After our first breakfast in Melbourne, we walked 15 minutes from our hotel to the meeting point for “I’m Free Walking Tours” of Melbourne — in front of the State Library of Victoria.

We arrived early enough to spend a few minutes in the Library, viewing a very interesting exhibit on immigrants from Iran, called “Building a Home Away From Home.” The exhibit consisted of several photos and personal statements from Iranian immigrants living in Melbourne. Although some immigrated soon after the Iranian revolution in 1979, most did so in the past decade, according to the journalist/photographer who did the work. Below is but one of the eight to ten moving stories of these immigrants. They long for their homeland but are so appreciative of the multiculturalism and openness of the citizens of Melbourne that they are quite loyal to Australia — a message I wish the current U.S. President would understand.

The three hour walking tour took us first to the Melbourne Jail, where we learned about an Australian hero (and criminal!), Ned Kelly, the subject three movies, the most recent of which, “Ned Kelly,” was released in 2003. We saw a monument paying tribute to Australia’s being the first country to adopt an 8-hour work day. Notice “888” at the top of the statue representing eight hours of work, eight hours of play and eight hours of rest/sleep.

We passed by many shops and restaurants, of course, but Melbourne has numerous alleys, some of which display public art under a special permit. In those locations it is legal for anyone to paint over someone else’s art, but the unwrittten rule is that you have to believe you’re going to do a better job than what you are replacing. The permit makes it different from graffiti, which is very heavily fined. Here is one example of the public art on AC/DC Lane, an alley in tribute to the Australian rock band of that name established in the 70’s.

All in all, a very good day indeed!!