What treasures do you have that connect you with LGBTIQA+ life in South Australia?

Have you been keeping queer history under the bed, in boxes in the garage, at your parents’ place, or in a shed that could leak? Ever wondered how to keep it safe and accessible for future generations?

You’re invited to bring photos, posters, badges, publicity, T-shirts, objects, newspapers, magazines, and items that are precious to you, and we’ll talk about their queer stories.

Come and listen to others, share your stories, shape the archives, and be inspired.

This event is the first step in establishing a community-led queer archives in SA to collect, preserve, and celebrate South Australia’s queer histories.

The queer archive will make sure that the history of SA’s LGBTIQA+ communities won’t be lost. There will be records of who we are, our lives, loves, passions, what we have created, our struggles, and our achievements.

This event is running as part of Feast Festival 2025, and is presented by the Queer Archive Collective SA, a newly-formed group passionate about LGBTIQA+ community, history, archiving, and establishing a permanent SA Queer Archive.

For more information, contact Margie Fischer at margiefischer@bigpond.com or Raymond Zada at raymond@zada.com.au

Check out our On the Move exhibition which weaves together accounts of LGBTQ people who moved to Adelaide between 1950 and 2000.

Drawn Together: Faces of Belonging

In this creative workshop, kids and families will draw a face that shares something special about their family or story. Each drawing will join others to form a lively animated crowd, coming to life on the big screen. Together we’ll celebrate imagination, identity, and the many cultures that make up our community.

Why it’s awesome: 
Celebrate family heritage and identity
Be part of a real collaborative animation
Watch your drawing come alive as part of a bigger story!

Who’s it for:
Perfect for kids aged 5-18 (and parents too!). No drawing skills needed—just your imagination and a story to share.

When:

Monday 29 September at 10:30am and 11:30am
Tuesday 30 September at 10:30am and 11:30am
Tuesday 7 October at 10:30am and 11:30am
Friday 10 October at 10:30am and 11:30am

Workshops are free but registration is required.

For any enquiries, please contact us at migration@history.sa.gov.au or 08 8151 3240.

The LEGO® Trail is back these school holidays at the Migration Museum!

Grab your camera and sense of adventure and join us on a journey to nine different countries, visiting magnificent archaeological, cultural and natural sites around the world.

Search the museum galleries for our LEGO® figure tourists as they visit each exciting destination. Collect all the letters, spell out the secret word and enter the draw to win one of three awesome LEGO® prizes.

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorise, or endorse this site. 

This Halloween, embark on an atmospheric journey into the darker side of Adelaide’s history.

Adelaide’s Destitute Asylum, which operated in the 19th century, housed many impoverished and vulnerable people, including women, children and the elderly, and has a long history of hardship and suffering. Explore the Migration Museum’s heritage buildings by candlelight and discover tales of life, death, and beyond in colonial South Australia.

Disease, death and destitution are guaranteed!

Tours run at 6pm, 7:15pm and 8:30pm on Friday 31 October.

Cost $20 per person

Tour runs for approximately 60 minutes and is not suitable for children under 12 years.

Joining the celebrations for the Adelaide Italian Festival for 2025, Australia Donna is proud to present an afternoon of poetry and prose, hosted in the Migration Museum Chapel.

This year features many multi-generational Italian-Australian women writers from Australia Donna and Ascolta Donna Inc.

Of Hope and Dreams – Di Sogni e di Speranza features the following presenters:

Prose: 
Laura Di Martino
Dr Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli AM
Carla Caruso
Claudia Callisto
Giuseppina Marino Leyland

Poetry:
Jordana Ubaldi

Letters: 
Elena Castrechini
Angela De Ionno

Afternoon begins at 2pm on Saturday 15 November

Light refreshments served

Tickets available via $10.00 donation through Humanitix or phone 0412 413 416

You can find more information on this years Adelaide Italian Festival held from 7 – 16 November 2025 here Adelaide Italian Festival

Think about how the City of Adelaide has changed over time. What do you dream it might become in the future? 

‘Our Changing City’ is a collaborative artwork created by more than 300 students during DreamBIG Festival. Drop in to the Migration Museum these school holidays and contribute your own unique ideas using recycled materials.

From pet hotels and waterparks to geothermal energy skyscrapers and castles to fortify against a zombie apocalypse, anything you imagine is possible in our city of the future!

Open every day, 10am-5pm.

The LEGO® Trail is back these school holidays at the Migration Museum!

Our wonderful city is constantly evolving. Explore how migrants and multicultural groups of the past and today have influenced and inspired Adelaide in art, landscape, sport, culture, food and design!

Visit the museum and search for the LEGO® figures hidden in the galleries. Collect all the letters, spell out the secret word and enter the draw to win one of three awesome LEGO® prizes.

LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorise, or endorse this site.

Take a personal journey with two artists as they explore the essence of Chinese culture. 

Adelaide artists, Siew Siang Tay and Con Polychronis, explore the richness and nuances of the diverse people who shape Chinese culture, past and present. Ordinary folk come alive, but beyond the arresting eyes and the fascination of past artisans are stories of perseverance, survival, hope and joy.

This combination of universality and distinctness is what the artists try to capture, as they invite you to see and sense the vignettes that speak to the essence of the human experience.

Siew Siang Tay is a Malaysian-Chinese migrant who moved to Australia in 1993, and Con Polychronis is the son of Greek migrants who came to Australia in 1954. Both bring to their work a strong sense of cultural heritage and the human condition.

The artists express their appreciation to photographers and organisations for permission to use their photographs as reference material.

Acknowledgements

Temporary exhibition 
26 July 2025 – 26 January 2026
Free admission.

Peking Opera Actor Backstage
Siew Siang Tay
Oil on canvas

Itinerant Barber
Con Polychronis
Oil and cold wax on canvas

Minding dìdi
Siew Siang Tay
Oil on Canvas
Reference photo: Ernst Krause

Sêrxü boy
Siew Siang Tay
Oil on canvas
Reference photo: Paul Cowell

Hard Wood Furniture Maker
Con Polychronis
Oil and cold wax on canvas

Face to Face is an exciting intergenerational art project that connects aged care residents and school students. The project involved meetings between students and residents which
sparked conversations to inspire the artworks to capture and celebrate the residents’ cultures, personalities, lives and stories.

Both students and residents produced their own interpretations of the same portrait using mixed media techniques to express their personal connections. The portraits incorporate
elements such as symbols, images, colour and textures to represent the residents’ experiences, memories and identity.

The exhibition will include audio and visual elements that will transport visitors through the heart-warming moments of connection throughout the program.

Free entry.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with Southern Cross Care (SA, NT, and VIC) Inc.

A pop-up exhibition in the foyer of the Migration Museum features treasures from the archives of the Croatian Club Adelaide. On display as part of the Croatian History Festival Adelaide 2025, the Club’s activities in the past and the present are explored through photos and documents.

The Croatian Club Adelaide was the first of its kind in Australia. The founders sought to create a home for South Australian Croatians. From the outset, the Club embraced every opportunity to promote Croatian identity and culture to the wider public. It served as a model for Croatians in other states. The Club spawned groups catering to different needs and interests, beginning with Croatia Soccer Club in 1952. The ethnic school, folkloric ensemble, women’s organisation, and radio program, among others, followed. Most remain active today.