Greta Museum and Migrant Camp

Located in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, Greta once housed a large Australian Army camp, which later became a post-war migrant camp. Little remains of the camp apart from foundations and scattered stones. If the local museum did not keep the memory alive, it might have been forgotten completely.

Housed in the old Council Chambers, the Greta Museum has displays showing the town’s past as a coal mining centre, army camp and migrant camp.

During the Second World War, over 60,000 Australian soldiers trained at the camp. However, in 1949, it became the second largest migrant camp in Australia, housing displaced people from Europe. During its 11 years of operation, over 100,000 people passed through the camp, with the most at any one time being 9,000.

Passage to Australia was free, but men were required to fulfil a 2-year contract once they arrived in Australia. This was often away from their families in Cairns, Sydney or the Snowy Mountains, however, some worked at BHP in Newcastle and came home on weekends.

Living in an old army camp would have been hard, with no heating for winter and very hot in summer. Amenities were limited but did include a school and hospital.

Apart from the exhibits, the museum has a book for sale written by a former resident at the camp, detailing his experiences.

The only memorials to the camp are a small one in the main street and another at the gate to the camp. Access to the camp is not permitted, because it is on private land.

Other interesting exhibits include old school class photos, a plaque of Great mayors and some mining equipment.