Launch of Albany Welcome Walls a tribute to migrants

More than 500 people will gather in the grounds of the Western Australian Museum - Albany today for a celebration to mark the launch of the town's Welcome Walls, a tribute to migrants who arrived in Australia through the port over the past 180 years.

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the Welcome Walls project began as part of Western Australia's 175th anniversary celebrations in 2004 as a way of acknowledging the contribution to the State by its migrant communities.

"Australia is one of the most multicultural nations in the world and the Welcome Walls projects, in Fremantle and Albany, are a way of recording and paying tribute to migrants who arrived by sea through those ports," Mr Day said.

"More than a third of WA's population was born overseas and the Welcome Walls acknowledge migrants from many lands and cultures who have helped make this nation what it is today.

"The Welcome Walls had been planned as a one-off project displaying about 2,000 inscriptions, but the public response was so overwhelming that the Fremantle Walls now hold more than 21,000 inscriptions, paying tribute to 45,000 immigrants to WA."

The Albany Welcome Walls were designed by local firm Howard and Heaver Architects and incorporate a boardwalk stretching from the museum's historic Residency Building over the water of the Amity Precinct.

"The design is symbolic of many migrants' journeys when they disembarked in Albany, which was WA's first port," the Minister said.

"The boardwalk includes timbers from the original town jetty, and coloured banding on the top of each wall provides a link to the funnel colours of the passenger steamship lines that were prevalent during the peak period of immigration through the Albany port."

The Albany Welcome Walls are inscribed with close to 500 names, as well as the passenger's ship and year of arrival.

Community Services Minister and South West MLC Robyn McSweeney will represent Mr Day at the launch of the Albany Welcome Walls.

The final Fremantle Welcome Walls were unveiled yesterday by Mr Day.