A council car park will be turned into a museum celebrating Vietnamese Australians. (Supplied)
In short:
The first museum in Australia dedicated to the Vietnamese refugee experience will be built in Melbourne's western suburbs.
Vietnamese Australians are one of the country's largest migrant groups and many fled by boat after the country's civil war ended in 1975.
What's next?
The Victorian government has announced it will provide another $2 million towards Vietnamese Museum Australia.
A decades-long dream is a step closer to reality in Melbourne's west with a ground-breaking ceremony at the site of Vietnamese Museum Australia.
Heavy rain did not dampen spirits as crowds gathered on Sunday at what is now a council car park in the suburb of Sunshine.
"They say rain is auspicious and important," said Victorian Multicultural Commission chair Vivienne Nguyen, who has been working to establish the museum since 2005.
Vivienne Nguyen (right) says the bipartisan political support for a Vietnamese museum is a world first. (ABC News: Max Walden)
Ms Nguyen, who came to Australia as a 12-year-old refugee, said Vietnamese Museum Australia would provide a sacred place "to pray for the souls that could not make it through to freedom".
Around 2 million Vietnamese fled the country after the communist victory in 1975 — of whom estimates suggest as many as 10 per cent died at sea.
Tens of thousands were resettled in Australia under then-prime minister Malcolm Fraser, which was a key moment in the dismantling of the White Australia Policy.
"There's so much strength and camaraderie across five decades here," said high school teacher Thomas Le Hoang Nguyen.
Thomas Le Hoang Nguyen is a school teacher and volunteer with the museum. (ABC News: Max Walden)
Mr Le said the museum would provide education to future generations of Vietnamese Australians and the wider community about the "profound" contributions of people who came as refugees, including his own parents.
"We try to preserve our heritage while also fully integrating into the society … we're proud of where we are,"
he said.
Vietnamese refugees 'risked everything for freedom'
This year marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War and the mass exodus of refugees.
About 280,000 Vietnamese-born people live in Australia, making it one of the nation's largest migrant groups.
Vietnamese Museum Australia chief executive Tammy Nguyen said the project was "deeply personal" given her own parents had escaped Vietnam on a perilous six-day, seven-night boat journey.
Vietnamese Museum Australia chief executive Tammy Nguyen. (Supplied)
"Vietnamese boat people risked everything for freedom," she said.
"For five decades, the Vietnamese community has not only survived, but thrived … we have gone from refugees to leaders."
The Victorian government on Sunday announced it would provide an additional $2 million towards the museum.
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"The Vietnamese Museum Australia will be an Australian first — and it's only fitting that we build it right here in Victoria, the multicultural capital of our nation," Premier Jacinta Allan said in a statement.
"We're investing in our Vietnamese community to ensure Victorians develop a deeper understanding of their experiences and their significant contributions to Australia."
The state government had previously invested $6.67 million to support the project.
Grant funding of almost $10 million has come from the federal government and extensive fundraising efforts have been undertaken by the community.
The first museum in Australia to commemorate the Vietnamese refugee experience will be built in Melbourne's western suburbs. (Supplied)
"It's the first time in the world that we actually see that," the Victorian Multicultural Commission's Ms Nguyen said of the bipartisan support the museum had received across three levels of government.
She said the museum would mean Vietnamese refugee stories "were permanently and securely in the Australian history" and represented the community's gratitude to Australia's Vietnam War veterans.
More than 60,000 Australians fought in Vietnam, with 521 troops losing their lives in the war.