Australian Sikh Heritage Association’s Tarunpreet Singh revealed how he discovered “a Punjab right here in Australia – which you can visit without boarding a ship or taking your passport along. This is probably the best new year gift for our community, to feel proud that Sikh history has documented evidence of its presence and influence […]

Australian Sikh Heritage Association’s Tarunpreet Singh revealed how he discovered “a Punjab right here in Australia – which you can visit without boarding a ship or taking your passport along. This is probably the best new year gift for our community, to feel proud that Sikh history has documented evidence of its presence and influence in Australia since the 1880’s. In fact this may probably be the only Punjab outside of our homeland.”

Several newspaper items preserved in Australia’s national archives show that the area was formally named Punjaub in 1880, and it was specifically given this name because it had five rivers that flowed through it – Logan, Albert, Pimpania, Coomera and Nerang.

Domiciled in the district of Burke and containing a landmass of 446 sq miles, Punjaub cattle station was sold to Messrs Travers and Gibson for £2000, as reported in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin of Saturday, 7 August 1880. It was sold by SG Watson, Esq of Melbourne. “It had a homestead, which probably even had a commercial purpose where people could stay for holidays,” says Mr Tarunpreet Singh.

There is at least one reference of a couple heading to Punjaub for their honeymoon. Apart from being known as a major cattle station in the area, Punjaub boasted of a very fertile land, covered in orchards of fruit trees including “orange, lemon, mandarin, comquat, guava, mango, mulberry, banana and fig.”

Mr Tarunpreet Singh said, “It is quite clear that there was Sikh presence in Queensland and adjoining areas in the mid- late

Not only this, but many people in the indigenous community of Mt Isa, actually go by the surname Punjaub, much like villagers in the Indian Punjaub tend to do – they usually take the name of their village as their surname

What’s more, the adjoining estate is named ‘Almora’, which further deepens the connection of the Australian Punjaub with the Indian Punjab – both are named so because they are the land of five rivers, and both have an adjoining land called “Almora”.

Mr Tarunpreet is exploring further avenues to find out how the Australian Punjaub earned its name, and to unearth another chapter of Australian Sikh heritage. ‘The more we know about our history in Australia, the more at home we’ll feel – and of course, we will be able to celebrate our rich heritage in Australia.”

Source- sbs.com.au