INDIAN STUDENT MIGRANTS IN AUSTRALIA: ISSUES OF COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY
Supriya Singh and Anuja Cabraal The established Indian Australian community mainly consists of people with professional occupations who came to Australia after 1970, and their Australian-born children. They come from the educated urban middle class in ,QGLDVSHDN(QJOLVKÀXHQWO\DQGDUHGRLQJZHOOLQ$XVWUDOLD,QFRQWUDVWWKHZDYHRI,QGLDQVWXGHQWVZKRDUULYHG mainly after 2001 are more likely to come from rural backgrounds. Even though they may have bachelor degrees from India, they often have poor English. Many have enrolled in vocational courses in cookery and hairdressing in the hope, often realised, of gaining permanent residence. As is now well known a number of them have been subjected to robbery and violence, often racist, and some have died. This article explores this recent history and also draws on interview data. It uses this to outline some of the differences between the established community and the growing number of students, and to describe the efforts made by the two groups to bridge these differences.
INTRODUCTION the earlier migrants and their families. The A long queue of mainly male Indian migrants with professional occupations and students and student migrants swells the their families came from metropolitan cit- congregation of the Blackburn Sikh Temple ies, had a good knowledge of English, and in Melbourne to 5,000 every Sunday. Ev- worked in their areas of expertise. The most ery week there are new brides wearing the recent Indian students and student migrants ritual red and white bangles. The 120,569 come most often from small towns and vil- Indian international students comprise ODJHVKDYHSRRU(QJOLVKDQGDUH¿QDQFLDOO\ nearly one-third of the Indian community VWUHVVHGEHFDXVHRIWKH¿QDQFLDOFRVWVRI LQ$XVWUDOLD1RZNLORVRIZKHDWÀRXU migration. They have also been poorly is kneaded every Sunday to make chappatis served by the government’s policy linking for the langar, the ritual meal in the temple, education, skilled labour and migration. FRPSDUHGWRNLORV¿YH\HDUVDJR0DVWHU These factors are contributing to Indian Darshan Singh, Chairperson of the organi- students becoming vulnerable to racism, sation that runs the Blackburn Sikh Temple, particularly on the streets of Melbourne. says that every week 10,000 people—and Thus, the Indian students who have not all of them are Sikh—have a hot meal come to Australia in recent years, many of in the temple.1 This coming together in the them hoping to gain permanent visas when Sikh temple overlays the growing diversity they complete their studies, are different within the Australian Sikh population in from the professionals who migrated up particular, and the Indian community in to 40 years ago. There is a similar discon- general. nect between the second generation Indian In this paper we outline the recent racist Australians, the children of these earlier attacks on Indian international students and migrants, and the new cohort of Indian student migrants. At the same time, the pro- international students. The second gen- fessional Indians who migrated with their eration Indian Australians, who grew up in families from 1970s onwards see Australia Australia, live with their parents or in their as a multicultural society. We argue that the own homes. If they are working, they are social background and migration experi- in professional jobs. They report incidents ences of recent Indian international students of name-calling, but do not interpret these and student migrants differ from those of incidents as experiences of racism.
