Immigration Museum (Melbourne)
Explore the moving stories of people from all over the world who have migrated to Australia.
Whats On
Opening Hours:
Entry Times
Closed Good Friday and Christmas Day.
Cost:
Prices
Additional charges may apply for temporary exhibitions.
Review:
The museum has a number of interesting permanent displays as well as some temporary displays. Some of the more interesting information panels and exhibits include:
The Voyage to Australia by Ship
Berth on a Post-War Liner, 1950s
They promised that the voyage would be 'the holiday of a lifetime'. It would almost be true if not for the seasickness and cramped cabins. It's easy to get lost in the many corridors and decks. The whole ship is abuzz with excitement and anxiety about what lies ahead in Australia. After the long wait to be approved, things have happened so quickly. There hardly seemed time to say proper goodbyes. You believe you made the right decision, but there is lingering doubt. It still seems too painful to open your photo album and be reminded of loved ones left behind.
Second-Class Steamer Passage,1900s
Tonight will be the highlight of your six-week voyage. The passengers are staging a farewell concert and almost everyone will be performing. Together with your dining companions you are putting on a short act and you have arranged to meet them in the saloon to rehearse.
As you sink into the padded seat you pause to reflect on the familiar throb of the giant steam engines powering the ship steadily forward. The Captain has confidently predicted he will drop anchor off Port Melbourne before noon on Tuesday, and there is a competition to see who will sight Cape Otway first.
Surviving the Voyage
Typhoid, typhus, cholera and diphtheria. These were the killer diseases feared on immigrant sailing ships last century. Most deaths on the voyage, however, resulted from more common diseases like diarrhoea, brought on by seasickness, poor hygiene and spoiled rations.
Infectious diseases were not well understood and there were no cures. After the captain, the ship's doctor was the most important person on board during the long voyage to Australia. Officially known as the Surgeon-Superintendent, he was also required to supervise passengers and organise the distribution of rations, cleaning below deck, bathing, exercising, school lessons and recreation.
On larger ships a 'Matron' was employed to assist him and ensure that single women were strictly segregated from male passengers and the crew.
Steerage in a Square-Rigger, 1840s
It's five weeks since you sailed from Ireland with 200 other assisted immigrants, but Australia still seems so far away. Your family has been allocated just one of four berths in this small corner of the steerage deck.
Each day is filled with the noise of chattering passengers and children playing and crying, while at night the stench of sweat and urine is overwhelming. Barely a week into the voyage your two-year-old daughter contracted scarlet fever and she is still very ill. This morning she asked 'Why did we have to leave home?' and you could find no words to reply.
Privies and Hygiene
What a smell! Imagine sitting on the bare wooden seat of a privy, holding your nose with one hand and the wall with the other, as the ship rolls from side to side.
Most ships provided only basic toilet and bathing facilities. Authorities complained that even these were under-used. Some steerage passengers had never seen a privy or water closet like this before and didn't understand its purpose. They just filled the bowl with bones and food scraps. Even better-educated passengers often preferred the familiar comfort of squatting over a chamber pot in their cabin.
Many people last century didn't bathe regularly and the connection between personal hygiene and disease was not well understood. The link between cholera and contaminated drinking water was not discovered until 1848. Even after this, ships continued to draw water from polluted rivers in the port of departure.
On better-managed ships, the area below deck was thoroughly cleaned every few days. Bedding and belongings were taken up on deck to air. Sleeping berths were fumigated with a mixture of vinegar and chloride of lime. Timber floors were scrubbed.
Despite such precautions, outbreaks of contagious diseases occurred on many ships, and spread quickly through the crowded steerage berths; especially when infected passengers passed undetected through pre-boarding medical checks.
Coastal Sailors
Victoria's first wave of immigrants were seasoned pioneers. They were self-reliant and independent people. Many had previous experience of farming or grazing in the neighbouring colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.
Arriving in the mid-1830s, they came in small wooden sailing vessels, navigating largely without charts and carrying everything needed to establish new settlements.
