Things to do in Melbourne today

Ever wanted to soar above a rainforest canopy or wander beneath the frozen surface of the polar seas? Melbourne Museum invites you to do just that with Our Wondrous Planet, a breathtaking, immersive exhibition celebrating the interconnected magic of life on Earth. Spanning reef, rainforest, ice and soil, this multisensory experience drops visitors into the planet’s most vital ecosystems. Room-sized projections, interactive moments and storytelling bring the natural world to life. More than 800 remarkable animals from across the globe take centre stage, appearing in environments that pulse, swirl and shimmer. Witness the beginnings of a coral reef, come face-to-face with rainforest icons, glide through icy waters and explore hidden root networks and organisms working quietly beneath our feet. The exhibition is anchored by distinct spaces: Our Family, showcasing animals from the much-loved Wild gallery and exploring the human place in the tree of life; Our Roots, a reflective First Peoples-led space centred on care, reciprocity and connection to Country; and Our Moment, an interactive zone encouraging visitors to work together on the planet’s biggest challenges. What sets Our Wondrous Planet apart is its blend of First Peoples and scientific knowledge, showing how everything on Earth is connected and how small human actions can make a difference. Family-friendly, visually spectacular and thought-provoking, this exhibition entertains while leaving plenty to reflect on. Our...

Melbourne’s stages have seen a slew of jukebox musicals tread the boards over the past few years. They’ve ranged from the powerful (Tina – The Tina Turner Musical) to the cheesy-yet-crowd-pleasing (Mamma Mia! The Musical) and the glossed-over tributes (MJ the Musical). Thankfully, at a time when it feels more important than ever to encourage people to get out and support the local arts industry, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical arrives at the Princess Theatre full of razzle-dazzle, an abundance of infectious energy and a stacked setlist guaranteed to appeal to the masses. What is A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical about?  Written by Anthony McCarten, directed by Michael Mayer and created in collaboration with Neil Diamond himself, A Beautiful Noise opens on a dour therapy session between an older Diamond (played with commanding gravitas by Terence Crawford) and his doctor (Monica Sayers). It’s an unflinchingly sharp first introduction to the musical legend – all the more surprising given the heavy involvement of Diamond and his wife Katie – who is being particularly stubborn about revealing anything about the “clouds” that darken his demeanour. Enter the doc whipping out a book of all his lyrics, and suddenly, in true musical theatre fashion, the songs are quite literally spilling onto the stage in the form of the ensemble singing a teasing medley of hits to come.   From there we’re transported back in time as a young Diamond (Will Swenson) gets his big...

Love a good pop-up that’s packed with cool stuff – but hate that it disappears before you’ve had a chance to go back? Melbourne streetwear label Tild has heard your collective groan and is making shopping a bit easier by having its longest pop-up yet. Running from October 4 to November 1, it gives you an entire month to browse and buy their merch. Founded in 2021 by Melbourne sisters Tilly and Lucy Comb, Tild is all about blending streetwear with vintage-inspired style. Think jackets, hoodies, trackpants and singlets splashed with bold prints and playful graphics, as well as everyday staples with a retro twist. Get to this pop-up at 240 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy that’s open daily from 10am to 4pm. So, take your time and find yourself something fun. Get all the updates via their Instagram. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED:  Here's more to see and do when you're in Fitzroy Crown Melbourne's $200-million redevelopment is picking up speed

Do you ever look around at the increasingly disastrous times we find ourselves in and wonder how we got here? Or who got us here?  When we think of folks who act like a god only to fall victim to hubristic overreach and despair, we leap to Mary Shelley’s fictional Frankenstein and his spurned, rightfully furious ‘monster’ in fiction, or to real life and J Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atom bomb, the man who infamously quoted the Bhagavad Gita, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” There’s another: Dr Joseph Weizenbaum, the subject of Eliza, MTC’s riveting new work by celebrated Melbourne playwright Tom Holloway, directed by Paige Rattray. I know Frankenstein and Oppenheimer, but who are Weizenbaum (and Eliza)? Forget Claude and ChatGPT, Eliza is the original AI ‘chatbot’, created by Weizenbaum in 1966. He was a computer whizz at MIT whose family escaped Nazi Germany thirty years earlier, fleeing to the US when he was still a kid.  Far from birthing an intelligent new lifeform – AI isn’t that – Weizenbaum was being a bit of a smart arse, purposefully creating Eliza as a software program designed to mimic the question-reframing language of therapists. Not because he wanted to make therapy easier and cheaper to access, but because unlike sci-fi authors including Asimov, he wanted to prove there was nothing close to human about AI. Eliza was a mimic, faking its way through the Turing test, yet easily out-sentience-d by a parrot.  Intriguing! So who’s involved...

