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
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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
ItalyThe MV Roma went on to Melbourne and then arrived in Sydney at 2.35pm on Thursday 11 October 1951
AustraliaVarious programs were run for the children of migrants, particularly via hostels and community or- AustraliaThe top picture is one of me and a mate walking through C Block Wacol Hostel on the way to starti
the people you see at this picture are my uncle and my aunt Bep Bijster and there two children.
NetherlandsWhen you’re not sure what to expect when you arrive, 17,000 kilometres is a long way to travel.
AustraliaSoon after announcing his search for ships and migrants to fill them, the first Immigration Minis
GermanyAustralia accepted us as emigrants in 1948 and we left Deggendorf in mid-winter.
GreeceBy the 1960s the Australian government began to address the growing gender imbalance by actively
IndonesiaBas Wie was an orphan who had survived the Japanese occupation of Timor during World War II.
NetherlandsThere seemed to be no future for me in Australia, so I decided to return to the Netherlands after
NetherlandsLike many new arrivals, Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre was the Wolswinkels' firs
AustraliaMany migrants that made the journey to Australia found it hard to adapt to the Australian way of
AustraliaMum and Dad had achieved so much in their lives, but nothing bought them as much joy and happines
AustraliaAs I reflect on Mum and Dad's life, I think of my own life and how I am who I am because of these
LuxembourgFrom Singapore we had an overnight flight to Sydney, dawn came, the first glimpse on our new home
GermanyNo longer young at 44, Father finally made good his lifelong dream of migration.
PolandI, Marianna Konovalov and my husband Vladimir came to Australia as migrants in 1949.
