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
EgyptThe Egyptian ship SS Misr arrived in Melbourne in April 1947 with 624 men, women and chi
Australia'It has not been easy for organised world opinion in the United Nations or elsewhere to act direc
GreeceThe selection officer who interviewed Vassiliki Daflou in Athens described her as ‘just an averag- AustraliaThe top picture is one of me and a mate walking through C Block Wacol Hostel on the way to starti
United Kingdom(Mitchell Librarian 1993-2001, Associate Director State Records NSW 2001-2008 and Director State
AustraliaConstruction began on the Snowy Hydro Electric Scheme on 17 October 1949.
United Kingdom(Mitchell Librarian 1993-2001, Associate Director State Records NSW 2001-2008 and Director State
HungaryBetween 1947 and 1971 the Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre accommodated more than
AustraliaMany migrants that made the journey to Australia found it hard to adapt to the Australian way of
IndonesiaAnnie Maas O’Keefe arrived in Australia as a wartime evacuee from Indonesia.
ItalyThe local newspapers in Melbourne and Sydney carried articles on the arrival of the MV Roma with
United StatesHaving left New York six weeks earlier, the Mills family - all eight of them!- finally arrive at
South AfricaBorn in 1901 and standing 88.9cm tall, Maria Peters was variously known as ‘Princess Ubangi’, ‘a
NetherlandsWhen you’re not sure what to expect when you arrive, 17,000 kilometres is a long way to travel.
ItalyWe arrived at Greta Migrant Camp, approximately 180 kms north of Sydney, in mid December 1955.
NetherlandsMigrants who had won beauty pageant titles were the perfect models for promotional photographs ta
AustraliaMum and Dad have achieved so much in their lives, but nothing bought them as much joy as their am