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, 2010, page 19 We conclude by examining the role visibly showed its displeasure, with the that Indian religious organisations can play Indian High Commissioner accusing towards building greater connectedness Victoria of being in a state of denial, and between the Indian student migrants and of being ineffective in its policing.5 The the more established Indian Australian initial stance of the Victorian and federal community. We detail the latter’s efforts governments was to deny that these attacks at addressing the problems of the Indian were racist and to reiterate that Australia VWXGHQWVDQGPHQWRULQJWKHPWREHWWHU¿W was a safe multicultural country. Their into the wider Australian community. immediate focus was that these attacks These community efforts can be one of would negatively affect the international the building blocks contributing to a more education industry, believed to be worth harmonious society. $17.2 billion. In May 2009, Deputy Police In this paper, we draw on our open- Commissioner Kieran Walshe described HQGHGLQWHUYLHZVZLWK¿UVWJHQHUDWLRQ these attacks as ‘opportunistic’ and said the established migrants and 16 second gen- Indian students were ‘soft targets’ because eration migrants of Indian origin on their they were passive, travelled alone late at migrant and family experiences and 11 night and carried expensive gadgets.6 In interviews with Indian religious and com- the same vein, police had earlier advised munity leaders. We supplement these Indians not to speak loudly in their own interviews with census, immigration and languages in public places.7 educational data, media reports and re- As the attacks continued, in June 2009 search studies on the Indian community Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, in Australia. This analysis also draws on Simon Overland, admitted that some of Singh and Cabraal’s participation in the the attacks on Indian students were ‘clearly Melbourne Sikh and Hindu Indian Aus- racist in motivation’.8 He has had to keep tralian communities respectively for over reiterating the admission, for the initial 20 years. government reactions to news of new at- tacks continued to be that the attacks were ATTACKS ON INDIAN not racist. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS It is now openly recognised by the In early 2010, the Indian media ran daily federal government, the Victorian govern- news of Indian international students being ment, eminent Australians and parts of the robbed, assaulted and killed in Australia, Australian media that some of the attacks particularly in Melbourne. We know that 32 on Indian students in the last two years Indian students died in Australia between have been racist. The debate in Australia is 2003 and 2009.2 There are no precise moving towards the need to recognise there ¿JXUHVDERXWUREEHULHVDQGDVVDXOWV7KH there are racist pockets and to demonstrate Indian High Commission says 130 Indians that these attacks will not be tolerated. have been attacked. Police say that 1,447 General Peter Cosgrove, ex-Chief of the Indians were victims of reported crime in Australian Defence Force and Australian of Victoria, in the year ending July 2008.3 the Year in 2001, noted in his Australia Day As the attacks continue, there is an speech that Australians have shown much edginess in the wider Indian community, generosity and compassion in the face of as there are reports of abuse and increased troubles in our region. But he also accepted questions about safety.4 that there were ‘pockets of racism’ and that The Indian media have branded the attacks on Indian students were becoming a attacks as racist. The Indian government ‘litany of criminality’.9 Australian Foreign
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, page 20 Minister Stephen Smith said on 9 February Australia in November 2009 compared with 2010 that: 11,280 in 2002. Of these 120,569 students Recent contemptible attacks on Indian 46.9 per cent were in Victoria.14 The Indian students and others of Indian origin in vocational students sought permanent resi- Australia have cast a long shadow, not dence rather than education. At the same only over our education links, but across time, there was inadequate regulation of our broader relationship and bilateral the standards of education that they were agenda. These attacks are inexcusable. receiving, particularly in private vocational Australia needs to take this seriously and institutes. Unscrupulous agents and fraud we are taking it very seriously.10 further compounded the problems.15 More- Some Australian media commentators over, inadequate safety and security have have addressed the continued denial of rac- been a continuing problem for international ism by the Victorian state government.11The students in general, and Indian students in debate has more directly entered the politi- particular, for several years.16 cal arena in Victoria with the Leader of the Another reason for the policy failure Opposition attacking the state government was that policy was focused solely on edu- for its ineffectiveness in stemming the cational income and labour