TRADERS OF GOODWILL:
Sikh Pioneers of Australia
Most of us think that Sikh or South Asian migration to Australia is a recent phenomenon, spanning just the past few decades. But not many of us know that our Sikh forefathers first came to Australia more than 150 years ago – at a time when the dust was yet to settle from the fall of Ranjit Singh’s empire.
Displaying their true enterprising spirit, they crossed the seven seas to come to the land Down Under, in search of a better lifestyle and wages, and quickly endeared themselves to the local population here. Country towns all over Australia are dotted with memories of these brave Punjabi migrants, who seem to have been welcomed by the locals despite the official “White Australia” policy.
Sadly, they are also forgotten in the annals of history.
Initially, the migrants from India were indentured labourers, who worked on sheep stations and farms around Australia. Some adventurers followed during the gold rush of the 1850’s.
A census from 1861 indicates that there were around 200 Indians in Victoria of whom 20 were in Ballarat, the town which was at the epicenter of the gold rush. Thereafter, many more came and worked as hawkers – going from house to house, town to town, traversing thousands of kilometers, making a living by selling a variety of products.
A record of shipping arrivals of the day shows that S.S Clitus and S.S. Jullundur arrived in Melbourne in 1898 carrying many Punjabis, some of whom like Nutta Singh, Hurman Singh, Indur Singh, Isur Singh, Sundi and Sunda Singh went on to become hawkers. (Please note that the names were written phonetically by a clerk on arrival, so the spellings are as recorded, not necessarily as they are meant to be spelt).
There is enough anecdotal evidence from local Australians that the Sikh hawkers were much loved members of the community. The womenfolk loved them because they provided a welcome break from their mundane existence – the hawkers brought beautiful clothes, goods, all things exotic, and a fleeting glimpse of the big wide world beyond their farmlands.
The Australian men liked the hawkers because they were tough – they knew how to survive in difficult bush land and, more importantly, they played cricket!
The Aussie kids adored the hawkers because of the stories they told of another world, because of their playful spirit and their wonderfully aromatic curries.
Now meet Len Kenna, an Australian historian, playwright and poet who has been commissioned by the Victorian government to write the official history of Indian migration to Victoria (the south-eastern state of Australia with Melbourne as its capital city). His brief is to ‘research and preserve anything of Indian cultural significance’ in Victoria. Although the subject matter of his research can’t be released yet, he is convinced that Indian migration to Australia began a long time ago. He personally remembers a hawker by the name of Gunter Singh (probably Ganda Singh), who came to his house in Hamilton (in county Victoria) where he grew up in the 1940’s.
Says Kenna: “The Indian hawkers were better educated than most others in those days, they were polite and well-cultured. They spoke English, so we had great conversations. I used to hop into Gunter Singh’s horse wagon, marvel at his goods and listen to his stories all night. I shared some scones with him and he cooked absolutely wonderful curries for us. That smell is still fresh in my mind, so many decades later!”
Kenna says his mother and her friend used to take turns to wash Gunter Singh’s turbans and Singh cooked for them in return. “I remember those bright turbans on our clothesline, flapping wildly in the wind,” recalls Kenna. He adds, “The country women loved the Sikh hawkers. They were such a wonderful change from the Aussie farm men who were stuck knee-deep in cow manure for most of the day and still treated their women with an air of Victorian superiority. The women loved the way the hawkers respected them and treated them like ‘ladies’!”
As a tribute to these hawkers, Kenna penned a play, ‘It happened in Heywood’, which has been staged in Melbourne and many country towns of Victoria. At the end of many shows, people from the audience have come up and shared their own memories of the Sikh hawkers and Kenna is hoping to preserve all of these stories for posterity.
‘It Happened in Heywood’ revolves around a true story of three Sikh brothers, who were all hawkers near the country town of Heywood around the year 1900. One of the brothers was burnt alive while sleeping in his wagon overnight – apparently these horse wagons were extremely flammable being made of wood and canvas, and would burn down completely in a matter of seconds, leaving someone sleeping inside with no possibility of escape.
The second brother Kahn Singh died in an accident when a tree-branch fell on his head. The third surviving brother Ganda Singh wanted to cremate Kahn’s dead body. But cremation was illegal in those days (although it was legalized thereafter).
The play shows how the whole country town rallied together to make sure that Kahn Singh received a befitting funeral in accordance with his own traditions. The play essentially captures the spirit of the local Australians who almost felt a sense of camaraderie with Sikh hawkers, something that the Chinese and hawkers of other nationalities rarely enjoyed.
The countryside of Victoria is now dotted with cremation sites and headstones marking the spot where a hawker’s ashes were buried after cremation.
(See photo of Gunga Singh’s headstone, which has a lengthy inscription in Punjabi and, beneath it, the English portion reads: “In loving memory of Gunga Singh, beloved son of Dava Singh, native of Poloolla, Punjab, India. Died 6th Sept 1901, aged 45 years.”)
Apparently, if a hawker died and had no other relatives here, his horse, cart, goods and wagon were auctioned off. With the money raised, the hawker would be cremated, the site marked with a memorial, and the remaining money would be sent
