Roman Skrypko was just 21 when he jumped on a boat in Germany headed for what he called “the end of the world”.
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His destination, like more than 300,000 others, would be the Bonegilla Migrant Centre outside of Wodonga.
Mr Skrypko and his wife, Teresa of Ballarat, were among about 200 people on Thursday to celebrate upgrades at the historic site.
Regional Development Victoria, Wodonga Council and the federal government's Department of Environment contributed $760,000 for landscaping, restoration, signs and art.
Mr Skrypko said it would be their final visit to the heritage-listed camp, from which 1.5 million Australians have descended.
“It’s the best thing that ever happened in my life time coming to Australia, it was the land furthest from the war” he said.
“I used to love chasing the rabbits around, there were rabbits everywhere.”
Mrs Skrypko became emotional as she recalled arriving at the camp as a 14-year-old girl in 1950.
She said she came with her parents and remembered swimming in Lake Hume.
“I'm looking for a place, it was a great big dormitory with a door on either side,” Mrs Skrypko said.
“It had little windows where we would put a stick to get the flies out.
“All we had was a straw mattress, a black-and-white striped pillow slip and one blanket - that was it.”
Mr Skrypko found work at a Ballarat factory where a Polish man needed his help to learn skills for the job.
He met the man's daughter who he later married.
The Skrypko’s now have two sons, five grand kids and seven great-grand kids.
Stories like this are what Wodonga mayor Anna Speedie said she hoped would be told at the centre in years to come.
“There are beautiful stories that emerge from here which really created our history,” she said.
“The funding has allowed us to reorient the site so there is a true welcome centre when people come in.
“It has also created a pathway so people progress around the sight so the stories can be told in a far more logical pattern.”
The event symbolised the completion of phase one and, for phase two, council estimated another $750,000 would be needed to digitise historic archives located in Canberra.
Victorian Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said any further works would be “considered highly” by the government for funding.
“In the wake of destruction that was reaped throughout Europe, so many hundreds of thousands of Europeans of all nationalities found there way here to start their new life and contribute to multicultural Australia,” she said.
