Museum pieces Melbourne Museum
It's the mother of all museums - at least in this city - so it's a challenge to visit all its galleries in one day. The secret to tackling this place is to realise that it is several museums under one roof. Highlights include Bunjilaka, a vibrant account of indigenous culture that discredits 19th-century anthropologists' predictions that Aborigines would eventually die out. The Children's Museum will keep the kids occupied, and there's plenty of interest for all ages in the other sections. Play "spot the Aussie icon" in the Australia Gallery.
10am-5pm, 11 Nicholson Street, Carlton. Entry $6 adults. Details: 13 11 02, melbourne.museum.vic.gov.au

Fire services Museum
Where's the fire? The Fire Services Museum can answer that question, or at least point you towards its firefighting vehicles. One of the museum's prize exhibits is a Pierce Arrow car once owned by Nellie Melba. It was requisitioned during World War I, then turned into a fire engine after the conflict. The opera world's loss was obviously the brigade's gain. Examine this and a multitude of firefighting memorabilia.
9am-3pm Fridays, 10am-4pm Sundays, other times by arrangement, 39 Gisborne Street, East Melbourne. Details: 9662 2907, home.alphalink. com.au/~fsmvic/

Chinese Museum
Melbourne's Chinatown is the oldest uninterrupted Chinese district in a Western city. (San Francisco's was slightly older, but was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake, then rebuilt.) This museum reveals fascinating stories from the gold rush era and beyond, presenting Australian history from a once-ignored perspective. The prize exhibit is Dai Loong, the world's longest ceremonial dragon. During January, there's a tour included in the ticket price daily at 11am.
10am-5pm, 22 Cohen Place, city. Entry $7.50/$5.50. Details: 9662 2888, www.chinesemuseum.com.au.

Racing Museum
Melbourne Museum may hold the last earthly remains of Phar Lap, but you can go much deeper into the sport of kings at Champions: Australian Racing Museum. You can see a horse skeleton come to life via animation, and check out the turf's greatest heroes in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. You can also measure how many hands high you are compared with Phar Lap. The current special exhibition features John Wren, the great "colourful racing identity" of the 19th and 20th centuries.
10am-6pm daily at Federation Square, city. Entry $8 adult, $5 child. Details: 1300 139 407, www.racingmuseum.com.au

Old Melbourne Gaol
The armour of Ned Kelly's gang is scattered across institutions around town, but the most significant Melbourne site in the bushranger's life was the place where he was hanged. This prison was also the home of the city's most hardened criminals until 1929. You can see Kelly's death mask and pistol and take the Hangman's Tour by candlelight.
9:30am-5pm, Russell Street, city. Night performances Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays 8.30pm. Entry $12.50/$7.50. Details: 9663 7228, www.nattrust.com.au

Australian Centre for the moving image
ACMI has been through some tough times - mainly because punters aren't sure what it's about. Well, right here we can tell you that ACMI is all about the moving image - whether that be on film, in electronic form, or as art that plays with light. Catch an unconventional movie in its cutting-edge cinemas, play computer games, or take in an exhibition in its Screen Gallery below street level. The current show is Eyes, Lies and Illusions, a blend of new visual illusions with historic optical toys and puzzles.
10am-6pm, Federation Square, city. Eyes, Lies and Illusions $12/$8. Details: 8663 2200, www.acmi.net.au

Galleries Australian Centre for Contemporary Art
What do you think the Ngargee building most resembles? An industrial version of Uluru, or the rusting hulk of a giant cargo ship making its way through the waves? Either way, this impressive building is worth a visit because of the presence of ACCA, the city's most central public contemporary art gallery. ACCA's current centrepiece is the exhibition Lonely Planet by Mike Nelson.
11am-6pm Tuesdays to Sundays, 111 Sturt Street, Southbank. Details: 9697 9999, www.accaonline.org.au

Museum of Modern Art
Hands up those who thought Heide was an annoyingly cute pigtailed girl in a kids' movie. OK, now relax. Heide is in fact the home of the Museum of Modern Art, located within a former farm property that belonged to art patrons John and Sunday Reed. Today it's a contemporary art gallery with a unique ambience, surrounded by attractive greenery. A current exhibition examines the 1954 joint exhibition of Albert Tucker and Sidney Nolan in Rome.
10am-4pm Tuesdays to Fridays, 12- 5pm weekends, 7 Templestowe Road, Bulleen. Entry $12/$8. Details: 9850 1500, www.heide.com.au

McClelland Gallery
If you love something, set it free. That's the philosophy of this Langwarrin gallery, which has scattered many artworks throughout its sculpture park, set in a pleasant eight hectares of landscaped bushland. The art continues in the interior galleries. Check out the current show, Patterns of Thought, showcasing the work of Greg Johns.
10am-5pm Tuesdays to Sundays, 390 McClelland Drive, Langwarrin. Details: 9789 1671, www.mcclellandgallery.com

