times, it’s a constricting chaos agent. Either way, the fireside nature of myths, oft-shared in storytelling sessions spun under the stars, is inherently unending, melding anew with each retelling. Tackled by everyone from Roman poets Virgil and Ovid to Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire and Katee Robert’s queered novel, Midnight Ruin, the myth of Eurydice and her Orpheus finds new life in the hands of folk singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell. Her eight Tony Award-winning smash-hit musical Hadestown began life as a sung-through community project before she turned it into a concept album, and then a Broadway smash with help from director Rachel Chavkin. In most Greek tales, Eurydice and her Orpheus are happily married, torn apart by a cruel twist of fate: a viper’s bite (sometimes while pursued by toxic dudebro Aristaeus), not even a malicious god in disguise. As she fades into the Underworld, ruled over by Hades and his niece/abducted wife Persephone (!!!), a desolate Orpheus, son of a musical muse, plays his lyre like her life depends on it. Descending into the abyss and crossing the River Styx, he makes a...

French Impressionism is host to arguably some of the most famous (and most loved) artists of all time. Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Van Gogh and Degas are just some of the artists who achieved such acclaim that they remain household names even a century after their deaths. And this winter, you can see some of the artist's most beautiful and well-known works right here in Melbourne at the NGV's new exhibition, French Impressionism: From the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. From June 5 to October 5, 2025, the NGV will host more than 100 French Impressionist works by artists like Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne and Mary Cassatt – including works never before seen in Australia. The exhibition is running in partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which is well regarded for its collection of French Impressionist masterpieces.    A highlight is the display of 16 canvases in one gallery, painted over a 30-year period, by Claude Monet. These works depict many of Monet’s most beloved scenes of nature in Argenteuil, the Normandy coast, the Mediterranean coast and his famous garden in Giverny.  One of the best things about this exhibition is that you will also learn the stories of the artists, exhibitions and collectors that shaped this significant movement in art history. Originally brought to the NGV back in 2021, this exhibition had to close just after it opened due to (yep, you guessed it), the...

Mark your calendars and grab your warmest winter woolies, Melburnians: Queen Victoria Market's beloved Winter Night Market is back. From June 4 to August 27 you can spend cosy Wednesday evenings enjoying live entertainment, huddling around open fires and feasting on goodies from a selection of global street food stalls, carts, trucks and festival bars. This year, expect to see beloved traders from previous years, as well as a number of new and exciting additions across the market's roaring 13-week season. Highlights include piping hot soup served in a bread roll by the Soup Factory (lobster chowder, anyone?), juicy smash burgers by Smashville and ginormous churro bowls of chocolate-drizzled vanilla ice cream, courtesy of Churro Kitchen. And check out all the newbies making an appearance this year! Take your pick from artisan-made hot pasta dishes from La Trafila, cannoli from Cannoleria, heavenly bowls of laksa from Laksa Shack, plus raclette and actual French garlic butter snails from The Little Paris. As always, you can expect roving performers, tarot reading, the famous silent disco and a rotating line-up of homegrown talent. After sipping and snacking, be sure to explore dozens of specialty stalls selling one-of-a-kind treaures including jewellery, art, vintage fashion, skincare, books and homewares.  Find out more at the Queen Victoria Winter Night Market website. Looking for more things to do? Check out our round-up of the best things happening in Melbourne this week.

Admired worldwide for its elegant silhouette and intricate details, the kimono has been an integral, yet constantly evolving, pillar of Japanese fashion for hundreds of years. The iconic straight-cut wrap with matching belt (obi) first appeared in the Heian period (784-1185) alongside the shifting of the island nation’s seat of government to Kyoto. Originally worn by working class people, they were practical and simple, but soon became ubiquitous, adopted by nobility, warriors and everyday folks alike.When Japan opened its borders to the world in the mid-19th century, stunning examples made their way out across the globe. In turn, fashion designers began putting their spin on the national dress. They’re not frozen in time at home, either, with contemporary Japanese designers throwing out the rule book and adapting the look to take it in exciting new directions, as well as honouring tradition in unique ways.  If your budget can’t quite stretch as far as a trip to Japan right now, then the next best thing is winding your way towards St Kilda Road’s NGV International instead. Dazzling exhibition Kimono, on display until October 5, showcases the extraordinary range of the once-humble outfit.  There are 70 beautiful examples on show, including seven newly acquired silk and ramie kimono, once belonging to samurai and merchant families, that date back to the Edo period (1603-1867). You’ll be able to learn about the layers of meaning stitched into recurring motifs like the eternal...

