Yoshiko Ishikawa and Victor Creagh met at an army camp in Tokyo a decade after the end of World War II.

She was a young Japanese seamstress working as a waitress; he was an Australian soldier stationed in Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force.

Despite the army's strict no-fraternisation policy, they fell in love and married in June 1956.

Four months later Yoshiko arrived in Brisbane as one of around 650 Japanese war brides who migrated to Australia in the post-war period.

Her Western-style wedding dress has gone on display at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) to illustrate the wider story of Japanese war brides, the obstacles they faced and their experiences in a new country.

Yoshiko's wedding dress was patterned with silver thread. ( National Museum of Australia )

"Obviously, it's about a young man and young woman who met [and were married]," NMA curator Laina Hall said.

"But it also folds into a particular point in time in Australia's history.

"Many of the Australian men who married Japanese war brides ... had to really push to be able to bring their fiancées and wives to Australia.

"The arrival of Japanese war brides ... precipitated a bit of a shift in Australia's immigration policy; a relaxing of what we know as the White Australia Policy."

Not only did the young women have to struggle with a different language, culture and expectations, many also experienced hostility, distrust or overt racism.

"In some communities they weren't particularly welcome because there was this real sense of Japan still being the enemy," Ms Hall said.

"For some [women], while they were embraced obviously by their husbands and welcomed often by that immediate family, integrating and becoming part of a broader community could prove really challenging."

What happened to Yoshiko and Victor?

During the early years of her marriage, Yoshiko travelled with Victor to various army posts in Queensland, Korea and Singapore.

But although the relationship was happy in the beginning, it did not last and the couple eventually separated.

Yoshiko made the decision to stay in Australia.

"I think she felt comfortable here; she had established a network ... with some other Japanese war brides as friends," Ms Hall said.

"She felt she had more independence here in Australia than she would have back in Japan."

One of Yoshiko's kimonos with its original packet. ( ABC Radio Canberra: Louise Maher )

Since Yoshiko's death in 2016, the museum has also acquired her wedding and engagement rings and a collection of her kimonos from Tokyo.

"There's a sense that she was connecting and keeping that connection with her Japanese culture through wearing and making kimono, which is really wonderful," Ms Hall said.

"It's a really important story both in terms of personal relationships but also in terms of that broader immigration history and diversity of Australia."

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