Migration Museum, Adelaide

The Migration Museum is a social history museum that focuses on the immigration and settlement history of South Australia. The museum aims to promote cultural diversity and multiculturalism.

The museum opened in 1986 and is located near the State Library of South Australia, the South Australian Museum, and the University of Adelaide.

The museum is housed in a complex of early colonial bluestone buildings set around a courtyard, including the city’s former destitute asylum from 1850–1918.

Prior to the museum, the site was the location of the “Native School”, which aimed to educate Australian aboriginal children.

Highlights of the Migration Museum, Adelaide

Colonel Light’s surveying chain
Charles Sturt’s paintbox
‘White Australia’ Exhibits
Migration Pathways exhibition – highlights the personal stories of people who arrived in South Australia
Immigration Initiatives exhibit – includes
- the ‘White Australia’ policy
- juvenile migration schemes
- displaced persons migrating post Second World War
- British migration schemes
- Migrant hostels
The History of the Migration Museum site
The Impact on Australian Aboriginal people