Diwali Downunder

31/10/2007 0 Comments read Diaspora

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney (India Abroad Newspaper, USA): October, the festive month in the Hindu calendar, heralds the flowering of jacarandas and ripening of mangoes in Australia. Most of the earlier Indian migrants, who came after the `White Australia’ policy ended in 1971, celebrated Deepavali with few friends at home, a game of cards and sparklers thrown in, and going to one of the temples.

Things changed in 2000, the year of Sydney Olympics, when a Deepavali fair was organised by the Hindu Council of Australia, attracting 10,000 people. Today, as people of Indian origin cross the 200,000 mark, Deepavali is being added to the annual cultural calendar with celebrations galore.

Continue reading →

Only one Hindu in 1828 New South Wales Census

19/09/2007 0 Comments read Diaspora, Features, Migration

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 19.09.2007(IANS): Hinduism may be the fastest growing religion in Australia. But there was only one Hindu amongst the 36,000 or so residents in the 1828 census of the state of New South Wales.

Australia’s first Hindu stockman, Ramdial, who was born most probably in 1788, arrived in Australia aboard the ship Mary in 1818 with Sophia Browne, the wife of his employer William Merchant Browne, and three of Browne’s children from Calcutta (now Kolkata).

“William Browne of the Browne & Turner firm, which was a tea company in Calcutta, was born in Lucknow, educated in Britain and was employed in the East India Company before he took over the family business. In 1810, he decided to come to Australia for the opportunities offered by the relatively new British colony,” said Brad Argent, a spokesperson for Ancestry, the world’s biggest provider of family history data.

Continue reading →

Ganesh idol immersed with great fanfare near Sydney

17/09/2007 0 Comments read Diaspora

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 17.09.2007 (IANS): An idol of Hindu god Ganesh, decorated in all finery, sat firm as thousands of devotees followed in a procession chanting “Ganpati Bappa Morya” to Stanwell Park beach here, as part of colourful celebrations for the Ganesh festival.

The elephant-headed god was immersed in the Pacific Ocean to the sounds of beating drums and chants Sunday as waves on low tide lashed the sandy beach, about 50 km south of Sydney’s central business district.

The three-feet-tall idol was made of biodegradable material. “We were very conscious to use only environmental friendly material like clay and papier mache,” said Murali Dharan, president of the Sri Venkateswara Temple committee that organises the annual Ganesh festival.

Continue reading →