From Punjab to the Mallee: Mildura’s growing Sikh community
Mildura’s Sikh community has grown to a population of more than 500 in 20 years. They hope to soon build a temple in their new home.
Mildura
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When Kamal Grewal first moved to northwest Victoria 20 years ago, his was one of just three or four Sikh families in the region.
Today, the farmer and mill operator is part of a growing Sikh community of more than 500 bringing agricultural expertise to Mildura from the northwest Indian region of Punjab, where the warm, dry climate and sparse rainfall bear a close resemblance to the Victorian Mallee.
Their arrival has been fortuitous for an area desperate for skilled workers.
But Mr Grewal says there is one crucial thing missing before Mildura can truly feel like home.
“Wherever our community goes, the first thing is to set up a community centre,” he says.
In 2015, the community fundraised $500,000 to buy a four-bedroom house on a former grape block, which it has converted into a makeshift Gurdwara (temple), with a prayer room in one of the bedrooms and a gathering space in the garage.
But council bylaws limit the number of people who can attend gatherings and families are forced to visit the centre at different times to reduce numbers.
Businessman Baljinder Sandhu says building a space large enough for the whole community would cost between $1.2 million and $1.4 million, of which it can afford about half.
The community is calling for government support for the build, and says the space will be used to give back to the community, just as it has done across the country with free meals and aid during the pandemic and in regional towns during the Black Summer bushfires and last year’s record floods.
Common challenge
Settlement Council of Australia chief executive Sandra Elhelw says Mildura’s Sikh community is facing a challenge common to many recent waves of migrants.
“Communities at least need access, regular access to a space that is shared, where they can conduct their religious celebrations, their cultural days, their language classes for the children, whatever it might be,” she says.
“Australia has a vested interest in people staying in regional areas. And where Australia has a specific interest in people staying in a location, we’ve got to pay a bit more attention to that and be willing to invest more in that.”
While previous waves of migrants enjoyed a lower cost of living and lower land prices, today “it’s hard enough for people to purchase a home to live in, let alone cobble together the funds as a community for a space where they can gather in or for places of worship,” she says.
New generation arriving
One of the younger generation of Sikh’s moving to Mildura is irrigation agronomist Jasjeet Singh Brar.
Mr Brar arrived in the town a year ago from Melbourne after studying a bachelor of agribusiness at La Trobe University.
“I have a farming background in India. My dad was in the agribusiness sector in India, in a government job. We have grown up in farms. It’s in our blood,” he says.
When he was offered a job in Mildura, he was happy to take it: “It’s a good town for agriculture. Soil, climate and even the lifestyle is similar (to Punjab). It is a bit peaceful coming up here,” he says.
But he says having a Gurdwara in the town is important to him, and would allow him to give back to the community.
Hotel director Baljinder Sandhu says he has helped dozens of new migrants make the new journey to Mildura to fill worker shortages, mainly from India and the Philippines.
After arriving in Mildura 12 years ago, he formed a company together with a registered migration agent, to help workers migrate to Mildura to study and find jobs in horticulture, automotive mechanics and commercial cookery.
For him, a Gurdwara would allow him to truly settle in the regional town.
“When there is a temple, this is your home. If you don’t have a temple, a place isn’t home,” he says.
“I want a Gurdwara to show my kids: ‘That’s where we come from, that’s where we belong’.”
Multicultural affairs minister Colin Brooks invited the community to apply for funds through the Multicultural Community Infrastructure Fund.
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Originally published as From Punjab to the Mallee: Mildura’s growing Sikh community
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