New Vietnamese Museum set to open in Melbourne
A brand-new museum dedicated to the contributions and history of Vietnamese presence in Australia is set to open in Sunshine.
The museum will be located at 121 Durham Road, Sunshine and conveniently located only 3 minutes from the Sunshine Railway Station by foot.
Its location on Melbourne’s West also accommodates the key locale of Vietnamese culture in Victoria.
Since 2016, the Victorian Government has allocated more than $6.8 million to the Vietnamese Museum Australia.
“The museum has always been an aspiration of the Vietnamese community,” Chairperson of the Victorian Multicultural Commission Vivienne Nguyen said.
“It will be a significant achievement,” she said.
The three-storey building will be of great architectural significance, as well as housing stories and artefacts integral to the Vietnamese community and their contribution to Australia.
According to the museum’s website, the ground floor will consist of a “lobby, social services, resource centre and café”, there will be a “multi-purpose events space” on the second floor, and the third floor will include a “permanent and temporary exhibition space”.
There will also be a ‘Memorial Garden’ to commemorate those who “paid the ultimate sacrifice defending freedom for South Vietnam”.
The museum will further highlight the contributions of the Vietnamese community and emphasise the resilience of the people, who left Vietnam to escape communist oppression.
As the museum’s website says 1.4 million Vietnamese refugees escaped their country after the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), as well as because of the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
Vietnamese refugees not only turned to Australia to find a home and build a new life, but also to countries such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, the website says.
In addition, Vietnamese people who tried to escape had to face many misfortunes such as “violent storms, brutal pirates, hunger and dehydration,” as they travelled by boat, the website said.
The number of Vietnamese refugees’ lives lost adds up to 400,000 to 600,000, the museum website says.
It says that between 1975 and 1995, during the Fraser leadership, Australia welcomed “more than 110,000 Vietnamese refugees”.
Victorian MP Trung Luu, a Vietnamese refugee himself, says that the Vietnamese museum has “been in the talks for 10 years”.
“It’s about showcasing the strength of the people who sacrificed themselves; whether it was in Vietnam or trying to escape, hundreds of thousands died at sea,” he said.
The museum aims to pass information about the Vietnamese community, much like other cultural museums in Melbourne, like the existing Italian, Hellenic, Jewish and Islamic museums.
Mr Luu says the museum will add to the diversity of the city.
“Information is key. You shouldn’t waive the bad things in history, you should have it there so people understand. If you don’t learn from your mistake, you’ll repeat it,” he said.
“If you try to erase a part of history, the next generation will never know what happened,” Mr Trung said.
Recently, the museum was given a final green light with the granting of a building permit.