NGV
It's two galleries for the price of one! Which is pretty good, when the general entry to both of them is free. Since it opened a few years ago, NGV Australia in Federation Square has been a raging hit, and displays everything from indigenous art, through the Heidelberg School, to groovy modern Oz creations. Down St Kilda Road is NGV International, with goodies like European masters and Egyptian sarcophagi. Summer exhibition highlights include the anime and manga work of Tezuka Osamu at NGV International, and Howard Arkley's art at NGV Australia.
10am-5pm except Tuesdays (NGV International) and Mondays (NGV Australia), Federation Square and St Kilda Road, city. Details: 8620 2222, www.ngv.vic.gov.au

Koorie Heritage Trust
This Aboriginal institution on King Street is a little overlooked but has a wealth of fascinating culture to delve into. The Trust has four gallery spaces, including two permanent exhibitions with objects, artwork, photography and personal stories. Here you can learn about indigenous culture and traditions, as well as the challenges of the recent past. The Trust's Cultural Centre also hosts guided cultural tours for all ages and has a shop stocked with art, books, clothing and bush tucker.
10am to 4pm daily, 295 King Street, city. Entry by gold coin. Details: 8622 2600, www.koorieheritagetrust.com

Platform 2
A magnitude down from the grandeur of the NGV, but not far away geographically, is Platform 2 in Campbell Arcade. Where's that? It's the subway that leads from Flinders Street Station under the road to Degraves Street. The walls of this somewhat daggy, tiled underpass are lined with display cases used as a public art gallery by a diverse bunch of artists throughout the year. Also in the arcade is Sticky, a shop selling funky art books, zines and audiovisual works.
6am-7pm Mondays to Thursdays, 6am- 9pm Fridays, 9am-12.30pm Saturdays. Sticky open Wednesdays to Fridays 12 noon-6pm. Details: 9654 8559, www.platform.org.au

William Ricketts Sanctuary
At the other end of the scale, well away from the urban streetscape, is this natural gallery, in the Dandenong Ranges near Mount Dandenong. In the 1930s, Ricketts created a series of ceramic sculptures in a forest setting, based on his existing relationship with the indigenous people of central Australia. The result is a series of remarkable figures, moulded into the surrounding trees as if they'd grown together.
10am-4.30pm daily, Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, Mount Dandenong. $6.50/$3. Details: 13 19 63, www.parkweb.vic.gov.au

ArtPlay
At this institution, the art is created by the visitors. Housed in an old railway building, ArtPlay is dedicated to involving children and their families in artistic activities, sparking creativity and imagination. Some of its key summer activities are indigenous craft and storytelling workshops, drawing for beginners, and sessions creating art for a Moomba Waterfest float. There's also a great playground for when parents want to let the kids have fun while they rest their weary feet.
Birrarung Marr, next to Federation Square, city. Details: 9664 7900, www.artplay.com.au

Historic Haunts Werribee Mansion
The city's west isn't often associated with Victorian-era grandeur, but Werribee Mansion is a shining exception. This splendid 1870s mansion was the jewel in the crown of the Chirnside family until the 1920s, the fruit of their pastoral enterprises. It later became a Roman Catholic seminary, before being bought by the state and restored. Now you can wander through the building with an audio tour whispering historic secrets in your ear. Nearby are other attractions such as the Open Range Zoo and the grounds of Werribee Park.
10am-5pm daily, K Road, Werribee. Admission $12.50/$6.50, Zoo and Mansion $30.80/$15.40. Details: 8734 5100, www.werribeepark.com.au

Labassa
Hidden away among the houses of Caulfield is another stately home, Labassa, less famous than its counterpart at Werribee, and shorn of its original grounds. The magnificent 1890 French Renaissance-style mansion (pictured on the cover) was the residence of Cobb & Co millionaire Alexander Robertson, and was decked out with the best mahogany timber and embossed wallpaper that money could buy. Brimming with stained glass, grand staircases, Corinthian columns and Italian marble panels, it's an ornate reminder of 19th-century wealth.
10.30am-4.30pm on Sunday January 21 and February 18, other times by arrangement. 2 Manor Grove, Caulfield. Entry $7.70/$5.50. Details: 9527 6295, www.nattrust.com.au

Iron Houses
The 1850s gold rush led to a huge influx of visitors to Melbourne, and accommodation was even harder to find than during today's Grand Prix. A lot of people lived temporarily in tents, but the more cashed-up could afford the purchase of a portable iron house, the Victorian-era answer to pre-fab. Three of these humble DIY homes still survive in South Melbourne, not far from the grandeur of the suburb's Town Hall.
Open 1pm-4pm on Sunday February 4, other times by arrangement. 399 Coventry Street, South Melbourne. Entry $5/$3. Details: 9645 7517, www.nattrust.com.au

On the streets art journey
Riddle me this: what do you get when you cross a cow up a tree, a giant eagle, and a bridge that looks like a slinky? Find out on the Docklands Art Journey, a walk through the strange and stimulating public art of the former port area.
From New Quay to Yarra's Edge, Docklands. Details: www.docklands.com

The Travellers
It's not surprising to find travellers crossing Australia's oldest railway bridge. For long an eyesore, the Sandridge Bridge has recently been redeveloped into an attractive river crossing, surmounted by The Travellers - giant metal sculptures that represent different stages of Melbourne's history.
Sandridge Bridge, city. Details: www.melbourne.vic.gov.au