The Migration Museum is a

social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

located in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. It is one of the three museums operated by the History Trust of South Australia. It deals with the immigration and settlement history of South Australia, and maintains both a permanent and a rotating collection of works.

History

Founded as an initiative of the

State government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

in 1983, and with the museum opening on 23 November 1986, the Migration Museum in Adelaide is the oldest museum of its kind in Australia. The museum aims to promote cultural diversity and multiculturalism, which they define as including aspects of ethnicity, class, gender, age and region. The site is located on Kintore Avenue between the

State Library of South Australia The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research li ...

, the South Australian Museum and the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, in a complex of early colonial bluestone buildings set around a courtyard, including the city's former destitute asylum (from 1850 to 1918). Before this, the site was the location of the " Native School", which aimed to educate aboriginal children.

Features and program

The museum has a full program of activities including education programs for school groups, public events and family friendly fun. A memorial wall at the museum reflects an acknowledgement of the various communities who have sought refuge in Australia, while Settlement Square portrays the arrival of many families and individual settlers and a Reconciliation Plaque notes that the land on which the museum is built was first occupied by the Kaurna people.History Trust of South Australia, ''Migration Museum Adelaide: You're welcome''

References

Gallery

{{Authority control Museums in Adelaide History museums in Australia Museums of human migration Adelaide Park Lands