Broome Historical Museum<\/h3>\n![\"Broome's](\"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/rsz_ata_museum.jpg\")
Broome’s Japanese Cemetery<\/p><\/div>\n
Some museums are boring, some are great and The Broome Historical Museum is the latter. Sounds clich\u00e9 I know, but paying a visit here will genuinely get you appreciating the town for where it\u2019s come from \u2013 which will in turn get you appreciating what it is now. Housed in a humble weatherboard shack that was once the Customs House (meaning that it\u2019s literally a bit of history in and of itself) this museum is deceptively stay-worthy. I usually rush my way through museums because refer to opening four words of this paragraph, but, were it not for a prior engagement, reckon I\u2019d have happily mooched about this museum for a good two hours.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s so great about it isn\u2019t so easy to quantify, though a disarming lack of pretention certainly goes some way. Everyday items from barely a century ago make up many of the displays, and the videos on rotate \u2013 one of which is simply interviews with women who worked the local telephone switchboard \u2013 are surprisingly absorbing. Chiefly, however, it\u2019s the exhibits detailing the town\u2019s pearling history that really shed light.<\/p>\n
Like any gold mining town, Broome was a place built on open discrimination, systemic exploitation, relative autonomy from government, the seeking of fortunes, indentured labour and outright slavery. Riots broke, brothels boomed, opium dens operated, gambling houses flourished \u2013 the joint was basically Deadwood<\/em> by the beach. It was also, funnily enough, Australia\u2019s most cosmopolitan community. Chinese, Japanese, Javanese, Europeans, Malays, Filipinos, Koepangers and indigenous Australians coexisted here, if often on uneasy terms. Circa 1900, Broome\u2019s 4,000-strong population was approximately 1,000 of European descent to 3,000 of Asian \u00ad\u2013 a percentile known nowhere else on the continent.<\/p>\nWhen you\u2019re cognizant of these, Broome\u2019s various attractions suddenly gain some depth. Chinatown, which is now the community\u2019s main shopping strand, came to be because that\u2019s where the Chinese were assigned to live. The local Catholic church was built by Filipinos. The headstones in the Japanese Cemetery mark men who died diving, and the statue of a reaching woman along the Conti foreshore pays tribute to the many indigenous women who suffered through the era of blackbirding.<\/p>\n
Pearl Farms<\/h3>\n
Broome’s Japanese Cemetery<\/p><\/div>\n
Some museums are boring, some are great and The Broome Historical Museum is the latter. Sounds clich\u00e9 I know, but paying a visit here will genuinely get you appreciating the town for where it\u2019s come from \u2013 which will in turn get you appreciating what it is now. Housed in a humble weatherboard shack that was once the Customs House (meaning that it\u2019s literally a bit of history in and of itself) this museum is deceptively stay-worthy. I usually rush my way through museums because refer to opening four words of this paragraph, but, were it not for a prior engagement, reckon I\u2019d have happily mooched about this museum for a good two hours.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s so great about it isn\u2019t so easy to quantify, though a disarming lack of pretention certainly goes some way. Everyday items from barely a century ago make up many of the displays, and the videos on rotate \u2013 one of which is simply interviews with women who worked the local telephone switchboard \u2013 are surprisingly absorbing. Chiefly, however, it\u2019s the exhibits detailing the town\u2019s pearling history that really shed light.<\/p>\n
Like any gold mining town, Broome was a place built on open discrimination, systemic exploitation, relative autonomy from government, the seeking of fortunes, indentured labour and outright slavery. Riots broke, brothels boomed, opium dens operated, gambling houses flourished \u2013 the joint was basically Deadwood<\/em> by the beach. It was also, funnily enough, Australia\u2019s most cosmopolitan community. Chinese, Japanese, Javanese, Europeans, Malays, Filipinos, Koepangers and indigenous Australians coexisted here, if often on uneasy terms. Circa 1900, Broome\u2019s 4,000-strong population was approximately 1,000 of European descent to 3,000 of Asian \u00ad\u2013 a percentile known nowhere else on the continent.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re cognizant of these, Broome\u2019s various attractions suddenly gain some depth. Chinatown, which is now the community\u2019s main shopping strand, came to be because that\u2019s where the Chinese were assigned to live. The local Catholic church was built by Filipinos. The headstones in the Japanese Cemetery mark men who died diving, and the statue of a reaching woman along the Conti foreshore pays tribute to the many indigenous women who suffered through the era of blackbirding.<\/p>\nPearl Farms<\/h3>\n
![\"WA's](\"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ATA_coastline.jpg\")
![\"Sun](\"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ATA_SunPictures.jpg\")
![\"Sunset](\"https:\/\/www.adventuretours.com.au\/australia-outback-yarns\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ATA_Sunset.jpg\")