The Sikhs of Woopi, Part One

I live five minutes out of Woolgoolga ('Woopi', we call it), NSW, Australia, which has a thriving and respected Sikh community -- people from the Punjab in India -- which makes up a large proportion of the local population.

This excellent audio documentary, which will be available here for listening online (unfortunately only in Real Media) in a few days' time, tells very well the story of the local history of my Sikh neighbours. It speaks of acceptance and racism, both, but has a positive outlook.

As I was listening to it on my car radio, the sounds of wonderful Sikh temple music played at the very moment I passed the beautiful Woopi temple, which gave me a smile, and also when I pulled into a Sikh-owned fruit stall to buy some nanas.

"From the end of the nineteenth century guest workers were coming to Australia from The Punjab in India to work as itinerant farm labourers. An unusual sight in regional Australia, with their turbans and long beards, they did the dirtiest and most difficult jobs.

"In this program their children and grandchildren tell their story, one man’s father walking as a child from the Murray River up to Ballina. During the Second World War they were able to get regular work in the banana growing industry and came to settle around Woolgoolga in Northern NSW. Their Australian co-workers loved eating their curries and chapatis or 'johnny cakes'."
Hindsight

Broadcast Sunday 15 January 2006 at 2pm, repeated Thursday at 1pm

More on Woolgoolga :: See you at CurryFest over Easter!

Tagged: sikh, australia, india, religion, multiculturalism