Maritime Heritage - A nation's start and source of its diversity

Ship "James Craig" - Sydney, 2011

"on opening the scuttle in my cabin, I perceived an aromatic odour, as of spicy flowers, blown from the land" - Welcome Wall, Australian National Maritime Museum [ANMM], Sydney.

Last Saturday we were walking away from a farmers market in Prymont Bay Park and we decided to walk along the shoreline of the city of Sydney. We didn't go far before we saw the ANMM's Welcome Wall and it has way of stopping you from walking past. The names of immigrants to Australia and snapshots of their stories holds you, and takes your mind to another time from the 1970s to the start of our nation in the 1790s.

If you're in Sydney, whether as a resident or visitor, then definitely visit the Australian National Maritime Museum and make sure you follow them on facebook or twitter for exhibition updates.

Or sail around Australia with the ANMM! The HMB Endeavour is circumnavigating Australia from April 2011 to May 2012, and you can join the journey! In April 2011, the magnificent replica of James Cook's HM Bark Endeavour started its historic circumnavigation of Australia. Built as a gift to the Australian people, Endeavour will follow in the wake of our earliest European explorers, visiting major and regional ports right across Australia. Find out more and sail away!

Other maritime museums in Australia:

• Western Australian Maritime Museum
• South Australian Maritime Museum
• Queensland Maritime Museum
• Maritime Museum of Tasmania

Immigration Nation: The Secret History of Us

Showing on SBS1 at 8:30pm on Sunday, 9th January

Inside History magazine is looking forward to the SBS documentary, Immigration Nation: The Secret History of Us, the untold story behind Australia’s multicultural mix.

Immigration Nation is a three part series revealing how the present day Australian multicultural society was built. The documentary describes Australia's recent social history using interviews with eminent historians and the testimony of eyewitnesses - many of whom have never told their stories before. The series explores our recent past and explains Australia’s untold immigration story; a century long struggle to overcome the White Australia Policy that resulted in one of the world’s most multicultural nations.

The show also comes with an online resource centre, created in association with The Chocolate Liberation Front, featuring statistics on immigration, profiles of key politicians and contributors, and the ability for audiences to delve into the SBS archives to find out how Australia’s views on immigration have changed in the past 30 years.

The series kicks off on SBS1 at 8:30pm on Sunday, 9th January.