outcomes rather violence. than on the motivations of the students and The Victorian police have not released potential migrants. The lack of student- the crime statistics, saying that the data can centredness in the educational/migration/ be easily misinterpreted.12 Hence there is no VNLOOHGODERXUSROLF\LVUHÀHFWHGLQWKHIDFW GH¿QLWLYHDQDO\VLVRIWKHFLUFXPVWDQFHVRI that key government organisations like the the crimes, or the ethnicity of the victims Department of Education, Employment or of the assailants. The police have said and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and that most of the perpetrators are teenagers, Australian Education International (AEI) and that alcohol and drug related violence do not have publicly available data on the is behind many of the attacks. There is socio-economic background of Indian in- speculation that the perpetrators come from ternational students or indeed of any other existing migrant groups in the outer sub- international students. urbs, people who are reacting to the large The policy linking education and numbers of Indian students displacing them migration was aimed at getting ‘designer in housing and jobs.13 migrants’17 to satisfy Australia’s needs for a younger professional labour force at EDUCATION POLICY AND THE little cost. There are some important conti- RAPID INCREASE OF INDIAN nuities and differences between the Indian STUDENTS international student cohort who arrived in In educational and police circles, it has been Australia between 2001 and 2006 and those known for at least two years that trouble who arrived after 2006. Since 2001 perma- was brewing. The link between vocational nent residence (PR) in Australia has been an training for occupations such as hairdress- important reason for seeking education in ing and cookery, and the opportunity of Australia. Migration is the main driver for gaining permanent residency, has led to those who plan their vocational education the exponential increase in the numbers with a PR in mind. of Indian students in vocational courses. AEI data cited above shows that in The numbers rose from 2,213 enrolments 2006 nearly two-thirds (65.2 per cent) of in 2002 to 79,173 in November 2009. In the Indian students were enrolled in higher all, there were 120,569 Indian students in education institutions. Baas (2006 and
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, 2010, page 21 2007) says, the students who enrolled in and their families judged that opportuni- the larger universities came from the bigger ties overseas were better than what was Indian cities and had studied in English for available to them in their small towns and most of their lives. But the students who villages.22 The family investment in educa- enrolled in the cheaper, smaller and newer tion as a pathway to migration was based vocational colleges came from small towns on expectations of future prosperity for the and cities. They had not received most of student migrant and for his or her family. their schooling in English.18 In November In the small towns and villages of 2009, the situation changed so that nearly Punjab, the excitement was not about the two-thirds of the Indian students (65.7 per excellence of Australia’s education, but the cent) were in vocational education. brick houses that have been built with the Australian education for students who money sent home by migrants. In India, hoped to become migrants did not translate PRQH\ÀRZVIURPSDUHQWVWRFKLOGUHQDQG to professional jobs, even for those who from children to parents and other extended came between 2001 and 2006. Of those who kin. It is this family boundary of money that KHOGGHJUHHOHYHOTXDOL¿FDWLRQVRQO\SHU has led to India receiving $US52 billion in cent had found ‘professional or managerial remittances in 2008.23 India received the positions’ by 2006.19 Their unfamiliarity largest amount of remittances, with China with Australian work culture contributed to coming second with $US48.5 billion.24 The a large percentage of recent Indian migrants fact that 75.5 per cent of Indian international with graduate degrees working below their students in August 2009 were male,25 fur- skill level, thus lowering their potential ther places the issue of transnational family household income. There was also a lack money at the forefront. This is because RIÀXHQF\LQ(QJOLVKZKLFKZDVUHÀHFWHG ,QGLDQSDWULOLQHDOFXOWXUDOQRUPVRI¿OLDO in low scores on English language tests, duty dictate that sons are responsible for even after their study in Australia.20 The WKH¿QDQFLDOFDUHRISDUHQWV26 current batch of vocational students with A forthcoming narrowing of the list of TXDOL¿FDWLRQVLQFRRNHU\KDLUGUHVVLQJRU occupations that will lead to permanent community welfare, plus those affected by residence will give greater emphasis to the new requirements for employer spon- professional courses and to employer spon- sorship, will be even further away from sorship. This may tighten the link between professional and managerial jobs. educational and occupational outcomes. The mismatch between education, The requirements for the amount of money labour and migration policies and the that an international student must