It’s thanks to well-meaning members of the public that the Museum has such a wealth of local specimens to exhibit. Well-meaning folk like Ludwig Becker who offered the Museum a Fur seal that he came upon sitting under the shade of a tree near the corner of Punt and Toorak Roads in the summer of 1859. People like the Smith family who donated their hand-made marionettes, for whom they constructed sets, wrote scripts and brought to life at a purpose-built theatre at Luna Park in the 1930s.

The Melbourne Story is a blockbuster, and a terrific way to know and love more about this dirty town.