Arabic version: افتتاح متحف فيتنامي أستراليا في ملبورن

According to ABC News, Australia’s first museum dedicated to Vietnamese-Australian history has opened in Melbourne, recognising refugee beginnings and achievements across generations. Vietnamese Museum Australia was constructed on a council car park in Sunshine after a community campaign lasting more than a decade.

The museum focuses on the migrant experience from the 1970s to present-day achievements within the community. Its opening marks a permanent monument to a pioneering generation, many of whom fled Vietnam after the country’s civil war ended and made perilous journeys to Australia.

Museum chief executive Tammy Nguyen said more than 350,000 people of Vietnamese origin live in Australia, each with a unique story. Her parents escaped Vietnam on a six-day, seven-night boat journey. She described the museum as a living monument to people who left their homeland, often on overcrowded and unseaworthy boats, seeking freedom and a better future.

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll officially opened the centre on Saturday alongside MPs from across the political divide. The project received bipartisan support, with both the federal and Victorian governments contributing millions alongside grassroots community contributions.

University of Melbourne professor Lan Anh Hoang said attitudes towards Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s and 1980s were mixed. She said there was sympathy after the fall of Saigon, but concerns over migration grew as boat arrivals continued and racial anxieties linked to the White Australia policy lingered. She said families also received support from churches and community organisations, while facing racism in communities and schools.

University of Technology Sydney professor Andrew Jakubowicz said the mid-1970s intake under the Fraser Government was the first major test of the post-White Australia policy consensus. He said Vietnamese-Australians were the first large refugee group with almost no prior presence in Australia.