bring students’ needs could have been predicted with them for living expenses have also in- because most of the Indian students were creased from $12,000 to $18,000 a year for not seeking an education. Many of them a single student. The students’ motivations, already had university degrees from India. however, are not likely to change. They tended to enrol in vocational course in haste; their urgency was due to a fear that INDIAN STUDENTS AND THE SROLF\FKDQJHVZRXOGGLUHFWO\LQÀXHQFH WIDER INDIAN-AUSTRALIAN pathways to migration.21 Families were COMMUNITY not investing thousands of dollars for their Indians, numbering 234,720, were the tenth children to become cooks, hairdressers or largest ethnic group in Australia according taxi drivers—occupations with little status to ancestry in 2006.27 If we add another in India. Despite India’s rapid economic 120,569 Indian students on temporary growth, the Indian international students visas in Australia as of November 2009
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, page 22 plus 67,634 permanent settlers from India a Bachelor degree or above.31 In 2006, between 2006 and 2009,28 the size of the 40.9 per cent of India-born persons were community increases to more than 400,000. in professional or managerial occupations, Indian students thus comprise nearly one- compared with 32.4 per cent of those born in third of the Indian community in Australia. Australia.32 It is also noteworthy that the re- They have changed the linguistic, religious OLJLRXVSUR¿OHRI,QGLDQ$XVWUDOLDQVLVYHU\ DQGRFFXSDWLRQDOSUR¿OHRIWKH,QGLDQ$XV- different from that in India. In 2006, 34 per tralian community. cent of the people born in India who were Nearly half the Indian students in living in Australia were Christian, compared September 2009 came from the Punjab.29 to two per cent Christian in India in 2001.33 Though belonging to the upwardly-mobile The higher proportion of Christians in middle class, few of these Indian students $XVWUDOLDUHÀHFWVWKHPLJUDWLRQRI$QJOR in small towns and villages would have Indians and Christians from Kerala. VWXGLHGLQ(QJOLVK7KLVLVUHÀHFWHGLQWKH 7KH¿UVW,QGLDQVLQ$XVWUDOLDDUULYHGLQ increase in the number of Indian students WKH¿UVWKDOIRIWKH WKFHQWXU\ZRUNLQJDV doing English Language Intensive Courses labourers, camel drivers and hawkers.34 One for Overseas Students (ELICOS) courses in of the most visible signs of this early Indian Australia before they undertake vocational migration is the Sikh community engaged courses.30 We do not know the religious background of the students, but it is likely that many from Punjab are Sikhs and Table 1: Persons with Indian Ancestry, 2001 Hindus. And as already not- Total number 156,581 ed in the last section, few of Generations in Australia, per cent the recent Indian students First generation 77.4 DUH¿QGLQJSURIHVVLRQDORU managerial jobs. Second generation 20.7 The ancestry data (see Australian-born of Australian-born parents 2.0 Table 1) provide a picture Also stated another ancestry 17.1 RI¿UVWVHFRQGDQGWKLUG generation Indians in Aus- tralia in 2001. Seventeen Country of birth of persons claiming Indian ancestry, per cent1 per cent of persons claim- India 43 ing Indian ancestry also Australia 23 claimed other ancestries, Fiji 18 revealing the importance of multiple migrations from Malaysia 3 the Indian diaspora. South Africa 2 Table 2 shows the demo- Singapore 2 graphics of the India-born England 2 population in Australia, 2006. The numbers in- Source: Australian Social Trends, 2003, Catalogue no. 4102.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Canberra, 2003
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, 2010, page 23 7DEOH 3UR¿OHRISHRSOHERUQLQ,QGLD H[FOXGHVRYHUVHDVYLVLWRUV Number per cent Number per cent Number of persons Citizenship born in India and living Australian 79,025 53.7 in Australia 147,106 100.0 Not Australian 65,307 44.4 Gender Not stated 2,775 1.9 Males 81,189 55.2 Total 147,107 100.0 Females 65,914 44.8 Total 147,103 100.0 Ancestry (multi-response): Top Five Indian 112,590 79.6 Age (in years) English 16,345 11.6 0–19 16,572 11.3 Anglo-Indian 6,864 4.8 20–29 38,033 25.9 Punjabi 2,838 2.0 30–39 30,762 20.9 Irish 2,769 2.0 40–49 24,024 16.3 50–59 16,148 11.0 Religion 60–69 11,186 7.6 Hinduism 64,968 44.4 70 and over 10,366 7.0 Christianity 49,975 34.2 Total 147,091 100.0 Islam 4,888 3.3 No religion 3,899 2.7 State of usual residence Not stated 3,082 2.1 New South Wales 57,156 38.9 Other religions 19,463 13.3 Victoria 52,853 35.9 Total 146,275 100.0 Queensland 10,974 7.5 South Australia 6,828 4.6 Language spoken at home (Top Five) Western Australia 15,157 10.3 English 50,613 34.4 Tasmania 804 0.5 Hindi 29,302 19.9 Northern Territory 588 0.4 Punjabi 15,091 10.3 Australian Capital Territory 2,738 1.9 Tamil 9,602 6.5 Total (Other territories) 147,105 100.0 Gujarati 7,551 5.1
Year of arrival 2000–2006 66,068 46.6 1990–1999 33,184 23.4 1980–1989 15,828 11.2 1979 or earlier 26,598 18.8 Total 141,678 100.0 Source: 2006 Census of Population and Housing: Media Releases and Fact Sheets, 2914.0.55.002, ABS, Canberra, 2007. ‘2006 Census ethnic media package: persons born in India’, 27 June 2007.