There was no 'official' beginning to Victorian immigration. For a long time the colonial government in Sydney refused, permission for any settlement in the Port Phillip District. In the early 1800s sealers and whalers had begun roaming the Victorian coastline, extracting a rich but bloody harvest of oil and fur skins.
Their impact on the indigenous people was similarly destructive. They kidnapped women from the Boon Wurrung and other coastal tribes and took them to Bass Strait islands. Unwittingly they spread contagious diseases which proved fatal for a people with no immunity to introduced infections. These lawless nomadic seafarers were not settlers, but their exploits encouraged others to follow.
Once farmers and respectable Launceston businessmen began crossing Bass Strait, the Government was obliged to act. In 1836, after 350 people and 55,000 sheep had landed illegally, Captain William Lonsdale was dispatched to take charge of the new settlement. Shortly after, it was officially named Melbourne.
'Mixed Marriage'
The notion of 'mixed marriage' in Australia during the 1950s crossed cultural, social and religious boundaries. It was a time when a Catholic marrying a Protestant, a third generation Australian marrying a first generation migrant or black marrying white, were all considered unusual, even undesirable. People were still expected to marry within their religious or cultural community. This could even mean within the same village, island or regional community. Families from countries such as Italy and Greece were arranging marriages and proxy brides in order to maintain their cultural continuity.
With the post-war migration boom, and the relaxing of the White Australia policy, communities evolved. People from different backgrounds interacted, the children of migrants grew up together, soldiers brought home Japanese 'war brides'. The very use of the term 'mixed marriage' would gradually become redundant in a diverse society.
The early years of Jewish migration
The history of Jewish migration to Australia dates back to the arrival of the First Fleet in New South Wales in 1788. Eight, possibly 14 Jews were amongst the convict cargo.
By the early nineteenth century, Jewish people from Britain were choosing to migrate to Australia in search of greater economic opportunities. They enjoyed full political, religious and economic rights in every colony.
With the gold rush the Jewish population boomed. In Victoria the population grew from 200 in 1848, to 3000 in 1861, making it the largest Jewish centre in Australia. This included large numbers of non-British European Jews, primarily from Germany. Many settled in rural areas.
Following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in Russia in 1881, anti-Semitic laws and pogroms (violent attacks against Jews) increased across the Russian Empire. This led to a mass exodus of orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe. Restricted by the distance and hazards of the journey, only small numbers arrived in Australia. Most of those who came to Melbourne settled around Carlton and actively fostered Yiddish culture. Some, like Simcha and Elcon Baevski, became country hawkers and peddlers.
Anti-Jewish sentiment and exaggerated fears of mass arrivals of Eastern European Jews resulted in racist attacks in the local press and calls by local Jewish leaders for people to assimilate. Yet on the whole, Australian Jews were accepted and thrived in public life. The rise of Nazism in Europe, the death of millions of European Jews during World War Two and the subsequent mass migration of refugees would challenge Australia's post-war immigration policies and transform Australian Jewish society.
Migration to Australia over the Years
More than nine million people have migrated to Australia since 1788. Countless others have and failed.
1840-1900 'Old England and the new'
During the nineteenth century most immigrants came from Great Britain; smaller numbers came from continental Europe. Some also arrived from Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands. By 1900 less than three percent of the population was of non-European or Aboriginal background.
Immigration policy was governed by Great Britain, although the Australian colonies began to introduce their own immigration acts in the mid-nineteenth century, following the end of convict transportation. These acts aimed to control the massive influx of people during the gold rushes.
1901 -1945 'One nation, one people, one destiny'
During the first four decades of the twentieth century most immigrants still came from Britain and Ireland. Immigration from continental Europe, Asia and the Middle East was restricted to relatively small numbers. Quota systems were established to regulate the number and type of immigrants. The newly federated Australian Government quickly introduced national legislation to protect its security and assert its identity as a member of the British Empire. One of the first acts passed was the Immigration Restriction Act - known as the White Australia policy.
