Hinduism+in+Australia

When Hinduism came to Australia in the 18th century, its followers started working on cotton and sugar plantations or as merchants. Since then, they have grown to have over 30 temples dedicated to Hinduism that can be found around mainland Australia with around four in the A.C.T, fourteen in N.S.W, six in Victoria, four in Queensland, one in South Australia, one in the Northern Territory and four in Western Australia.

Indian crews from the Bay of Bengal came to Australia on trading ships soon after 1788 and others came later as labourers in convict ships. A few Hindus came to live and work in Australia under the system of recruiting indentured labour in the 1830s, working as camel drivers and merchants. There were very few women or children among the immigrants and many men travelled back and forth to their original homelands, some returning permanently. By 1896 a firm of merchants from Hyderabad in India had branches in Melbourne. In 1898 about thirty merchants from Sindh settled in Melbourne.

By 1911 there were an estimated 1,000 Hindus in Australia. As a result of immigration policies, no major immigration of Hindus took place until the 1960s and 1970s. The 2006 Australian Census identified over 148,127 Hindus living in Australia of which 80% were born overseas in countries including Fiji, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

Many of the traditional Hindu festivals that are celebrated in Australia have been given slight variations from the original festival. The most important Hindu festival, Diwali or the Festival of Lights is always celebrated in the Northern Territory.