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, page 24 in the banana industry in the Woolgoolga- vate vocational students come from villages, Coffs Harbour area. In 2001, there were small cities and towns. Indi Singh, a member 731 of such persons. Some of their ances- of the Melbourne co-ordinating committee tors came from rural castes in Punjab as of Sikhs Helping Sikhs, an organisation single males from British India to work as facilitating the settlement of Sikh migrants, labourers.35 In the early years, Punjabi Sikhs says: ‘For more than one-third of the 150 ZRUNHGPDLQO\LQWKHFDQH¿HOGVLQ4XHHQ- people we have on our database, Melbourne sland and Northern New South Wales. In LVWKHLU¿UVWXUEDQH[SHULHQFH¶39 the 1940s the Sikhs began working in the Unlike the earlier professional wave EDQDQD¿HOGV%XWDV'XVHQEHU\36 says, of Indian migration, Indian international until the 1950s the Indians in Australia saw students have invested heavily in migration. themselves as sojourners rather than settlers. Baas’s study of Indian university students in With a shortage of labour developing during Melbourne in 2005 showed that Indian stu- the Second World War, and the goodwill dents took out loans of between A$15,000 of some employers, the Sikh community and A$55,000 to cover education, travel in Woolgoolga—along with two Muslim and visa expenses. The family home or land families—were able to establish themselves was often mortgaged as guarantee for the as landowners working on sugar cane, ba- loan. The understanding has been that the nanas and later in blueberries. It was only in student would repay this loan by working the 1960s that the men brought their families in Australia.40 The costs of living (including to Australia. fees) have increased and can reach $42,000 The number of Indians increased in the a year.41 From our interviews with Indian 1970s after the dismantling of the White FRPPXQLW\OHDGHUVZH¿QGWKDWWKHFXUUHQW Australia Policy. In 1971 there were only batch of students also take out loans to show 28,656 India-born people in Australia.37 WKH\KDYHWKH¿QDQFLDOUHVRXUFHVUHTXLUHG ,QGLDQPLJUDQWVZLWKSURIHVVLRQDOTXDOL¿FD- for the issuance of student visas. They, how- tions came to Australia from the 1970s as ever, hope to raise money towards their fees nuclear families. In time, other members of and living expenses by working in Australia, their extended families joined them. so that they do not have to use the loans. Our interviews show that, despite some Though the second generation of Indian LQLWLDOGLI¿FXOW\WKRVHZKRFDPHLQWKH Australians and Indian student migrants 1970s, 1980s and 1990s gained work in are young, the two groups have little in WKHLURZQSURIHVVLRQDO¿HOGVRUKDGFRPH common. The single second generation In- with jobs in hand. Only one of the persons dian Australians we interviewed lived with ZHLQWHUYLHZHGIRXQGLWPRUHGLI¿FXOWWKDQ their parents, unless their job or education he had anticipated, for it took him two years dictated otherwise. The married ones lived WRJHWDIXOOWLPHMRELQKLV¿HOG:RPHQKDG in a house that they owned. All of them DPRUHGLI¿FXOWWLPHJHWWLQJMREVHTXLYDOHQW had a university degree, with one studying to the ones they had left behind, for this mi- WRZDUGVDIXUWKHUSURIHVVLRQDOTXDOL¿FDWLRQ gration was most often initiated by the men. This was also true for two persons where They also found themselves with child care the father had worked in a factory. It was responsibilities without the help of extended a picture of a relatively sheltered life. Ten family or domestic help. of the 16 second-generation participants While the majority of Indian migrants had friends from a wide range of ethnic from the 1970s and 1980s came from met- backgrounds. The friendship circle of the ropolitan and cosmopolitan backgrounds,38 remaining six was a mix of different people many in the group of recently-arrived pri- from a South Asian background.
