Hindus started arriving in Australia about fifty years ago. Since then our numbers have grown to almost half a million Hindus in Australia. Hindus have established many places of worship in Australia. It is said that the best time to record history is by those who have lived it.
It is time that we start recording the history of the foundation and growth of these places of worship, our temples. Hindu Council of Australia has started a digital project to record the history of each temple in Australia. If you are associated
- with a temple either now or were in the past or know a story or two about it, or if
- you have started an event like a festival celebration (e.g. Ganesha Visarjana) or
- have over seen a Hindu icon being installed any where (Maharishi Shushruta in Melbourne, Gandhi statue, Cenotaph etc),
- or have started a regular Hindu event (like Gargi Women Awards)
- or have struggled and pioneered a Hindu activity which is intangible (e.g. SRE teaching Hinduism in schools)
please come forward and get your history recorded for future generations.
Please send us information about your temple :
- What need was felt that led to the idea of a temple
- Any specific event which was a catalyst in community coming together to form the temple
- How did you go about it, who were the people involved.
- What were the difficulties and how were they solved.
- How and when was it started.
- How and when was it completed
- Tell us about its opening, who came etc.
- What expansion has taken place since then
- List of office bearers and key people in the temple since its foundation to now.
- Progress of the temple over the period of time
Please do send us any photographs, videos, internet resources available, news paper clippings, pamphlets, newsletters, books or anything else you may have. If you cant email the information, please drop us an email, we will come and collect the information and digitize it.
It is proposed that this information will be hosted in the cyber space for now until we can find a physical space to hold a Museum of Hindu Heritage in Australia.
Please send the information to editor@hinducouncil.com.au
If you are a historian or a writer or would otherwise like to help us with the project, please contact the editor on the email above.
