Share your story, read about other migrants’ memories and explore our photos – to see if you recognise someone you know. Between 1946 and 1999 government photographers snapped 22,000 images of people arriving and living in Australia. You can view them online in the National Archives’ collection.
Explore the collection
Pages
Video portraits
Browse videos- Series: Dutch Australia Shared Cultural Heritage
Cees, Ina and Erwin Huig, Dutch migrants to Australia - Series: Dutch Australia Shared Cultural Heritage
Gerard and Marretje van Wezel, Dutch migrants to Australia - Series: Dutch Australia Shared Cultural Heritage
Sherry Wright, Dutch migrant to Australia - Series: Dutch Australia Shared Cultural Heritage
Petronella Wensing, Dutch migrant to Australia - Series: Dutch Australia Shared Cultural Heritage
Stephanie Brantz, Dutch migrant heritage - Series: A Ticket to Paradise? Exhibition
Vera Marek - Series: A Ticket to Paradise? Exhibition
Seraphin Nyirenda - Series: A Ticket to Paradise? Exhibition
Maria-Lourdes (Noonee) Doronila - Series: A Ticket to Paradise? Exhibition
Lam Tac Tam
Personal stories
Add Your Own Story
AustraliaVarious programs were run for the children of migrants, particularly via hostels and community or
Czech RepublicVoitre Marek, an artist now with works at the Art Gallery of South Australia and the National Gal
IndonesiaAnnie Maas O’Keefe arrived in Australia as a wartime evacuee from Indonesia.
United KingdomHere we are, having gone through customs and heading for the gang plank not knowing what might li
AustraliaEnglish lessons were granted to all immigrants living in the Capital Hill Barra
United KingdomJohn Albert Martin, his wife Mavis and son Donald, arrived in Australia onboard the Oronsay in Ju
NetherlandsIn 1955 at eight years old my parents told me we were going to move to Australia.
GermanyI cannot remember arriving at Bonegilla, but I clearly remember waking up in the hospital with da
Sri LankaThe Colombo Plan, launched in 1951, was an intergovernmental program designed to strengthen relat
United KingdomLived in the little village of Bempton in Yorshire up untill the age of five, I feel lucky as I h
ItalyThe MV Roma went on to Melbourne and then arrived in Sydney at 2.35pm on Thursday 11 October 1951
NetherlandsMy first job was at a car yard cleaning cars and so.
LuxembourgSydney 2 getting work On the way to the employment office, the predominant question in the back
EgyptThe Egyptian ship SS Misr arrived in Melbourne in April 1947 with 624 men, women and chi
NetherlandsWhile Jan died in December 2010 and Nieske only six months later, their legacy in Tasmania remain
ItalyI was the only one on board the train that departed Albury St
Australia'It has not been easy for organised world opinion in the United Nations or elsewhere to act direc
ItalyMigrants are special people. They are different from those who stay in their home country.
