Hinduism in Australia

Australian Hindus
Hindu Temple in Melbourne.
Total population
Increase 684,002 (2021)
Increase 2.7% of the Australian population[1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Fiji Hindi, Nepali, Mauritian Creole, Indian languages
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1911 414—    
1933 212−3.00%
1986 21,500+9.11%
1991 43,580+15.18%
1996 67,270+9.07%
2001 95,473+7.25%
2006 148,123+9.18%
2011 275,534+13.22%
2016 440,300+9.83%
2021 684,002+9.21%
Hinduism by country
Africa
Asia
Europe
North America
Caribbean
Oceania
South America
Full list

Hinduism is the third largest religion in Australia consisting of more than 684,002 followers, making up 2.7% of the population as of the 2021 census.[2] Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Australia mostly through immigration.[3] Hinduism is also one of the most youthful religions in Australia, with 34% and 66% of Hindus being under the age of 14 and 34 respectively.[4]

In the nineteenth century, the British first brought Hindus from India to Australia to work on cotton and sugar plantations. Many remained as small businessmen, working as camel drivers, merchants and hawkers, selling goods between small rural communities. Today, many Hindus are well educated professionals in fields such as medicine, engineering, commerce and information technology, constituting a model minority.[citation needed] The Hindus in Australia are mostly of Indian origin; other origins include those from Sri Lanka, Fiji, Malaysia, Bali, Cham, Singapore, Mauritius, and Nepal.

History

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The following dates briefly outline the arrival of Hinduism.

  • As early as 300AD – Indonesian Hindu merchants make contact with Australian Aborigines. [citation needed]
  • 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.[5]
  • 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.[6]
  • 1836 – 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.
  • 1890 – The census showed that 521 Hindus were living in New South Wales.
  • 1907 – 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.[7]
  • 1921 – Less than 2200 Indians lived in Australia.
  • 1971 – Swami Prabhupada arrives in Australia and founded first Hare Krishna centre in Sydney.[8]
  • 1977 – The first Hindu temple in Australia, the Sri Mandir Temple, was built. Established by three devotees; Dr Prem Shankar (from Ujhani, UP), Dr Padmanabn Shrindhar Prabhu and Dr Anand, who bought an old house in Auburn NSW and paid $12000.00 to convert it into a temple.[9][10]
  • 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 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.
  • 1986 – According to the 1986 census, the number of Hindus in Australia surpasses 21,000.
  • 1991 – According to the 1991 census, the number of Hindus in Australia surpasses 43,000.
  • 1995 - Completion of the Brisbane Selva Vinayakar Kovil the consecration ceremony was held on 5 February 1995.[11]
  • 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.[12]
  • 2001 – According to the 2001 census, the number of Hindus in Australia surpasses 95,000.[13]
  • 2003 – Sri Karphaga Vinayakar Temple was formed 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 – According to the 2006 census, the number of Hindus in Australia surpasses 145,000.[14]
  • 2011 – According to the 2011 census, the number of Hindus in Australia surpasses 275,000.[15]
  • 2015 – Daniel Mookhey becomes the first Australian MP to be sworn into office by swearing his/her oath on the Bhagavad Gita.[16]
  • 2016 – 2016 Census data states that Hindus comprise almost 2% of the Australian population.
  • 2018 – Kaushaliya Vaghela becomes the first Indian-born Hindu Member of Parliament in any Australian Parliament.

Demographics

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Hindu population by year

[edit]
Year Percent Increase
1986 0.14% -
1991 0.25% +0.11%
1996 0.38% +0.13%
2001 0.51% +0.13%
2006 0.75% +0.24%
2011 1.28% +0.53%
2016 1.90% +0.62%
2021 2.7% +0.80%

Hindus by state or territory

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Hinduism is one of the fastest growing religion in absolute numbers in every state and territory of Australia.
People who are affiliated with Hinduism as a percentage of the total population in Australia divided geographically by statistical local area, as of the 2011 census

Data from the 2011 Census showed that all states (and A.C.T and the Northern Territory) apart from New South Wales had their Hindu population double from the 2006 census. New South Wales has had the largest number of Hindus since at least 2001.

