Work resumes on Fremantle migrant Welcome Walls

The migrant Welcome Walls at the Western Australian Museum - Maritime in Fremantle will be completed by the end of 2010.

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the walls at the WA Museum - Maritime in Fremantle were a tribute to migrants who had arrived from around the world since the 1820s.

"The State Government is determined to complete the project to honour these Western Australian citizens who decided to settle in WA to make a new life," Mr Day said.

The Minister has endorsed concept designs by architects Cox Howlett and Bailey Woodland and their plans will be lodged with the Western Australian Planning Commission.

"The Welcome Walls is a popular project and, once completed, will display more than 21,000 inscriptions representing more than 45,000 migrants," he said.

The project was launched as part of Western Australia's 175th anniversary celebrations to record the family names of those who arrived by sea through Fremantle.

Mr Day said that while the previous government had promised that the final stage of the Welcome Walls would originally be due for completion in 2008, the project had encountered a number of design, site location and budget issues dating back to 2007.

"These issues have been resolved and construction of the Fremantle Welcome Walls project is expected to begin in the first half of 2010 and be launched by the end of the year," he said.

Museum staff and the architects have been working with Fremantle Ports to ensure the completed Welcome Walls project integrates with the overall Fremantle Waterfront Masterplan.

The updated Welcome Walls website, http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/welcomewalls is online from today. It includes artist impressions of the final walls and the surrounding precinct.