From Cleopatra and Mark Antony's empire-toppling romance to Romeo and Juliet's family-defying affair, love has often been an act of rebellion. Rebel Heart: Love Letters and Other Declarations takes matters of the heart seriously in this sweeping, immersive new exhibition at the State Library, drawing on its extraordinary archives to trace how people have dared to love across centuries of Australian history. The exhibition runs for almost a year and brings together handwritten letters, private diaries, rare manuscripts and deeply personal objects to weave a tapestry of passion, heartbreak and devotion. You’ll encounter Victorian-era same-sex couples living together against the odds, a mid-century interracial marriage that challenged the White Australia policy, and the prison romance between bushrangers Captain Moonlight and James Nesbitt. Fragile keepsakes are also featured in the show, including a haunting 1853 mourning brooch woven from lovers’ hair, alongside letters that read like a late-night confessional. What makes Rebel Heart especially distinctive is how it bridges the past with the present. Historical stories are amplified by newly commissioned music from Australian artists Angie McMahon, Mindy Meng Wang, Mo’Ju and Amos Roach, each responding to real love stories held in the library’s collection.  The exhibition also explores how rebellion and romance play out today – from DMs and fandoms to fan fiction and even AI relationships. It’s set to be a smart,...

There’s more than a good drop on offer at Hanging Rock Winery – this vineyard has morphed into an outdoor gallery. Art in the Vines – Art in Motion 2 is a free outdoor exhibition at Hanging Rock Winery, running daily from 17 October 2026 until the end of April 2027 with Hanging Rock and Mount Macedon providing a spectacular backdrop.  Spanning three acres of the winery’s grounds, the exhibition features more than 20 kinetic sculptures by local, Victorian and interstate artists. With the wind and weather constantly changing, the sculptures will move and interact with their surroundings, meaning no two visits will be quite the same. The standout attraction is a special showcase of five works by acclaimed Australian kinetic sculptor Rudi Jass, whose creations combine precision engineering with an artist’s eye for movement, balance and natural forces. Drawing on skills developed during his years working for Porsche, Jass creates carefully balanced sculptures that respond to the slightest breeze with seemingly effortless grace. The exhibition has already recognised some standout talent, with Mark Reyment winning the Hanging Rock Winery Sculpture Prize for At least you know it’s trying, a quirky work inspired by the Hanging Rock Races. Local chainsaw artist Paul Hurley took home the Arcare Prize for best up-and-coming artist for Black Cockatoo. Curator Malcolm Thomson says the kinetic theme challenged artists to make movement an integral part of their work, producing a...

As Jane Austen wrote in Northanger Abbey, “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” So bookworms and bibliophiles, this one's for you. World of the Book, Australia’s largest and longest-running rare book exhibition, returns to State Library Victoria with more than 300 extraordinary works spanning from around 2000 BCE to the present day. This year's exhibition shines a spotlight on some of literature's most influential women writers. We're talking rare and remarkable editions by Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Octavia E. Butler, Virginia Woolf and the Brontë sisters, including a newly acquired first edition of Jane Austen's Emma (1816) in its original Regency-era binding. You'll also be able to admire special versions of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion, alongside rare editions of Agatha Christie's best-loved mysteries featuring her legendary detectives, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Head to the beautiful domed La Trobe Reading Room to check out everything from intricate miniature books to Australian punk music fanzines, early comic books and centuries-old treasures. One must-see is The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886) – Melbourne's first publishing blockbuster, which famously outsold Sherlock Holmes. “The Fund’s first ever purchase, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, will be displayed in a space intentionally designed to celebrate extraordinary women writers,” said State...