State or territory 2016 census % 2016 census 2011 census % 2011 census 2011–16 growth Reference
New South Wales 181,402 2.4% 119,843 1.7% +61,559 [17]
Victoria 134,939 2.3% 83,102 1.6% +51,837 [18]
Queensland 45,961 1.0% 28,609 0.7% +17,352 [19]
Western Australia 38,739 1.6% 21,048 0.9% +17,691 [20]
South Australia 22,922 1.4% 13,616 0.9% +9,306 [21]
Capital Territory 10,211 2.6% 6,053 1.7% +4,158 [22]
Northern Territory 3,562 1.6% 1,642 0.8% +1,920 [23]
Tasmania 2,554 0.5% 1,608 0.3% +946 [24]

The majority of Australian Hindus live along the Eastern Coast of Australia, mainly in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. About 39% of Hindus lived in Greater Sydney, 29% in Greater Melbourne, and 8% each in Greater Brisbane and Greater Perth. The states and territories with the highest proportion of Hindus are the Australian Capital Territory (2.57%) and New South Wales (2.43%), whereas those with the lowest are Queensland (0.98%) and Tasmania (0.50%).[25]

According to the 2006 Census, 44.16% of all Australians who were born in India were Hindu, so were 47.20% of those born in Fiji, 1.84% born in Indonesia, 3.42% from Malaysia, and 18.61% from Sri Lanka.[26]

In Tasmania, Hinduism is practised mainly by the ethnic Lhotshampa from Bhutan.[27]

Hindu converts

[edit]

Hinduism is also more popular among the Anglo-Australians.[28] Many Caucasians in Australia also visit the Hindu temple at Carrum Downs (Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple) and learn Vedic Hindu scriptures in Tamil.[29] The ISKCON Hindu community in Australia has 60,000 members - 70% of whom are Hindus from overseas, with the other 30% being Anglo Australians.[30] The 2016 Census noted 415 Hindus belonging to the indigenous community of Australia (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people).[31]

Languages

[edit]

As per the Census of 2021, 13.0% of the Australian Hindus use English at home. English (88,832 or 13.0%) is the third most common language spoken by Australian Hindus, behind Hindi (155,242 or 22.7%) and Nepali (111,353 or 16.3%).[32] The number of Australian Hindus speaking various languages in their home according to the 2006 census:[33]

TT Y11 Y16 Y21[32] Hindus as % of
language speakers
Total 275,534 440,300 684,002 2.70%
Hindi 81,892 119,284 155,242 78.8%
Nepali 21,766 50,629 111,353 83.7%
English 39,800 58,855 88,832 0.5%
Gujarati 29,250 45,884 71,976 88.5%
Tamil 36,940 53,766 69,807 73.2%
Telugu 16,717 30,723 52,583 90.2%
Punjabi 9,442 16,546 36,367 15.2%
Marathi 8,774 11,589 19,780 88.8%
Malayalam 5,938 11,687 17,772 22.6%
Kannada 5,383 8,783 13,419 91.2%
Bengali 5,685 8,481 11,810 16.8%
Fijian Hindi 572 1,257 2,407 50.5%
Indonesian 1,171 1,755 2,215 3.0%
French 1,180 1,401 1,425 2.0%
Konkani 609 845 1,370 37.6%
Odia 282 694 1,338 95.5%
Sindhi 277 521 892 33.9%
Tulu 348 543 845 93.2%
Mauritian Creole 514 883 813 22.5%
South Asian nfd 3,531 3,770 548 7.8%
Malay 435 591 487 2.3%
Assamese 165 302 479 82.3%
Italian 158 158 322 0.1%
Fijian 129 213 198 1.9%
Balinese 129 156 193 80.8%
Vietnamese 109 225 192 0.0%
Sinhalese 232 163 167 0.2%
Indo-Aryan nfd 1,988 633 NA NA

