Hinduism in Australia

Hinduism is a 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]

Australian Hindus
Hindu Temple in Melbourne.
Total population
Increase 684,002 (2021)
Increase 2.7% of the Australian population[1]
Regions with significant populations
Sydney · Canberra · Melbourne · Adelaide · Perth · Brisbane
Languages
English, Indian languages, Tamil, Fiji Hindi, Mauritian Creole, Nepali
Related ethnic groups
Indian Australians
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

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. The Hindus in Australia are mostly of Indian origin; other origins include those from Sri Lanka, Fiji, Malaysia, Bali, Cham, Singapore,and Nepal.

History

The following dates briefly outline the arrival of Hinduism.

  • As early as 300AD – Indonesian Hindu merchants make contact with Australian Aborigines.
  • 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]
  • 1588 – Indian crews from Bay of Bengal came to Australia on trading ships.[6]
  • 1666 – Domestic servants in European households left the port of Calcutta to take up labouring work in Sydney.
  • 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.[7]
  • 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.[8]
  • 1921 – Less than 2200 Indians lived in Australia.
  • 1971 – Swami Prabhupada arrives in Australia and founded first Hare Krishna centre in Sydney.[9]
  • 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.[10][11]
  • 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.
  • 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, surpassing the percentage of Hindus(1.85%, as of the latest 1998 Census) in Pakistan.
  • 2018 - Kaushaliya Vaghela becomes the first Indian-born Hindu Member of Parliament in any Australian Parliament.

Demographics

Hindu population by year
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
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 Population 2016 census Percentage 2016 census Population 2011 census Percentage 2011 census 2011–2016 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]
Australian 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

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

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]

TTY11Y16Y21Hindus as % of language speakers
Total275,534440,300684,002[32]2.70%
Hindi81,892119,284155,24278.8%
Nepali21,76650,629111,35383.7%
English39,80058,85588,8320.5%
Gujarati29,25045,88471,97688.5%
Tamil36,94053,76669,80773.2%
Telugu16,71730,72352,58390.2%
Punjabi9,44216,54636,36715.2%
Marathi8,77411,58919,78088.8%
Malayalam5,93811,68717,77222.6%
Kannada5,3838,78313,41991.2%
Bengali5,6858,48111,81016.8%
Fijian Hindi5721,2572,40750.5%
Indonesian1,1711,7552,2153.0%
French1,1801,4011,4252.0%
Konkani6098451,37037.6%
Odia2826941,33895.5%
Sindhi27752189233.9%
Tulu34854384593.2%
Mauritian Creole51488381322.5%
South Asian nfd3,5313,7705487.8%
Malay4355914872.3%
Assamese16530247982.3%
Italian1581583220.1%
Fijian1292131981.9%
Balinese12915619380.8%
Vietnamese1092251920.0%
Sinhalese2321631670.2%
Indo-Aryan nfd1,988633NANA

Hindu temples in Australia

The first Hindu religious centre was a Hare Krishna centre founded by Swami Prabhupada in Sydney.[34] It was in 1977 the first Hindu temple in Australia, the Sri Mandir Temple, was built.[35] Now, there are around forty-three Hindu temples in Australia.[36]

  • 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

Contemporary society

According to a national survey reported in 2019, Hindu Australians continues to experience the highest rates of discrimination even after being the model minority.[37] The survey showed that a three quarters of respondents (75%) had experienced discrimination on public transport or on the street.[38] 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).[39]

Overseas territories

Hinduism is practised by the small number of Malaysian Indians in Christmas Island.[40][41]

Attacks on Hindu Community
  • 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.[42] Several top Australian lawmakers condemned the attacks on Hindu community's places of worship and stressed importance of respect in a multicultural society.[43][44]
  • In February 2023, Khalistani extremists made threatening phone calls to a prominent Hindu temple in Brisbane. The perpertators 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.[45]
  • 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.[46][47][48]
  • 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. [49][50]

See also

References
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  2. "2021 Census shows changes in Australia's religious diversity | Australian Bureau of Statistics". 28 June 2022.
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  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.
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  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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  18. "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
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  20. "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
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  22. "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
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  24. "Religion - Australia - Community profile". profile.id.com.au.
  25. "Census TableBuilder - Dataset: 2016 Census - Cultural Diversity". Australian Bureau of Statistics – Census 2016. 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.
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  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. "SBS Australian Census Explorer".
  33. "Census 2011 Australia | ABS Population Income | SBS Census Explorer". Sbs.com.au. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
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  35. "History | SRI MANDIR".
  36. "Australian Hindu Temples and Associations - Hindu Council of Australia".
  37. "Hindu Australians experience highest rates of discrimination". 28 February 2017.
  38. "National survey finds Australians worried about relatives marrying Muslims".
  39. "FactCheck Q&A: The facts on birth rates for Muslim couples and non-Muslim couples in Australia". 24 July 2017.
  40. "Island induction | Christmas Island District High School". Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  41. Simone Dennis (2008). Christmas Island: An Anthropological Study. Cambria Press. pp. 91–. ISBN 9781604975109.
  42. 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.
  43. "Third Hindu temple vandalised in Melbourne after India demands swift action". SBS Language. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  44. "Third Temple vandalised in Australia with Hindu hate graffiti by Khalistan supporters - The Australia Today". Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  45. "Hindu temple in Australia gets threat calls; asked to raise Khalistani slogans". Hindustan Times. 18 February 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
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  47. "Shree Laxmi Narayan Temple vandalised by Khalistan supporters in Brisbane - The Australia Today". 4 March 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  48. "Another Hindu temple vandalised by Khalistani groups in Australia, this time in Brisbane". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  49. "Indian temple in Australia defaced by 'anti-social elements' with 'anti-India' graffiti". The Indian Express. 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  50. "Sydney Hindu BAPS Swaminarayan Temple Vandalised by Khalistani Goons - The Australia Today". 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.

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