The Minister for the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Senator the Hon. Amanda Vanstone, will launch a service that will enable migrants and their families to locate and retrieve information about their arrival in Australia, on Wednesday 9 February at 10:30am in the Manning Clarke Theatre, ANU.

Developed by the National Archives of Australia, the Making Australia Home kit may contain copies of the forms migrants completed before coming to Australia or naturalisation records. A fact sheet giving further information about the migration experience and relevant records is also included.

For migrants who came to Australia in the 20 th Century, the Archives is highly likely to hold documents about their arrival and settlement. To see those documents can sometimes be a very emotional experience, particularly if it contains information lost to a family through the passage of time.

Director-General of the National Archives Ross Gibbs says the beauty of the migration kit is that people will be able to have something tangible to keep and to pass on to their children.

‘The Archives’ Making Australia Home kit allows people to explore the arrival and settlement of family members in Australia during the 20 th century, filling in gaps in their family history’, Mr Gibbs said.

‘Our collection of immigration records is vast, and covers migrant arrivals, naturalisation, accommodation and employment. In some cases there are also photos of people and their families on files in the collection.’

The launch of the Making Australia Home kit is in conjunction with the Transformations Conference co-hosted by the Federation of Ethnic Communities and Councils Australia and the Australian National University.