Identity Documents

The Migration Museum holds a substantial collection of documents that record migrants' 'vital statistics', such as date and place of birth, age, nationality, sex, marriage, parentage, children, profession, and date of death. These are primarily government-issued papers, such as birth, death and marriage certificates, passports, movement permits/passes, naturalisation or citizenship certificates, exemption certificates and documents generated through health checks, such as immunisation certificates. Records relating to recognition of overseas qualifications, licenses and employment, such as curricula vitae/résumés, degrees and reference letters, and military-related identity documents, such as enlistment forms, service records and discharge certificates, also feature in the collection.