AI Generated Summary
- Central to their discovery is the story of Siva Singh, a Sikh hawker and farmer who settled in the Benalla region around 1897 and remained there until his death in 1955 at the age of 84.
- For Kenna and Jordan, the discovery represents one milestone in a much larger undertaking that began in 1985, when the history of Indian migration to Australia remained poorly documented.
- A remarkable chapter of Australia’s Sikh history has emerged from decades of research by two elderly historians who have traced the arrival of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in the country more than a century ago.
Decades of research reveal how the Sikh holy scripture reached Victoria in 1920, travelled through rural communities in a horse-drawn wagon and became part of Australia’s early Sikh heritage.
A remarkable chapter of Australia’s Sikh history has emerged from decades of research by two elderly historians who have traced the arrival of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in the country more than a century ago.
Len Kenna, 85, and Crystal Jordan, 80, have spent over 15 years investigating the journey of the Sikh holy scripture to Australia in 1920. Their research has established where it was housed, how it was transported between rural settlements and details of what they identify as the country’s first known Akhand Path, or continuous recitation of the scripture.
The findings have been documented in their recently launched book, Siva Singh Benalla, unveiled at the Tomorrow Today Foundation in Benalla, Victoria. The publication adds to the historians’ extensive efforts to recover the largely overlooked contributions of early Indian migrants to Australian society.
Central to their discovery is the story of Siva Singh, a Sikh hawker and farmer who settled in the Benalla region around 1897 and remained there until his death in 1955 at the age of 84.
Besides earning his livelihood through farming and trading, Siva Singh fulfilled religious responsibilities for Sikh communities scattered across north-eastern Victoria. He conducted prayers, performed cremation ceremonies and carried Sri Guru Granth Sahib between settlements in a horse-drawn wagon.
That wagon has become an important surviving link to Australia’s early Sikh religious traditions. Preserved by a local farmer following Siva Singh’s death, it is undergoing conservation and is expected to be placed on permanent public display in Benalla.
The local council has also approved a memorial in a central park recognising Siva Singh’s contribution and commemorating the historic reading of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in 1920.
For Kenna and Jordan, the discovery represents one milestone in a much larger undertaking that began in 1985, when the history of Indian migration to Australia remained poorly documented.
Kenna’s curiosity was rooted in childhood memories of a Sikh travelling merchant who regularly visited his family’s home in Hamilton, Victoria. His mother purchased goods from the hawker and helped wash his turbans, while the visitor occasionally prepared meals and entertained the family with stories about India.
Jordan’s interest in Indian history was shaped by her family connections. Her father was born in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, in 1912, while her grandfather, George Davis, served with the British Army’s 4th Worcestershire Regiment.
When Kenna began investigating the lives of early Indian settlers, he invited Jordan to collaborate. What they initially expected to become a single publication eventually developed into a decades-long historical project.
Their work required extensive travel, examination of archival records and the collection of photographs and personal accounts from families across Australia. Before digital research tools became widely available, Kenna relied on an electric typewriter, while the pair visited historical repositories throughout Australia and consulted East India Company records at the British Library in England.
Their findings were not immediately accepted. Early accounts of the Indian presence in Australia’s colonial past were frequently met with scepticism, prompting the researchers to organise a photographic exhibition presenting historical evidence of Indian migration and settlement.
Official recognition followed in 2000, when Multicultural Victoria commissioned them to document Indian history in the state.
In 2012, support from four Victorian gurdwaras helped establish the Australian Indian Historical Society, with Kenna and Jordan serving as directors. The organisation has also advocated incorporating the experiences of early Indian migrants into Australian school curricula.
Among the historians’ publications are the five-volume Are Indians an Ethnic Minority? and Sikh History in Australia, released in English and Punjabi in 2019. Kenna also wrote It Happened in Heywood, a play exploring the life and death of a young Sikh hawker in Victoria.
Their investigations have also helped reconnect Indian families with their ancestors.
In 2010, the researchers discovered the ashes of Pooran Singh in Warrnambool, Victoria, and personally carried them to his ancestral village of Uppal Bhopa in Punjab. The ashes were subsequently immersed in the Ganga at Haridwar.
During the visit, they organised a photographic exhibition for villagers, while Jordan recorded their experiences through an illustrated diary featuring sketches and watercolour paintings.
The historians have financed much of their work themselves. Their commitment extended to using retirement savings to acquire the First World War medals of Private Ganessa Singh, an Indian-Australian Anzac soldier, ensuring the decorations were brought back to Australia.
Their research has also questioned several established narratives surrounding Australia’s colonial history.
According to their findings, the earliest Sikhs arrived in Australia in 1844, when Dabee Singh and his wife travelled to Queensland alongside 23 other Indians. However, they believe Sikh migrants began playing a more substantial role in Australian society from the 1880s onwards.
They have additionally challenged historical claims about restrictions on cremation and highlighted India’s importance in supplying Australia’s early European settlements.
Another subject of their investigations concerns Indian sailors aboard the Sydney Cove, which was wrecked in 1797. The historians maintain that surviving Indian crew members explored sections of Bass Strait before British navigator George Bass.
Their account describes 17 sailors who escaped the wreck in a longboat, only to encounter another disaster at Ninety Mile Beach. Fourteen subsequently died while attempting to travel north, leaving just three survivors.
Kenna and Jordan are seeking formal recognition for the sailors’ place in Australian maritime history.
Despite the racial discrimination experienced by Indian migrants in earlier periods, the researchers say their historical investigations have attracted considerable goodwill, particularly from rural Australian families.
Residents have contributed photographs, correspondence and memories of Sikh and Indian hawkers who visited isolated farms generations ago. Some of these travelling merchants developed such close relationships with local families that they appointed Australians as executors of their wills.
Support has also come from Sikh organisations and the wider Indian community, which have assisted with preserving historical artefacts and organising exhibitions, including one at Victoria’s Parliament House.
The researchers are currently examining the experiences of migrants from Mirpur in Kashmir who arrived in Australia before 1901. Their work continues to attract enquiries from descendants of early Indian settlers living in different parts of the world.
With an extensive collection of historical documents, photographs and artefacts assembled over four decades, Kenna and Jordan now hope to secure a permanent museum home for their research in Victoria.
Their efforts have brought renewed attention to a community whose religious traditions, commercial activities and personal relationships helped shape regional Australia long before the emergence of its modern Indian diaspora.
The story of Sri Guru Granth Sahib’s journey through Victoria in a modest horse-drawn wagon stands as a particularly significant reminder of that early presence—and of the determination of Sikh migrants to preserve their faith thousands of kilometres from Punjab.
