This paper analyses the processes behind the formation of community-initiated heritage projects pertaining to immigration. My first case study is the Gippsland Immigration Park in Morwell, initially conceived as a memorial to Italian immigrants to Gippsland Victoria. I hope to move beyond critiques of the form and content of migration memorials, and instead pose questions about the committee’s motives and processes, and the social and cultural landscape in which they operated—which includes the local, state and national. What potential do these processes and their narrative outcomes harbour for challenging the politically-nullified narrative of multicultural heritage? How might we read against the grain of celebratory multiculturalism to find histories of structural difference, histories that challenge comfortable renditions of Australian post-war migration? Can we offer narratives that celebrate immigration as socially transformative without silencing narratives of structural discrimination, state neglect/coercion, and settlement difficulties? How did the memorial and the committee interpret ‘heritage significance’ and ‘social value’ when applying for grants, and did these interpretations challenge or align with more official (and nationally-orientated) definitions? As a community-initiated project that acquired state funding, the Gippsland Immigration Park offers a model for future immigration heritage, which is sorely lacking in the Australian heritage landscape.