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Migration Collection

Image: Vinyl suitcase (1970s)

Source: Museum Victoria

The Migration Collection provides an overview of the many and diverse people who have migrated to Victoria since the 1830s, their motivations for coming, the material they brought with them, items accumulated on the journey, and the objects they made and acquired after settling here.

This material is varied and includes personal effects, domestic and work-related items, clothing and other textiles, luggage, shipboard souvenirs, photographs, art and craft works, and personal and immigration documents. The growing collection of documents relating to Australian immigration policy and promotion, and the processes by which people are selected, managed and organised, provides a critical bridge between the personal narratives and the narratives of nations - Australia's and others. Local community activity relating to migration is also represented, including cultural organisations formed to maintain cultural traditions; government and community support and administrative groups, such as the Good Neighbour Council; and protest and political movements, for and against immigration, multiculturalism and diversity.

Scope of existing collection:
The collection consists of around 4000 items relating to individuals, families, communities and organisations. Acquisition is primarily by donation. Objects include personal items, artworks, work-related items, luggage, costumes, textiles, domestic equipment, documents and ephemera. Almost 60 per cent of the collection consists of 12 sub-collections of 50 items or more.

There are also many objects in other History and Technology collections, notably the Numismatics and Transport collections, which have direct relevance to the Migration Collection. The collection also includes a modest oral history collection relating to individual and family migration stories, as well as discreet oral history projects such as the Immigration and Artistic Practice Collection, the South Melbourne Tramworkers project, Melbourne Migrant Women Textile Workers, and Australian and Migrant-born Female Glory Box Experiences.

Significant items:

Caroline Chisholm scrapbook, 1840s-60s, documenting philanthropic and assisted-migration work of Chisholm in Australia and England

Weaving loom, brought to Australia by Latvian displaced couple Anna and Ervins Apinis in 1950. Made from discarded timbers found in the German camp and used there and here to record and maintain traditional Latvian weaving. Also an unplying machine, weavings, the crate the loom was packed in and Anna's original notebooks kept in the displaced persons camp documenting Latvian weavings designs

Immigration and Artistic Practice Collection, including 169 original artworks, tools, materials and equipment, and working drawings, as well as photographs and oral histories of more than 30 Victorian immigrant artists

Ada Perry craft collection, 43 toys, quilts and rugs created by English migrant Ada Perry in regional Victoria between the 1930s and 1960s

Greek popular shadow puppet theatre collection, consisting of around 130 shadow puppets, props and accessories made between 1940 and 1960 in Greece and performed in Melbourne by Karagiozis master Dimitri Katsoulis

William Nicol shadow puppet collection, 54 aluminium shadow puppets and scenery pieces used by Scottish migrant William Nicol as he toured Aboriginal missions collecting children's art and traditional stories. Includes an Aboriginal story set

Culturally specific costumes, representing 19 cultural groups from the 19th century to the present day (including 14 complete costumes)

Museum Victoria Italian Historical Society Collection: more than 420 items documenting Italian experiences of migration and settlement in Victoria

Immigration policy, process, and journey documents collection. Around 600 19th- and 20th-century items, including migrant ship and shipboard material, letters and diaries, government promotional material, personal identity and immigration documents, process forms, information sheets and correspondence, and English-language-learning publications

Post World War II Hungarian community material: approx 100 objects from people who migrated to Australia after the 1956 Hungarian uprising

Broadmeadows Hostel Arrivals and Departures registers: 3; 1950-52 documenting procedures, duration of stays, destinations and staff duties; - Migrant luggage, around 50 suitcases, trunks, bags and crates, 1840s-1970s

Standard (flag) of the Minyip Caledonian Society, 1906

Personal stories collections, representing the experiences of 19th and 20th century migrants from Vietnam, Hungary, Latvia, Greece, Italy, Romania, England, Croatia, Bulgaria, Japan, Germany, Austria, Sudan, China, and Czechoslovakia.

Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 4296 items

Table - Luigi Cicutto, Terrazzo, Sunburst, circa 1941

Terrazzo table made by Luigi Cicutto, circa 1941. Luigi immigrated to Melbourne in 1927, and initially worked as a terrazzo craftsman in Melbourne for a couple of years, living in Carlt ...

Images: 6
Passport - Issued to Evelyn May Rowell, United Kingdom, 1920

British Passport issued to Evelyn Rowell in 1920. Evelyn migrated to Australia from England in 1921 on the Beltana. A domestic servant, she came out from Basingstoke to meet up with her ...

Images: 4
Booklet - 'Port Information Melbourne', Orient Line, 1954

Booklet 'Port Information Melbourne' published by the Orient Line for passengers travelling on the SS Otranto in 1954. It was used by Geoffrey and Hazel Tirchett who immigrated from Lon ...

Images: 4
Booklet - 'Orient Line to Australia, Colombo', Orient Line, 1954

Booklet 'Orient Line to Australia, Colombo' published by the Orient Line for passengers travelling on the SS Otranto in 1954. It was used by Geoffrey and Hazel Tirchett who immigrated f ...

Images: 3
Diary - Alfred Elder, Shipboard on SS Osyth, England to Australia, 1875

Shipboard diary written by Alfred Elder onboard the SS Osyth, during his journey from England to Australia in 1875. He later sent the diary to his relations in England as an act of piet ...

Images: 2
Shepherd's Blanket - Wool, Greek, 1886

Alternative Name(s): Velentza Shepherd's blanket which first belonged to the donor's grandfather Yannis Vlahos (Vlahos meaning shepherd in Greek). It is dated 1886, and was probably wo ...

Images: 1
Booklet - 'A Short Guide for Intending Emigrants to Victoria', Issued by Minister of Lands ...

Booklet 'A Short Guide for Intending Emigrants to Victoria' issued by J.E.Mackey, Minister of Lands in 1907 in order to encourage and promote Victoria as a settlement destination for pr ...

Images: 5
Trunk - Ammunition Chest, Travelling, circa 1939-1945

Wooden trunk, which was previously an ammunition chest, made circa 1939 - 1945. It was salvaged by Ukrainian refugee Orian Wenhrynowycz, from many littering the countryside whilst he wa ...

Images: 2
Postcard - MS Johan Van Oldenbarnevelt, circa 1957

Postcard of the MS Johan Van Oldenbarnevelt, a Dutch ship used as a migrant ship between Amsterdam and Australia from 1950 to 1959. It depicts the ship that Julius Toth immigrated to Au ...

Images: 2
Diary - M.P. O'Shea, Shipboard, Liverpool-Melbourne, 1859

Diary kept by male Irish Catholic immigrant M.P. O'Shea, recording his voyage from Castlecomen, Ireland to Melbourne via Liverpool. He departed Castlecomen on 5 May 1859, arriving in Li ...

Images: 5