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, 2010, page 25 Fifteen of the 16 second-generation much. Even the person who found a job in Indian Australians whom we interviewed, KLV¿HOGRQO\DIWHUWZR\HDUVVD\V µ,ORYH did not know a single Indian international this country. I have learnt many things in student through study, work or social circles. Australia, as a person, as a professional. Our participants, at times referred to the Right, it was very stressful for two or three Indian students as ‘FOB’ meaning Fresh years, but personally and professionally it off the Boat, a derogatory term for recently has been very rewarding’. arrived migrants. These stereotypes were The police and other related govern- DI¿UPHGE\IRXURIWKHVHYHQZRPHQLQWKLV ment departments have consulted with group. When we asked about Indian stu- the Indian community leadership, people dents, four related only negative encounters who are primarily drawn from this group with Indian students at musical evenings, in of migrants with established professional supermarkets, taxis, and the streets of Mel- backgrounds. The leaders interviewed in bourne and Adelaide. They objected to the the media have differed in the detail of their sexist language used by some of the students public responses, but the main thrust of what who wrongly assumed that these modern they have been saying is that Australian so- looking young women did not understand ciety is not racist and that the Indian students Hindi or Punjabi. need to connect more with the Australian At other times, it was a grating of dif- community. Many of the community lead- ferent cultures concerning communication ers have also spoken of the need for Indian and privacy. A 20 to 24-year-old Indian students to better adapt to Australian culture, Australian from a professional background often citing the same issues as the police, says she feels uncomfortable around Indian such as talking loudly in Hindi or Punjabi male students. She says, they would either in public places.42 point and stare at her, or approach her and The Indian international students’ ask if she was Indian. She says it often claims of racism would have been likely happens when she is ‘... minding [her] own to have had a more sympathetic hearing business at the train station and reading the in Woolgoolga, NSW. In the early years, paper. One of them will come up to you LIDQ,QGLDQSDVVHGWKURXJKDFDQH¿HOG and say: “Excuse me. Are you from India?” WKH¿HOGZDVNQRZQDVµEODFNFDQH¶7KH And they are always with a big pack of growing prosperity of a visible minority their friends’. ZHQWWRJHWKHUZLWKDORQJ¿JKWIRULWVRZQ religion and customs. It was as late as 1993 INDIAN EXPERIENCES OF that Sikh men in this rural community RACISM gained the right to wear a turban in an RSL In our interviews, migrants from profes- club, after taking the case to the Equal Op- sional backgrounds who came bringing portunity Tribunal.43 their families from the 1970s onwards did Most second-generation Indian Aus- not talk of overt racism. Their relatively tralians have been silent in the public arena easy journey to professional jobs, home regarding attacks on Indian students. Our ownership and material goods emphasised ongoing study of second-generation Indian what they had accomplished. Their main Australians from professional backgrounds support systems continued to be their shows that they express sympathy saying families, with religious and community that ‘this should not happen to anybody’. organisations playing a bigger role than they They recognise that the international had in India. They saw Australia as a land students often need to work at the least de- of opportunity, where they had achieved sirable jobs, often late at night, and that they
