Hinduism in Australia - Timeline

Timeline

The following dates briefly outline the arrival of Hinduism.

• 1788 – Indian crews from Bay of Bengal came to Australia on trading ships.
• 1816 – Domestic servants in European households left the port of Calcutta to take up labouring work in Sydney.
• 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.
• 1850s – A Hindu Sindhi merchant, Shri Pammull, built a family opal trade in Melbourne that has prosperously continued with his third-to fourth-generation descendants.
• 1857 – The census showed a mere 277 Hindus in Victoria. The gold rush years attracted many Indians to Australia and across the borders to the gold mines in Victoria.
• 1893 – The census showed that 521 Hindus were living in New South Wales.
• 1901 – Just about 800 Indians lived in Australia, the majority of them lived in northern NSW and Queensland.
• 1911 – The census counted 3698 Hindus in the entire country.
• 1921 – Less than 2200 Indians lived in Australia.
• 1977 – The first Hindu temple in Australia, the Sri Mandir Temple, 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.
• 1981 – The census recorded 12,466 Hindus in Victoria and 12,256 in NSW from a total of 41,730 in the entire country.
• 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.
• 1996 – Hindus with their birthplace in India made up 31 per cent of all Hindus in Australia. But the census also showed there were 67,270 Hindus living in Australia.
• 2001 – According to 2001 census Hindus accounts 95,128.
• 2003 Sri Karphaga Vinayakar Temple was formed in order to build a temple for Lord Ganesha/Ganapathi/Vinayakar. Since its inception, Lord Ganesh has been called 'Sydney Ganesh Temple'. "www.vinayakar.org.au"
• 2006 – Hindu followers were 148,119 according to 2006 census data.