An 86-year-old woman phoned the Immigration Discovery Centre asking about a certain lane in Melbourne, wanting to know if it was still a lane, and where it was located. I found Rankins Lane using Google maps and described it to the woman: "I can see the Commonwealth Bank building, and bins, and chefs eating their lunch, and an old sign advertising a printer." In turn, she told me about the Rankin family, and how her pioneering ancestor had run a funeral parlour from this tiny back street. She used to come into the city quite a lot, she told me, but today had to depend on my voice and my eyes to tell her the story of this shady corner of the CBD. "I can see some graffiti," I explained - "but it's nice graffiti." 

Photo of street art in Rankins Lane. By Doogsta via Flickr

This morning the Immigration Discovery Centre was crowded with visitors researching their family history - there wasn't a spare computer! I helped a number of people locate relevant information via the internet, including a couple of sisters seeking information about their ancestors who travelled to Victoria at the end of the 19th century. The pair spent over an hour in the centre, murmuring away, exploring PROV's website, cooperating like people who'd always known each other. 

Photo: Philip Thiel  Source: Museum Victoria

At the Immigration Discovery Centre we're often visited by people who know a lot about ships - their names, their functions, their histories. Today, a visitor was interested in only one ship, the SS Edina, which ferried people between Melbourne and Geelong in the early decades of the twentieth century. He explained to me that the vessel had carried his favourite uncle, once, during the First World War, on a trip back to camp from the city. So I understood the visitor's preoccupation, and shared his glee as we sourced image after image of the useful and lovely boat. 

Photo of SS Edina by G Mulcahy  Source: Museum Victoria

The Immigration Discovery Centre does parties. Today, for example, a family group came through as part of the birthday celebrations of one of its members who was born in Australia just months after her family's arrival from India in 1948. We found evidence of this event via the website of the National Archives of Australia, along with some pictures of the vessel Asturias on which they had travelled. It was nice to hear the family talking across its generations. For a while they dispersed throughout the IDC, looking for data about themselves and other people, before regrouping for a tour of the museum.     

Today at the Immigration Discovery Centre a woman unscrolled a hand-written family tree across the desk and said, proudly: "I made it yesterday." Not to  be outdone, the man who accompanied her said: "we've traced it back to 1036."

This fine document didn't go back quite so far, but did feature plenty of vertical lines and evocative question-marks. Everyone within earshot gathered to appreciate the item.