Go beyond the galleries with deeper explorations of the people, journeys and experiences shared throughout Immigration Museum.
Migration and Cultural Diversity Collection
The Museum’s Migration and Cultural Diversity collection includes over 9000 objects, documents, photographs and oral histories, and over two thirds of the collection can be found on the Museums Victoria Collections website. Below are selections from the collection—once you are in, you can use keywords to make your own searches to explore this diverse collection!
Stories from the collections
Learn more about a selection of Museums Victoria's collections – some of the objects are on display at the Immigration Museum.
Museum Victoria Migration Collections: 1830s-1930s
A collection relating to migration to Australia, and particularly Victoria, from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Rebecca Greaves Letter, Melbourne, 1851
Letter written by Rebecca Greaves to her uncle in England containing an interesting and detailed account of what life was like in Melbourne during 1851.
Our Federation Journey – A ‘White Australia’
During the long political process that led to Federation, a stronger sense of what it meant to be Australian was formed.
Muslims in Australia Image Collection
This collection of original and digital photographs is the result of a research collaboration (2016-19) between Museums Victoria and Dr Dzavid Haveric.
Sigalas Family Collection
The Sigalas family's immigration story is a rich narrative, told by over 80 objects, which relates to a number of themes in the social and immigration history of Melbourne.
Karl Friedrich Muffler, German Migrant, Pastry Chef & Internee, 1930
Karl Friedrich Muffler was born on 14 June 1900 in south-west Germany. He qualified as a pastry chef and confectioner in 1917.
Cuc Lam, Vietnamese Migrant, 1978
Cuc and her husband, Huu Minh, escaped from Vietnam by river boat on 19 May 1978.
Bul Bulkoch, Sudanese Migrant, 1996
Bul was 13 when he arrived in Australia in October 1996 with his parents, younger sister and brother.
Drawing – Refugee Journey
Zahra Jaffari was a teenager when her family (from the Hazara ethnic minority) fled Afghanistan around 2015. They lived in difficult circumstances in Indonesia, awaiting acceptance to come to Australia, which was Zahra's dream. That dream didn't eventuate, and she now lives in Canada.
Cultural Stereotypes and Racism in Museums Victoria Collections
Many objects and images in the Museum's collections depict racism, cultural stereotyping and cultural appropriation.
