Immigration Museum

Refugee Week 2026 commemorates one million permanent humanitarian visas issued by Australia since 1947.

This year's theme, A Million Stories, reminds us that every refugee journey is unique.

This photograph, taken by Australian Immigration Officer Stephen Carter on Pulau Tengah, Malaysia, in 1978–79, captures a group of Vietnamese refugee children living in a refugee camp after the Vietnam War.

For many people fleeing conflict and uncertainty, refugee camps were places of waiting—temporary homes where families hoped for safety, stability, and the chance to begin again.

Image: Group of Vietnamese Refugee Children, Pulau Tengah, Johore, Malaysia, 1978-1979. Source: Museums Victoria. Photographer: Stephen Carter. Courtesy of Stephen Carter.

The wait is over and the game is about to begin. ⚽

Home is Football: Belonging in Australian Soccer is now open at Immigration Museum.

Join us across this opening weekend for exclusive gallery talks led by museum experts and discover the stories of nine diverse players across Melbourne.

🎟️ Included in general museum entry: https://brnw.ch/21x3joX
🗣️ Gallery Talks: 11am and 1pm this Saturday and Sunday.

Home is Football has been produced with support from Melbourne Victory and Professional Footballers Australia.

Creative Victoria.

How do rituals, memories, and traditions travel with us? And how do they help us find a sense of belonging?

Join us for Rituals of Return—an immersive installation and series of free workshops inspired by the Muslim tradition of Eid, created by An.Other Collective.

At the centre of the experience is The Long Table where visitors are invited to contribute memories of meals, family traditions, and the foods that connect them to home, exploring how care, culture, and connection are carried across generations and places.

📅 Saturday 4 July & Sunday 5 July
🎟️ Free, register here: https://brnw.ch/21x3fY4

Presented in collaboration with An.Other Collective.

How do we carry ritual, care, and memory across place? And what does belonging look like?

Join An.Other Collective for free workshops exploring these questions through Rituals of Return—an immersive installation inspired by the Muslim tradition of Eid.

At the heart of the experience is The Long Table, a growing collective artwork where visitors are invited to share memories of meals, family traditions, and the foods that connect them to home.

📅 Saturday 4 July & Sunday 5 July

🎟️ Free, bookings essential: https://brnw.ch/21x36Sc

Presented in collaboration with An.Other Collective.

🗻 Smoke Between Mountains 🗻

Experience a powerful new work from the Australian Art Orchestra, created by composer and Artistic Director Aaron Choulai.

Follow the dreamlike journey of two young people—one from southern Japan and one from inland Australia—whose visions begin to reveal urgent messages from nature...🍃

Inspired by a chance meeting between musicians Kutcha Edwards and Miyama McQueen-Tokia, Smoke Between Mountains explores First Peoples' and Japanese knowledge systems and their connections to land.

📅 7.30 - 8.30pm, Wednesday 8 July
🏛️ The Long Room, Immigration Museum
🎟️ Book here: https://brnw.ch/21x351s

Presented in partnership with the Australian Art Orchestra. The program is supported by City of Melbourne.

Home is Football...is connection, community, belonging...

Step onto the pitch with Immigration Museum’s newest community exhibition, Home is Football: Belonging in Australian Soccer.

Discover the stories of nine players and explore how football continues to shape culture, community and identity for Australians from all walks of life.

Plus, enjoy behind-the-scenes insight with exclusive gallery talks across the opening weekend, led by museum experts.

⚽ Opening Saturday 13 June.

🎟️ Included in general museum entry. Book here: https://brnw.ch/21x2Z09

🗣️ Gallery Talks: 11am and 1pm Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 June.
Home is Football has been produced with support from Melbourne Victory and Professional Footballers Australia.

Creative Victoria.

Image Credit: Nazia Ali, Afghan Women’s Team v. Melvern City, Melbourne, 2021. Source: © Melbourne Victory. Photographer: Alex Pavlidis.

Culture Makers has landed at Immigration Museum. 🔥

Discover a powerful collection of short films by diverse digital storytellers exploring belonging, identity, prejudice, family and community through animation, performance, interviews, stop-motion and narrative film.

Explore their voices for a limited time.

🎟️ Included with general museum entry.

📸 (L-R): Nor Shanino and Ahmed Dini; Feifei Liao and Arti Shah; Logan Tapuala; Pauline Pham and Thang Van Pham; Taka and Youbi; Yo Soy Collective; Kate Robinson and Maria Birch-Morunga.

Culture Makers has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute.

Experience the magic of the seasons like never before.

Step into a breathtaking immersive journey through spring, summer, autumn and winter at Immigration Museum, inspired by Vivaldi’s iconic Four Seasons.

Created in collaboration with Fever, Zurich-based artist collective PROJECTKIL brings Eonarium Enlightenment to life with stunning projections and an atmospheric soundscape inside the museum’s grand Long Room — for a limited time only.

🎟️ 🎟️ Book here: https://brnw.ch/21x2QFa