Work is officially underway on Australia’s first Vietnamese Cultural Centre and Museum, following the project’s ground breaking ceremony in Sunshine on March 16.
The first sod was turned on the Durham Road site, marking the beginning of the $20 million museum’s long-awaited build.
During the ceremony, Multicultural Affairs Minister Ingrid Stitt announced an additional $2 million in funding to support the construction and fit-out of the museum.
Once complete, the centre will be a destination for Vietnamese Victorians to honour and celebrate their heritage and preserve stories of migration and refugee settlement.
It will host exhibitions to honour migrant journeys to freedom and celebrate the significant contributions of the community to the multicultural fabric of Australia, with the museum set to receive more than 280 artefacts.
The three-storey building will also include a resource centre for education, as well as a function centre and cafe to accommodate community events for up to 450 guests from across Victoria, interstate and abroad.
Vietnamese Museum Australia chief executive Tammy Nguyen said the commencement of construction was a significant step forward.
“This ground breaking is not just about laying the foundation of a building — it is about honouring the resilience, contributions, and stories of Vietnamese Australians,” she said.
This milestone coincides with the 50th anniversary of Vietnamese settlement in Australia, marking five decades worth of cultural heritage — highlighting the importance of the more than 121,000 people of Vietnamese heritage living in Victoria, with more than 93,000 born in Vietnam.
Laverton MP Sarah Connolly also celebrated the project’s kick-off.
“Australia’s first Vietnamese Museum will capture the vibrant, diverse and at times tragic history of our local Vietnamese community in Melbourne’s west and beyond,” she said.
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.
The museum is expected to open to the public towards the end of 2026.
