While he was born in Bsharri, Gibran emigrated with his family to the United States when he was a boy, first to Boston and later to New York. He also spent extended periods in Paris.

At the museum, Alhagh began to see that Gibran's mass of paintings meant the exhibition would have to be as much about his artwork as his literary achievements, and so she began thinking of it as a show that would have clusters of paintings buttressed by quotations from Gibran's writing. Apart from the many paintings and manuscripts, Alhagh also selected three crucial artefacts: Gibran's writing table, his art/stationery box and his watercolour set.

The exhibits are accompanied by community voices in the form of projections along a corridor.

"We wanted to share with visitors why Gibran is still relevant and how we have been influenced by his work and sayings, even far away in another country like Australia, with people from so many different backgrounds," Alhagh says. "For myself, if you read The Prophet, there are passages relating to death, marriage, love, friendship – and it is as if he has seen everything from another perspective. It is like you come up and see a problem from above and you are able to become free from it. It is a soothing way of philosophising."

One of the community voices featured in the exhibition belongs to Danielle Rizk, who grew up amid Melbourne's Lebanese community. After stumbling upon a copy of The Prophet in a second-hand bookshop while studying at university, she quickly understood why it was a beloved global classic. It was brimming with wisdom.

A DJ/radio host and event curator known as MzRizk, she describes The Prophet as "almost a guide book". "People see it as poetry or prose but I see it as a reference book for life. He wrote the facts on everything and he did it in such an interesting way. His work has inspired and motivated me to be relentless and honest about what I do."

When Bracks, his wife Terry and their children visited Lebanon six years ago, they made the trip to the Gibran Museum to honour the poet's place in the family history. While Bracks' maternal and paternal forebears migrated to Australia in the 1890s, his parents had never been to Lebanon, so the trip was a significant moment for the family.

"I knew I wanted to see where [Gibran] grew up and lived," Bracks says. "While my parents hadn't been there, the culture remained with them."

When he visited the museum again two years ago, he spoke with the director and found out a few of the works had been to Australia more than a decade ago. On his return to Melbourne, Bracks began discussions with the state government's major events officials to see what might be possible. Things got moving, the federal government chipped in with funds, and other philanthropic support was granted.

As Alhagh surveys Gibran's works ahead of installing the exhibition, she marvels at his delicacy of touch and ability – as in his writing – to express those things that are closest to our hearts.

His words and images also revel in the beauty and sacredness of the natural world; the exhibition includes a space called "the Garden of the Prophet" room. "It celebrates his relationship to nature," Alhagh says. "He had that philosophy and a strong relationship with nature, I think, because of his growing up in Bsharri."

Kahlil Gibran: The Garden of the Prophet is at the Immigration Museum, November 28 to March 17.