1945 Immigration Policy 'A White Australia'
In 1901 the Australian Government passed a range of legislation which marked out the racial boundaries of the nation. The Immigration Restriction Act restricted the entry of non-Europeans by means of a dictation test, which could be given in any language. People suffering physical or mental diseases, convicted criminals, prostitutes and those reliant on charity were also refused entry.
The Pacific Islands Labourers Act, 1901, enabled the deportation of over 9,000 Pacific Islander labourers who had been working in the sugar cane fields of Queensland and northern New South Wales. In 1903, the Commonwealth Naturalization Act excluded all non-Europeans from becoming naturalized and severely restricted their ability to bring spouses and children to Australia.
In 1920 the Enemy Aliens Act prohibited the entry of Australia's former wartime enemies for five years, including Germans, Austrians, Hungarians and Turks. The Immigration Act, 1925, created a quota system limiting or prohibiting people from selected countries. For example, only 100 Greeks were allowed to immigrate each month between 1925 and 1929. It was believed that those who were allowed in would assimilate into the Australian identity.
Many communities supported the policy of assimilation - even the Chinese Empire Reform Association in Melbourne, which aimed to Westernise and Christianise the Chinese as a way of restoring China as a world power.
The Dictation Test
The dictation test was intended to conceal the fact that Australia had a policy of outright racial discrimination, which would have been diplomatically unpopular. It aimed to stop non-European immigration in an indirect way - by refusing admission to those who failed to pass a test given in a foreign language.
Dictation tests were intentionally confusing, even when read in English. About 50 words long, they had to be written down in a prescribed language. If an applicant did manage to pass the test, it could be conducted again in other languages until the applicant failed.
1946 -1972 'Room for millions more'
Nearly three million immigrants arrived in Australia between 1945 and 1970. Australia's immigration program became the second largest in the world, relative to its population (the largest being Israel).
Almost every second immigrant came from Britain; immigrants were also accepted from throughout Europe in a drive to increase national security and post-war economic development. By the early 1970s Asian immigrants were accepted in increasing numbers.
The 1958 Migration Act finally removed references to race, opening the door to non-discriminatory policy.
Australia's post-war immigration policy was opportunistic. It took advantage of the massive numbers of dislocated people in Europe at the end of World War II to initiate a large-scale immigration program. The program was intended to bolster defences and economy. It also helped British immigrants eager to escape post-war shortages. Coordinated by the first Commonwealth Department of Immigration, it was established in 1945 with Arthur Calwell as the first Minister.
At the same time Australia was gradually moving away from the White Australia policy. The Migration Act of 1958 abolished the dictation test. In 1964 'mixed race' migration was made easier and in 1966 skilled non-Europeans were permitted if considered suitable to integrate.
1973-today 'Australia for tomorrow'
Since the early 1970s Australia's immigration levels have been dramatically reduced and the composition of the intake has changed. The proportion of European immigrants has declined while immigration from Asia and the Middle East has increased. Despite this, in 1999-2000 the largest number of immigrants came from New Zealand; the second largest number came from Great Britain.
Australia today accepts immigrants from any country, based on their ability to meet criteria determined by the Government according to Australia's economic, social and political needs. In 2001, nearly one in four Australians was born overseas.
Illegal Distilling
Detective-Inspector John Christie became famous for his war against illegal distilling and smuggling. In one celebrated raid on a whisky still near Nirranda, Christie dressed as a tinker and limped for 100's kilometres across the countryside. The poor rural workers fell for Christie's disguise, and asked him to repair their hidden still.
In a two-year campaign Christie unearthed 27 illicit stills, mainly operated by Irish immigrants in the Western District who were maintaining a tradition of distilling their own whisky.
Opium Smuggling
John Christie and his fellow officers spent much energy tracking down Chinese opium smugglers, with dramatic stories of their successes splashed across the newspapers. Much of this was driven by anti-Chinese racism rather than concern about opium. Opium was legal in Australia until 1905, and appeared in many over-the-counter medical preparations. Customs duty on opium was an important source of government revenue, and the Customs Department supervised local opium refining houses.
Photos:
Location
400 Flinders St, Melbourne 3000 Map
✆ (03) 9927 2700
Web Links
→ museumsvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum
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