Work commences on Australia's first Vietnamese Museum

Work is officially underway on Australia’s first ever Vietnamese Cultural Centre and Museum, with the first sod turned on the site in Sunshine – a focal point for Vietnamese culture in Victoria and Australia.

Once complete, the Museum will be a destination for Vietnamese Victorians to honour and celebrate their heritage and preserve stories of migration and refugee settlement.

Backed by an investment of $8.7 million by the Victorian Government, it 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.

Located at 119 Durham Road in Sunshine, the museum 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 include a 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.

This milestone marks the 50th anniversary of Vietnamese settlement in Australia, recognising five decades of contribution, resilience, and cultural heritage.

Vietnamese Museum Australia Chief Executive Tammy Nguyen noted “this groundbreaking is not just about laying the foundation of a building – it is about honouring the resilience, contributions, and stories of Vietnamese Australians.”

The State Government investment in the project acknowledges the importance of the more than 121,000 people of Vietnamese heritage living in Victoria, with more than 93,000 born in Vietnam – making it the fifth largest overseas born population in Victoria.

The Vietnamese Museum Australia is one of seven cultural museums in the Multicultural Museums Victoria Network, alongside the Nafsika Stamoulis Hellenic Museum, Museum of Chinese Australian History, Jewish Museum of Australia, Islamic Museum of Australia, Museo Italiano and Golden Dragon Museum.

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