Brimbank Council proposes to sell land for Australia's First Vietnamese Museum

Brimbank Council will be seeking community feedback on the proposed sale of Council land in Sunshine – located in Melbourne’s western suburbs - to the Vietnamese Museum Australia.

The site is currently owned by Brimbank City Council, is based within the growing Sunshine Metropolitan Activity Centre, and is only a three-minute walk from Sunshine Railway Station.

Vietnamese Museum Australia expressed strong interest in locating to the Sunshine CBD having formally rescinded its contract with Maribyrnong City Council for a site in Footscray in October 2023.

Feedback from the community can be given to Council from 22nd January to 19th February 2024, before Council considers a decision about the sale.

Australia’s first ever Vietnamese cultural centre and museum in Sunshine has had its planning permit given the green light to move forward.

Backed by a $2.3 million Victorian Government investment, the project will provide Vietnamese Victorians with a place to celebrate their heritage and preserve stories of migration and refugee settlement.

Located at 119 Durham Road in Sunshine, the museum also reinforces Melbourne’s western suburbs as a key locale of Vietnamese culture in Victoria and Australia. Sunshine has a strong Vietnamese community and history. About 32,000 of Brimbank residents – or about 17% of the total Brimbank population – are of Vietnamese heritage.

The three-storey building will host exhibitions to honour migrant journeys to freedom and celebrate the significant contributions of the Vietnamese community to the multicultural fabric of Australia, with the museum set to receive more than 280 artefacts.

It will also include a community hub and resource centre for education, as well as a function centre and café to accommodate community events for up to 450 guests from across Victoria, interstate and abroad.

The planning application was submitted as part of the State Government’s Development Facilitation Program, which streamlines the planning process for priority projects that boost investment into Victoria’s economy, keep people in jobs, and create homes for Victorians.

The Vietnamese Museum Australia will form the sixth cultural museum in the Multicultural Museums Victoria Network, alongside the Hellenic Museum, Museum of Chinese Australian History, Jewish Museum, Islamic Museum and Museo Italiano.

Since 2016, the Victorian Government has allocated more than $6.8 million to the Vietnamese Museum Australia, acknowledging the importance of the 120,000-plus people of Vietnamese heritage living in Victoria, with more than 93,000 born in Vietnam – making it the fifth largest overseas born population in the state.

Community feedback on the proposed sale of Council land can be given via Council’s Your Say webpage

For more information about Vietnamese Museum Australia

Image. The building’s design incorporates elements to reference both Vietnamese and Australian culture. Credit: Konzepte Melbourne