Hinduism in Australia
Hindu arrival to Australia In the 19th Century, Hindus came to Australia to work on cotton and sugar plantations. Many remained as small businessmen, working as camel drivers, merchants and hawkers, selling goods between small rural communities.
The following dates tell us briefly about the arrival of Hinduism.
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1788 – Indian crews from Bay of Bengal came to Australia on trading ships.
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1816 – Domestic servants in European households left the port of Calcutta to take up labouring work in Sydney.
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1844 – P. Friell who had previously lived in India, brought 25 domestic workers from India to Sydney and these included a few women and children.
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1850’s – A Hindu merchant, Shri Pammull, built a family opal trade in Melbourne that has prosperously continued with his third-to fourth-generation descendants.
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1857 – The census showed a mere 277 Hindu’s in Victoria. The gold rush years attracted many Indians to Australia and across the borders to the gold mines in Victoria.
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1893 – The census showed that 521 Hindu’s were living in New South Wales.
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1901 – Just about 800 Indians lived in Australia, the majority of them lived in northern NSW and Queensland.
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1911 – The census counted 3698 Hindu’s in the entire country.
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1921 – Less than 2200 Indians lived in Australia.
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1977 – The first Hindu temple in Australia, the Sri Mandir Templem, was built. Established by three devotees; Dr. Padmanabn Shrindhar PRABHU, Dr. Anand and Mr. Prem Shankar, who bought an old house in Auburn NSW and paid $12000.00 to convert it into a temple.
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1981 – The census recorded 12,466 Hindus in Victoria and 12,256 in NSW from a total of 41,730 in the entire country.
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1985 – a Hindu society, the Saiva Manram, was formed in order to build a temple for Lord Murukan. Since its inception, Lord Murukan has been called 'Sydney Murukan'. The Saiva Manram has worked hard for nearly ten years to build a temple for Lord Murukan.
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1996 – Hindu’s with their birthplace in India made up 31 per cent of all Hindu’s in Australia. But the census also showed there were 67,270 Hindu’s Living in Australia.
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