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, page 26 then have to travel to outer suburbs where public are making it clear they are appalled the rents are cheaper. Like the established by the growing violence and racism. The PLJUDQWVRIWKH¿UVWJHQHUDWLRQLQWHUYLHZHG Indian religious organisations also have a in the media they say that much of the vio- particularly important role in addressing the lence can be attributed to the students being problems faced by Indian students for they in the wrong place, at the wrong time, such offer the comfort of common traditional as on public transport at night. values and a shared cultural framework. When the second generation look back The police and the government are also in at their experiences of growing up in Mel- continuous consultation with them. Some of bourne, the majority cannot point to violent the more explosive incidents have religious racist episodes, and say that Australia is not VLJQL¿FDQFHOLNHWKHUHPRYDORIWXUEDQVWKH a racist country. One man we interviewed cutting of hair and arson at a Sikh temple. mentions name-calling in school when they Moreover, it is crucial for continued har- were called ‘curry munchers’ in high school. mony to bridge the differences amongst the But later in university, when he was able different groups in the Indian community. to choose his own group, they called it the The Sikh Gurdwara (house of worship) ‘Curry Group’. He is reluctant to see the in Blackburn, in Melbourne’s east, is a com- name-calling as racism, but sees it more as munity setting that has worked well for the ‘culturally based’ differences. For another students and new migrants. As nearly half woman, aged 20 to 24, colour became an the students are from Punjab, language is a issue when she was 11. They had a buddy common bond in the Gurdwara, irrespective system at school where the older children of religion. The Gurdwara is open to people were teamed up with younger children. She of all religions and Hindus often attend. It VD\VKHUEXGG\ZDVD¿YH\HDUROGER\ZKR is the place where the largest numbers of did not want her because she was ‘brown’. students meet. The emphasis on common She came back and told her parents who traditional values is one of the reasons why said: ‘You must not let these things get to the Blackburn Sikh Temple—and no doubt you’. She says ‘... it hurt for I was only 11 the other Sikh Temples in Melbourne—has myself’. Later in the evening, unexpectedly, been a successful community place. It has the boy’s parents arrived at their house with emphasised the values of worship and a card and a present and apologised on their VHOÀHVVVHUYLFHLQDSODFHZKHUHSHRSOHRI son’s behalf. every creed are welcome. It is a two-way We know we did not get the whole story relationship. The voluntary work of the in all cases, for the mother of one of the students is indispensable in serving the second-generation Indians told us her son ritual meal and cleaning up afterwards. had had a horrendous time in school because Every week the congregation prays for the of racist abuse and bullying. He himself had welfare of the students. The Gurdwara has chosen to remain silent about this. set up a half-way house for the temporary accommodation of new Indian migrants and THE ROLE OF THE INDIAN– initiated a telephone help-line for parents AUSTRALIAN RELIGIOUS IURP,QGLDLQ-XO\ ,QWKH¿UVWWKUHH ORGANISATIONS weeks the temple received 500 calls, mainly Responsibility for addressing the attacks on from worried parents in India. the Indian students has to be widespread. Other Sikh organisations have also The education providers and the govern- taken the initiative to address the issues of ment have a duty of care. And as is already community sustainability as they see them. happening, some sections of the Australian The Victorian Government has granted
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, 2010, page 27 $50,000 to the Victorian Sikh Association generation Bangladeshi Australian, says (VSA). The VSA has a 21-year-old history Indian students often contact the Council, of community engagement through sports for they see that Muslims ‘are facing almost and social events. Crucially, it has been identical issues’. Hence the Council has able to involve younger and older Indian been outspoken in its criticism of the level of Australians from Malaysia, Singapore and aggression and the lack of police protection India, particularly in their hockey and soc- and has called for more stringent measures cer teams. The VSA will co-ordinate and be to be taken against racism. He thinks their accountable for the parts of the grant that more critical tone is also because of the also go to activities in the Blackburn Sikh presence of second-generation Australians Temple (including Sikhs Helping Sikhs) and in the Council. the Sikh Welfare Council of Victoria.44 Indian religious and community organi- The Hare