From the bush to our own backyards, the eucalypt has long shaped the Australian landscape and imagination. A new exhibition at the Potter Museum of Art delves into the significance of this iconic tree with more than 163 works and five significant new artist commissions. Opening on July 10, Ngarn Wa’ngal: Art of the gum tree draws on Australian art history and contemporary works from the University of Melbourne's collection, alongside major loans from across the country to explore the tree as a source of creative inspiration. Colonial paintings by John Glover, Eugene von Guérard and Frederick McCubbin will sit alongside 20th century works by Arthur Boyd, Hans Heysen, Albert Namatjira, Grace Cossington Smith and Jessie Traill, as well as contemporary artists like Nici Cumpston, Vincent Namatjira, Joan Ross and Christian Thompson. Translating to “breathing for us” in the Woi Wurrung language, Ngarn Wa’ngal considers the gum tree as both subject and symbol, prompting conversations around Indigenous sovereignty, Australian identity, ecology, climate and the global legacy of the eucalyptus.  A major feature of the exhibition is five new commissions created specifically for the showcase, including a photographic work by Jane E. Brown using early carbon-printing techniques; an installation of seed-filled papier-mâché forms by artist Dean Cross of Worimi descent; a large-scale piece by interdisciplinary artist Megan Evans featuring eucalyptus leaves collected over decades; a...

Hello, possums! Would you like to see one of Dame Edna Everage's costumes? How about those iconic gold hot pants that Kylie Minogue wore in ‘Spinning Around’? Perhaps the maracas that Peter Allen shook in his 1977 performance of ‘I Go To Rio’ or Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst’s beloved drum kit? You’re in luck because 50 extraordinary pieces of Australian performing arts history are back in the spotlight at Encore! 50 Objects. 50 Years. One Collection. This exhibition at the Australian Museum of Performing Arts (AMPA) runs from September 16 to May 9, 2027. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Australian Performing Arts Collection, it showcases the people, performances and productions that have shaped Australia’s cultural history. It is the country’s largest specialist collection of its kind, preserving more than 850,000 objects spanning circus, dance, music, opera and theatre. You’ll also find Helen Reddy’s Grammy Award for ‘I Am Woman’; a personal visual journal compiled by Nick Cave in 1987; the original neon-red L’Amour sign created by Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin for Opera Australia’s La Bohème; costumes worn by Olivia Newton-John and Hugh Jackman; signed pointe shoes worn by the first Indigenous person to join the Australian Ballet, Ella Havelka; Archie Roach’s custom-made performance vest; and Dame Nellie Melba’s jewel-encrusted silk cloak – and that's just to name a few. From the tulle gown worn by legendary performer Dame Joan Sutherland to cheeky...

Love video games? You’re invited to step inside one at ACMI, where acclaimed Chinese artist Feng Mengbo transforms modern Chinese history into a surreal, interactive adventure. Presented by ACMI and the City of Melbourne’s Now or Never festival, Feng Mengbo: Long March Restart reimagines China’s rapid 20th century modernisation through this retro video game. Inspired by the Long March of 1934-36 (the military retreat of the Chinese Red Army that helped establish Mao Zedong’s rise to power), the artwork takes history into unexpected territory. Visitors can guide a Red Army soldier across two giant screens, navigating a pixelated world filled with supernatural creatures, pop culture characters and historical references. The soldier is armed with an unlikely weapon: Coca Cola cans. The visuals draw on iconic 1980s games including Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter II, while the different levels weave together historical landmarks, Cold War science fiction and retro video game imagery. Feng, who grew up during China’s Cultural Revolution and the later period of economic reform, is a pioneering figure in Chinese digital and interactive art. Feng Mengbo: Long March Restart reflects his fascination with how technology and popular culture can reshape the way we understand history. 'Feng Mengbo: Long March Restart' is on now until January 31, 2027, in the foyer near the ACMI Shop. Entry is free; no bookings are required. Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne...