There were important looking people everywhere I looked, handshaking, posing and smiling into journalists cameras. I shrink away into the museum proper, a little shy among the larger press group and explored the interior quietly and found myself inspired by Australia's newest museum "“ the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka.
Today was the museum's first day of opening to the public, and the entire town population turned up to celebrate this significant milestone. The Gold Rush in the mid 19th Century had placed Ballarat on the world map and the museum is located on the grounds of the Eureka Stockade of 1854, an event that signified a turning point in Australian democratic history. The Eureka flag flew proudly where it would have stood a hundred years ago, with the original now displayed in the museum. The museum also pays tribute to the development of democracy, of human rights and of the power of words, people and symbols from around the world and I felt privileged to have been among the many to have witnessed its opening.
Written by Amy Huang
Based in Sydney, Australia, Amy Huang is a writer stuck in the corporate world. A Business Analyst by profession, she works her life around travelling and has managed to squeeze in postgraduate studies in writing somewhere in between. Amy met her husband in 2006 while working on a community development project in Peru, and the travel-holic pair celebrated their love by getting married in Vanuatu in 2010. Amy keeps a blog on various travel topics at www.footprintsandmemories.com
