PrintThe Welcome Wall
Exploring the Welcome Wall together and its acknowledgement of those who have migrated from countries around the world to live in Australia.Photograph courtesy Australian National Maritime Museum
The Welcome Wall at the Australian National Maritime Museum stands in honour of those who have migrated from countries around the world to live in Australia and reinforces a sense of inclusion for all Australians. The Welcome Wall faces Sydney’s Darling Harbour and Pyrmont Bay, where many settlers first stepped ashore.
Today’s Australians are invited to inscribe the names of migrant family members and friends, from the past and the present, on the wall as a personal tribute. Since the announcement of the project in November 1997, nearly 18 000 names have been inscribed and the number continues to grow by thousands each year.
The people named on the Welcome Wall have come from more than 130 countries, and have all brought to modern Australia vivid memories of their homes elsewhere and their homeland’s distinctive culture. Registrants are encouraged to record this historical information in the Welcome Wall database which, now holding thousands of entries spanning more than two centuries, increasingly represents a ‘folk history’ of Australia.