Hindu temples in Australia

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There are currently over forty Hindu temples in Australia.[34]

  • Sri Karphaga Vinayakar Temple, Sydney
  • Sydney Murugan Temple, Westmead
  • Sai Mandir, Regents Park, Sydney
  • Minto Shiva Temple, Sydney
  • Raghavendra swamy mutt, Toongabie, NSW
  • Sydney Durga Temple, Sydney
  • Perth Shiva Temple, Perth
  • Bala Murugan Temple, Perth
  • Shree Swaminarayan Temple, Perth
  • BAPS Temple, Melbourne
  • Sri Venkata Krishna Brundavana, Melbourne
  • Sri Venkata Krishna Vrundavana, Sydney
  • Shiva Vishnu Temple, Melbourne
  • Durga Temple, Melbourne
  • Shirdi Sai Sansthan, Melbourne
  • Sankatamochan Hanuman Mandir, Melbourne
  • Melbourne Murugan Temple, Melbourne
  • Sri Vakrathunda Vinayagar Temple, Melbourne
  • Perth Ram Temple, Perth (biggest temple in the country)

Contemporary society

[edit]

According to a national survey reported in 2019, Hindu Australians continues to experience the highest rates of discrimination even after being the model minority.[35] The survey showed that a three quarters of respondents (75%) had experienced discrimination on public transport or on the street.[36] The total fertility rate (TFR) among Hindus is also the second least (least being Buddhists) in Australia with 1.81, which is lower than Christians (2.11) and Muslims (3.03).[37]

Overseas territories

[edit]

Hinduism is practised by the small number of Malaysian Indians in Christmas Island.[38][39]

