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.
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United KingdomI arrived at the hostel late afternoon it was getting cooler and after London it was as different
LatviaOtto Kampe, the 250,000th refugee to arrive in Australia post-World War II, landed with his wife
HungaryHungarian Laszlo Makay arrived at Bonegilla in November 1951 after six years in a displaced perso
GermanyDad worked at BHP at Newcastle, and was meant to stay in the hostel at Mayfield, but to save mone
NetherlandsAs promotion for the Australian government’s migration programs, much was made of milestone arriv
ItalyMum had really long hair when she was in her teens, but when she was about 18, she thought it was
AustraliaIn their new home, they planted lots of fruit trees and vegetable plants and lived off the garden
NetherlandsMigrants who had won beauty pageant titles were the perfect models for promotional photographs ta
GermanyIt was five years after the worst global conflict ever had come to its end, when Father had manag
NetherlandsThere seemed to be no future for me in Australia, so I decided to return to the Netherlands after
NetherlandsThis is writtrn in memory of my father and mother.In the year 1945 we had been through a war and
United KingdomAustralia’s post-war immigration publicity campaign was in full swing by 1955.
I was nine years old in 1956. It had been one of the coldest winters on record in Holland.
NetherlandsWhen you’re not sure what to expect when you arrive, 17,000 kilometres is a long way to travel.
Sri LankaI am an only child born to a mother who has nine siblings and one live-in cousin and a father wit
NetherlandsBy the 1960s the Immigration Department’s publicity campaign to attract migrants to Australia was
United KingdomWe arrived at South Brisbane on 5 November, 1968, having made the final leg of our long journey b
