Scienceworks

Scienceworks is a good choice when your group wants to take part, rather than simply look at exhibits. Sportsworks turns movement and coordination into science through activities including the canoe simulator and a virtual running challenge. Leave enough time to try the activities that catch your interest, especially when visiting with children.

The historic Spotswood Pumping Station offers a different scale of engineering: enormous engines and boilers inside a former sewage-pumping complex. Access is included with museum entry. Engine activation sessions vary between school term, school holidays and public holidays, so choose the day’s programme if seeing the machinery move matters to you. You can also add a Melbourne Planetarium or Lightning Theatre session; each needs its own booking and costs extra.

Allow two to three hours for the museum and pumping station, adding time for any show. Adult museum admission is AUD 15 and children aged 16 and under enter free; a Planetarium or Lightning Theatre session adds AUD 10 per person. Scienceworks is at 2 Booker Street, about a ten-minute walk from Spotswood Station. The main entrance is step free, galleries have lift or ramp access, and the pumping station has ramp access. Book show seats before planning the rest of your visit.