Tumble through Melbourne’s civic history at The Museum of Falling

The City of Melbourne presents its latest exhibition at the City Gallery, The Museum of Falling, running until February 2025.

This engaging and somewhat humorous display features a diverse range of items that explore the theme of falling in civic spaces.

Curated by passionate collector Patrick Pound, the exhibition draws from more than 13,000 pieces in the City of Melbourne’s Art and Heritage Collection, offering a fascinating look at how we navigate public spaces, often with unintended consequences.

“I had the privilege to trawl through this eclectic collection and realised that many of these ‘treasures’ have fallen from use. But, for this exhibition, we briefly revive a handful of them,” Mr Pound said.

In a deliberate and playful way, I tested how to rethink these objects for visitors to respond to them afresh. As you spend time in the space, you can piece together the dynamics of falling.

The exhibition includes images of cyclists and pedestrians tumbling, along with a series of objects depicting fallen trees, crumbling buildings, and capsizing ships. 

One notable inclusion is a photo from an album documenting the vintage elevators at Melbourne’s Town Hall.

Objects from the City’s Collection that have fallen by the wayside are also on display, shedding light on attempts to regulate and control public spaces. 

These include items such as a time-punch used by a city worker, a taxi fare meter, a computerised parking ticket machine, and other curious devices once designed to measure and organise.

“The tipping point for the falling theme was finding in the City’s Collection, a 1956 Melbourne Olympics photograph of a pole vaulter floating mid-air at a great height, about to fall,” Mr Pound said.

The free exhibition is filled with remnants and artefacts of Melbourne, offering a fresh and amusing way to engage with the City of Melbourne’s Art and Heritage Collection. The Museum of Falling serves as a light-hearted reminder that even civic pride all too often comes before a fall.

“Profiling more than 40 items from our incredible Art and Heritage Collection at Town Hall – this exhibition has something each gallery-goer will be able to relate to through the highs and lows of life,” Lord Mayor Nick Reece said. •