Attacks on Hindu Community

[edit]
  • In January 2023, three Hindu temples were vandalized across Australia namely the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple of Melbourne, Shiva Vishnu Temple of Carrum Downs, Victoria and ISKCON Temple of Melbourne with anti-Hindu graffiti by Khalistani extremists. High Commission of India to Australia condemned the repeated hate-crimes and the Australian High Commission to India assured support and solidarity with the Hindu community of Australia.[40] Several top Australian lawmakers condemned the attacks on Hindu community's places of worship and stressed importance of respect in a multicultural society.[41][42]
  • In February 2023, Khalistani extremists made threatening phone calls to a prominent Hindu temple in Brisbane. The perpetrators demanded the temple raise Khalistan slogans if they wished to celebrate Mahashivratri peacefully. The calls came after three Hindu temples in Australia were defaced with anti-India graffiti, allegedly by Khalistani extremists.[43]
  • In March 2023, the Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple in Brisbane was vandalized by Khalistani extremists with anti-Hindu graffiti on the walls of temple. Sarah L Gates, the Director of Hindu Human Rights suspects that the hate crime is an attempt to terrorize Hindu community by members of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) headed by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an individual designated as terrorist by the government of India.[44][45][46] However the Australian Police claims they have no suspects or leads behind the vandalism.The investigators proposed a theory that alleges the vandalism had a "Hindu hand" in order to blame pro Khalistan elements as well as the Sikhs for Justice organization.[47]
  • In May 2023, the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple of Sydney was vandalized with anti-Hindu graffiti allegedly by Khalistano extremists. Andrew Charlton, Member of Parliament from Parramatta expressed regret and visited the temple for helping the temple volunteers in cleaning the graffiti. Michelle Rowland, Minister of Communications condemned the vandalism. The Hindu Council of Australia called it not only an attack on sanctity of temple but also an insult to Australian Hindus and demanded investigation and justice.[48][49]
[edit]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Census reveals Australia's religious diversity on World Religion Day". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 18 January 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  2. ^ "2021 Census shows changes in Australia's religious diversity | Australian Bureau of Statistics". 28 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Melbourne's fastest-growing religion". Theage.com.au. 30 June 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Australia's Religious Profile from the 2011 Census". Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Indian overseas Population - Indians in Australia. Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin". NRIOL.
  6. ^ "Hinduism / Hinduism by country / Hinduism in australia". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Early Disciples Celebrate Forty Years of ISKCON in Australia". 7 May 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  9. ^ "History - SRI MANDIR". www.srimandir.org.
  10. ^ "Oldest temple in Australia celebrates its 35th birthday | Indian Herald". Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  11. ^ "_/|\_ Sri Selva Vinayakar Temple, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia _/|\_".
  12. ^ Statistics, c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; ou=Australian Bureau of (27 June 2007). "Main Features - Census shows non-Christian religions continue to grow at a faster rate". www.abs.gov.au.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "Hinduism". www.ncls.org.au.
  14. ^ "Hinduism Statistics in Australia - okTravel". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  15. ^ "Hindu fastest growing religion in australia". VisaReporter. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  16. ^ Hasham, Nicole (12 May 2015). "Labor MLC Daniel Mookhey makes Australian political history by swearing on the Bhagavad Gita". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  17. ^ "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  18. ^ "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  19. ^ "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  20. ^ "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  21. ^ "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  22. ^ "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  23. ^ "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  24. ^ "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  25. ^ "Census TableBuilder - Dataset: 2016 Census - Cultural Diversity". Australian Bureau of Statistics – Census 2016. Archived from the original on 14 January 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  26. ^ "2914.0.55.002 2006 Census Ethnic Media Package" (Excel download). Census Dictionary, 2006 (cat.no 2901.0). Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  27. ^ "Diverse Faiths of Tasmania" (PDF). religionsforpeaceaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  28. ^ "This Is How Hinduism Is Getting Popular In Australia - Boldsky.com". 8 March 2017.
  29. ^ "The rise of Hinduism in Australia, will it continue? | SBS News".
  30. ^ "More Australians putting their faith in Hinduism – The Citizen".
  31. ^ "2071.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Reflecting Australia - Stories from the Census, 2016".
  32. ^ a b "SBS Australian Census Explorer".
  33. ^ "Census 2011 Australia | ABS Population Income | SBS Census Explorer". Sbs.com.au. Archived from the original on 17 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  34. ^ "Australian Hindu Temples and Associations - Hindu Council of Australia".
  35. ^ "Hindu Australians experience highest rates of discrimination". 28 February 2017.
  36. ^ "National survey finds Australians worried about relatives marrying Muslims".
  37. ^ "FactCheck Q&A: The facts on birth rates for Muslim couples and non-Muslim couples in Australia". 24 July 2017.
  38. ^ "Island induction | Christmas Island District High School". Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  39. ^ Simone Dennis (2008). Christmas Island: An Anthropological Study. Cambria Press. pp. 91–. ISBN 9781604975109.
  40. ^ PTI (26 January 2023). "India slams vandalisation of three Hindu temples in Australia and glorification of anti-India terrorists". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  41. ^ "Third Hindu temple vandalised in Melbourne after India demands swift action". SBS Language. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  42. ^ "Third Temple vandalised in Australia with Hindu hate graffiti by Khalistan supporters - The Australia Today". Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  43. ^ "Hindu temple in Australia gets threat calls; asked to raise Khalistani slogans". Hindustan Times. 18 February 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  44. ^ "Australia: Another Hindu temple vandalised by pro-Khalistan supporters in Brisbane". The Week. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  45. ^ "Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple vandalised by Khalistan supporters in Brisbane - The Australia Today". 4 March 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  46. ^ "Another Hindu temple vandalised by Khalistani groups in Australia, this time in Brisbane". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  47. ^ Singh, IP (18 September 2023). "Oz police see 'Hindu hand' in temple graffiti, advise closure". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  48. ^ "Indian temple in Australia defaced by 'anti-social elements' with 'anti-India' graffiti". The Indian Express. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  49. ^ "Sydney Hindu BAPS Swaminarayan Temple Vandalised by Khalistani Goons - The Australia Today". 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.

Sources

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[edit]
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