Hopes and Fears: Australian Migration Stories

Explore the journeys that have shaped our nations history.

Many Australians have a migration story. Somewhere in our past, an ancestor set out on a challenging voyage that led them to Australia. They might have been a convict, a sailor, a soldier, or perhaps a young woman from a workhouse, or a child migrant from an orphanage.

Hopes and Fears: Australian Migration Stories celebrates the people who have made those journeys.

Exhibition highlights

Black and yellow uniform made up of a long-sleeve button up jacket on a mannequin

Convict uniform and two caps [realia], 1830, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2398685

Blue and yellow poster with a stylised photo of a group of young women, and text reading 'We are proud to be wogs!'

A Girls in Print Project designed & printed by Ethnic Girls School-leavers, We are proud to be Wogs!, 1983, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn5016725

Red Lebanese Tarboosh/Tarboush hat with a black tassel

Lebanese Tarboosh/Tarboush, c1890 worn by Anthony George Wehby when migrating to Australia from the Records of the Australian Lebanese Historical Society, 1890-2015, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn6929220

Two boats with rope hanging between them filled with men, women and children coming from Vietnam

Michael Jensen, Vietnamese boat people, Darwin, 1977, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-149648567

Man and woman of Middle Eastern heritage sitting on the floor, holding and looking at a rug with a map of Afghanistan and it's landmarks

June Orford, Fatah and Makai Mohmand with a carpet, one of the few personal possessions brought with them from their homeland, Kabul, Afghanistan, 2005, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-137061592

Colourful program with watercolours of people in colurful outfits and a list of performers and their performances

Welcome to Bonegilla, [programme presented to the Honourable Arthur Calwell, Minister for Immigration, July 1st 1949], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-137191016

Poster with pictures of a man, woman and two children on luggage with a tag reading '10 pounds takes you to Australia' and 'Children under 19 go FREE!'

Australia House (London, England), issuing body, £10 takes you to Australia : children under 19 go free!, 1960, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1107337919

Artistic poster with an Australian Aboriginal flag, stylised photos of First Australians, and serveral short paragraphs of text. The largest text in the top left corner reads 'Tall Ships Tall Stories'

Amanda Holt, June Gemes and Elaine Pelot-Kitchener, Tall ships, tall stories : resistance : every day since 1788, and still in active resistance in 1988!!!, 1987, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn8418095