Delve deeper into Victoria's immigration history
Victorians come from more than 200 countries, speak 260 languages and dialects and follow 135 religious faiths. Use these websites for personal research or in your classroom.
Online resources and tools
Personal stories of migration
Immigrant Stories
Everyone who immigrates has their own unique story to tell. Explore these stories – why they came, where they settled and how they made Victoria their new home.
What's Your Story?
YEARS 3–5
This resource supports the use of the What's Your Story? learning kit in the classroom.
Stolen Childhoods
The stories behind On Their Own, a touring exhibition about the international history of child migration.
Small Object Big Story
Use our step-by-step guide to help research your family or community history.
History of migration
Origins
What are your origins? Where have Victorians come from? Why did they come?
Origins is based on government census information gathered in Victoria since 1854. The 1971 Census was the first Australian Census to fully include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Australia’s First People. Because of this, the Immigration Museum acknowledges that Census data preceding 1971 cannot provide an accurate representation of the Australian population.
Customs House
Home of the Immigration Museum, explore the rich history of one of Melbourne's most important 19th century public buildings.
Journeys to Australia
Immigration is a vital feature of Australia's history and national identity. Celebrate the journeys that changed Australia forever.
The journey to Station Pier
Melbourne’s heritage-listed Station Pier was Victoria’s most important arrival point for migrants. Find out why it plays such an important part in Melbourne’s migration history.
Identity and belonging
Identity: Yours, mine, ours
What does it mean to belong and not belong in Australia? Through personal stories and compelling images, find connections with others and challenge the assumptions we make about each other every day.
Picturing Australian Citizenship: the power of images in shaping Australia
Museums Victoria and Immigration Museum are collaborating on a project led by University of Western Australia, to examine how images have historically and culturally defined, contested and advanced notions of Australian citizenship.
Talking Difference
Funded by VicHealth, the Talking Difference portable studio challenged race-based discrimination in Victorian schools and communities from 2010–2016.
Talking Faiths
In this series of videos, students from a range of faiths and cultures discuss diversity, spirituality and what it means to be Australian.
The 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!
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 14 June 1900 in south-west Germany, he qualified pastry chef and confectioner in 1917.
Cuc Lam, Vietnamese Migrant, 1978
Cuc and her husband Huu Minh who escaped from Vietnam in a 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.