“Millions of years ago, Australia was part of the Indian subcontinent and there are many studies which prove that the Aborigines could have strong ties with India,” says Dr Jayant Bapat, Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University.
The noted researcher in Migration of Diasporas is also a renowned Hindu priest living who has lived in Melbourne for more than five decades.
A in 2013 found that some Indigenous Australians in certain parts of the country could trace over 10 per cent of their genomes to migrants who reached the Australian continent around 4,000 years ago from India.
Phase 0
But Dr Bapat goes further, saying he believes that the first-ever migration of Indians to Australia happened nearly 50,000 years ago.
“I call this Phase 0 since we have limited proof of it. There are studies proving the similarities between many Aboriginal languages and South Indian languages, but I still like to consider that as Phase 0 since we are yet to learn a lot about that era.”
World map according to Eratosthenes of Cyrene (c. 276 BC - c.195/194 BC, Greek polymath). Source: Getty
Phase 1
The next wave of migration came with the hawkers and the cameleers. “During the later part of the 18th century, trade began between British India and Australia. Some people from the Punjab and North-West frontier region of India came to Australia from 1792 onwards,” says Dr Bapat.
The early period of the 19th century saw the opening of the Australian Outback. Due to the difficult climatic conditions in the region, the natural resources and wealth in the Outback were impossible to reach without the help of animals. And one of the most helpful animals turned out to be the humble camel.
In 1858, George Landell was commissioned to buy camels and recruit camel drivers from India. Hence, 24 camels along with 3 camel drivers migrated from India to Melbourne, Australia in 1860.”
Outback carriers in Broken Hill, NSW - early 1900s Source: Flickr
These cameleers from India were of a good build and could survive the extreme weather conditions of the Outback. Hence, their popularity grew and by 1901, around 4000 cameleers had migrated to Australia.
With the increase in migration, tensions between the white labourers and the Indian cameleers grew. But since the cameleers were indispensable, they remained in the country and there was a steady stream of Indian cameleers along with a few hawkers too, that started coming to the land down under.
The hawkers travelled throughout the country, selling goods to remote settlers. “The hawkers would sell intricate laces, brocades and other wonderful Indian fabrics at reasonable prices.”, mentions Dr Bapat.
In fact, these hawkers grew extremely popular amongst the women and children of these communities. But since the men had some issues with this, in 1893, a Notice of Motion was passed from the Gippsland Gazetteer to stop these hawkers from coming in their area.
“There were also few labourers who came to Australia from Chota Nagpur, Jharkhand, Odisha and even West Bengal who came to Australia to work in the sugar plantations in Queensland. All these cameleers, hawkers and labourers came to Australia during the 1st Phase of migration of Indians through the agency of British India and were all called Hindoos, irrespective of their religion,” states Dr Bapat.
Podgy the Indian Hawker Source: Wikipedia/State Lib NSW
The Immigration Restriction Act was issued in 1901, leading to the closure of Indians migrating in Australia.
Phase 2
“Phase 2 of the migrations is called homogenising transnationalism which started from the late 1950s."
"Doors opened for those migrants who could fit into the Australian cultural and religious ethos. Professional Indians like doctors, nurses, academics, librarians were allowed to enter Australia in very small numbers,” elaborates Dr Bapat.
Dr Bapat himself came to Melbourne during this phase. He obtained a postgraduate scholarship from Monash University and he settled down in Melbourne with his family within a couple of years.
Phase 3
Dr Bapat mentions that Phase 3 of migration of Indians to Australia happened after 1961-1971.
“After the Whitlam government dropped the White Australia policy, more professional Indians migrated to Australia and by 1996, there were around 100,000 Indians in Australia. This was one of the biggest phases of Indian migration to Australia.”
Australian children of Indian origin celebrating Australia Day and India's Republic Day on January 26 Source: SBS
“Lastly comes Phase 4”, Dr Bapat states.
“Since the late 1990s and early 2000s, the government has allowed students as well as skilled migrants to come to Australia, opening the doors for chain and education migration.”
The opportunity to let Indian students and skilled professionals(either via student visa or 457 visas) come to study in many Australian universities, with a prospect of a potential Permanent Residency path in near future, led to many Indians coming to the land down under with a dream to not only study but become a Permanent resident and an Australian citizen in the long run.
According to the Department of Education, Skills and Employment 2020, there are 107,176 in Australia, which is the second-highest in the country.
So are we currently in Phase 4?
“Currently we are in NO phase due to the pandemic.”, Dr Bapat reiterates.
“Hopefully after the pandemic, we will see a new phase of the migration and all the students as well as professionals who are longing to come to the land down under for their education can do so efficiently.”