May the 4th is a special date for any Star Wars fan, but this year it'll be one to remember. A brand-new Lego Star Wars exhibition is making its world premiere, and it won't be in a galaxy far, far away but right here in Melbourne.  Lego Star Wars: the Exhibition at Melbourne Museum comes from revered Lego genius Ryan 'Brickman' McNaught, who's back with his latest mind-boggling project of massive Star Wars brick creations – some standing at a whopping four metres tall.  There'll be Lego replicas of many of the iconic characters, fan favourite scenes, spacecraft and more, from both the classic films and newer releases. Plus, the exhibition will include interactive brick-based activities inclusive of all ages.  While there's still some time to wait for the exhibition opening, building has already begun, and it's expected it'll take more than 25,000 hours to finish and use a wild 8 million Lego bricks. One of the most monumental creations is a three-metre-tall red X-wing spacecraft, made of an astonishing 64,759 bricks, taking 382 hours to build.  "Fans will be blown away by the scale of the experience," Brickman says. "Building these iconic scenes and characters in Lego Star Wars form is an extremely complex task – taking the humble Lego brick and using it by the millions to translate into Star Wars builds and models at an epic scale the world has never seen before.  "My team and I are super excited to launch this mind-blowing experience right here in Melbourne. My inner...

While winter seems like the time to hide under the doona and get reacquainted with your Netflix must-watch list, that is absolutely the wrong approach. Cold weather brings with it a kind of magic in the form of frosty air and clear, still views that seem to go on forever, and this is especially the case in regional Victoria.  If you're keen to head on a cool-climate caper but aren't sure where to begin, you're in luck: the East Gippsland Winter Festival is returning for its fifth iteration. Rug up and hit the road for a month-long celebration packed with lavish winter feasts, fantastical art installations, live music, lantern parades, creative workshops, wellness experiences and much more. This year, the festivities kick off on June 20 and coincide with the Victorian school holidays. Returning highlights of the program include the Medieval Winter Fire Festival at Bruthen complete with swordfights, costumes and bonfires; a long lunch on the Nicholson River Trestle Bridge showcasing the region's best produce; live ice sculpting and a fire show at Meetung; and Lakes Lights – an incredible display of lantern sculptures, light projections and roaming performers on the foreshore of Lakes Entrance.   New events on the line-up include an après-ski party complete with mulled wine, hot toddies and DJs; the Op Shop Ball in Cann River, where attendees are encouraged to wear their finest oph shop garb; and the Great Alpine Scarecrow Competition. And don't miss the sunrise dip in the...

After years of success, refined Italian eatery Cucinetta has brought back its famous cheese wheel for the 11th edition. Once again, the team is serving the traditional meal of fettuccine cacio e pepe, a simple yet sophisticated pasta dish made with quality cheese and lashings of pepper. Served out of a wheel of parmigiano reggiano (as all pasta should be served), it’s a cheese-on-cheese affair. Why, you may ask? Well, no raison d'etre is needed because who doesn't love a cheese wheel? To get your share of the marvelous cheese-sauced ribbons, all you need to do is make a booking and head down to Cucinetta's dining room in South Yarra on your chosen date. The wheel will be up and running July 31. A serving costs $36 and it's available on the menu over lunch and dinner. Want to get in on the carby goodness? Stop salivating, start booking.  Craving Italian now? These are the best Italian restaurants in Melbourne.