ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about multiculturalism, museums, and citizenship that occurred from the 1970s to the early 2000s in Australia into a shared frame. It examines the role that public cultural representations of Australian-ness played over this period in relation to the National Museum of Australia. As the changes in policy indicate, a contraction of political interest in multiculturalism occurred during this period, and national agendas of the following period were subsequently transformed in line with a new global appetite for the 'soft' notions of social cohesion and harmony. Multiculturalism was initially developed as a program of immigrant settlement and welfare support that aimed to assist migrants from non-English-speaking backgrounds to become Australian without jettisoning their previous cultural heritage. In 1977, the Australian Ethnic Affairs Council defined multiculturalism according to principles of national cohesion, recognition of cultural identity, and promotion of social equality.