Krishna temple is also ac- sations are one of the powerful connecting tive in the pastoral care and mentoring of points between the Indian students and the the Indian students. The temple provides Indian–Australian community. However, accommodation for 60 to 70 students, the success of this community engagement plus others who live with members of depends on the established Indian Austra- the congregation. Food is provided in the lians understanding that their own migrant temple every day. Members of the temple experiences have been different from the also help seek jobs for the students, par- experiences of the current waves of Indian ticularly within their temple community. students. It must also be said, that much also Recreational activities like ocean cruises depends on the willingness of the Indian and overnight trips away are subsidised. students to want to connect with both the Perhaps the most important part of the Indian and wider Australian communities. relationship is the connection between the What is missing in these initiatives is different groups of Indians. Nitindra Din- the coming together of the Indian religious dorkar, an initiate of the temple says, when organisations in any joint advocacy against he came to Melbourne as a graduate student racism and demands for more stringent ac- in 1996, he was shown great kindness by the tion. Many of these organisations are part of temple and the elders. ‘They treated me like the consultative process with the police and a son’, he remembers. When he sees a new sections of the government. But as Nazeem student come to the Temple, he and others Hussain says, the danger is that being part of will sit with him and serve him ‘prasadam’, this consultative process can also dilute the the food served in the Temple. ‘Sometimes, criticism. When we talked to the 11 different the student is in tears’, he says, ‘for this is community and religious representatives, it WKH¿UVWWLPHDQ,QGLDQIURPWKHFRPPXQLW\ was clear they had not talked to each other has talked to him’. to jointly work out a strategy to further as- Similar pastoral care is also shown to sist the Indian students. There was also no the 70 or so students who are part of the evidence that the Indian organisations had congregation of the Syrian Jacobite church connected with other ethnic groups that in Melbourne. Ann Alexander, one of the face similar discrimination. If the Indian founding members of the church established organisations are to mentor Indian students only four years ago, says the students are to connect more wholeheartedly with the KHOSHGWR¿QGMREVZLWKWKHSULHVWDVWKHLU wider Australian community, it would be main contact point for comfort. a potent example for them to reach out Nazeem Hussain, the Treasurer of the to other Australian groups to address the Islamic Council of Victoria, and a second- growing violence and racism on our streets.
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, page 28 These steps may not prevent mindless at- Acknowledgments tacks like the one on a sleeping Sikh man We would like to acknowledge the support of at a bus stop in Epping at 12.00am in late the RMIT Global Cities Research Institute in October 2009. But these initiatives can act funding this research. We are also grateful to Associate Professor Christopher Ziguras and Dr as bridges between the different groups Shanthi Robertson for their comment. within the Indian Australian community and with the wider Australian community.
5HIHUHQFHV 1 Personal communication, 27 September 2009 2 Freedom of Information request by SBS Radio’s Punjabi program. The Department of Immigration and Citizen- VKLS ',$& SURYLGHGWKH¿JXUHVE\WKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO6WXGHQW7DVN)RUFH'HFHPEHU LQDOHWWHUDGGUHVVHG to Manpreet K. Singh, Executive Producer—Punjabi Program Audio and Language Content. 3 P. Sharma,‘Do you speak Australian?’, Outlook, 8 February 2010
People and Place, vol. 18, no. 1, 2010, page 29 20 Birrell and Healy, 2008, op. cit. 21 S. K. Robertson, ‘Residency, citizenship and belonging: choice and uncertainty for students-turned-migrants in Australia’, ,QWHUQDWLRQDO-RXUQDORI$VLD3DFL¿F6WXGLHV, vol. 4, no.1, 2008, pp. 97–119 22 V. Vembu, ‘Why small-town India is checking out’, 23 June 2009
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