Sikh Gurdwara Perthਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ਪਰਥ

Sikh Gurdwara Perth is the principal gurdwara of Perth's north east, at 10 Cheltenham Street in Bennett Springs, Western Australia, and an entry in our guide to Gurdwaras in Australia. The organisation behind it, Sikh Gurdwara Perth Inc, was formed in 1996 for a growing community, and the gurdwara is now known well beyond its own sangat for its Punjabi School, its free meal service and its part in telling the story of Sikhs in Western Australia.

What is Sikh Gurdwara Perth?

It is a gurdwara, the Sikh place of worship, whose name means the doorway to the Guru. Its prayer hall centres on the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the Sikh scripture honoured as the eternal Guru, and like every gurdwara it runs a langar, the free vegetarian meal served to all who come, and flies the Nishan Sahib, the saffron flag that marks a Sikh temple. Western Australia's Office of Multicultural Interests counts three Sikh temples in the state: at Canning Vale, at Bayswater and at Bennett Springs in the Swan Valley. The Bennett Springs gurdwara, run by Sikh Gurdwara Perth Inc, is a separate institution from the Sikh Association of Western Australia's temple at Canning Vale, and the two are often confused.

How did Sikhs come to Western Australia?

Sikhs are known to have reached Western Australia in the early 19th century, and shiploads of camels brought to Australia in the 1860s were handled by men recorded as Afghans, among them Sikhs such as Pal Singh, a camel owner who arrived in 1886 and lived at Wyndham. In 1898, 45 Perth Sikhs signed a petition to the Secretary of State for the Colonies asking for better treatment and livelihood, yet the 1901 census counted 261 Afghans in the state and no Indians, so the early Sikhs were most likely all listed as Afghans. Many worked as camel handlers, while others travelled the state selling wares as hawkers and pedlars.

In 1932 a group of Sikhs was allocated land on the Canning River for use as a cremation ground, after a dying Sikh man, fearing he would be buried against his faith, had taken his own life: a hard beginning to what is now the heritage listed Sikh cremation site at Adenia Park in Riverton. The end of the White Australia policy in 1973 opened Sikh migration again, with Sikhs coming to Western Australia from India, the United Kingdom, east Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and Fiji. The Sikh Association of Western Australia, founded in 1975, laid the foundation stone of its Canning Vale temple on 14 April 1999, the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Khalsa, on a 2.3 hectare block the community had bought with its own fundraising.

A new gurdwara for a growing community

Sikh Gurdwara Perth Inc was formed in 1996 to meet the needs of the growing Sikh community, providing religious services together with social and cultural ones, as the 2015 interpretation plan for the story of Western Australian Sikhs records. Its gurdwara rose at Bennett Springs, in the City of Swan on Perth's north eastern edge, one of the fastest growing parts of the metropolitan area. The same plan already described Bennett Springs in 2015 as the new gurdwara alongside Canning Vale and Bayswater, and it is the one most Perth people now mean when they say Sikh Gurdwara Perth: the name, address and organisation all belong to this Cheltenham Street temple.

The Punjabi School and the weekly round

Weekly religious services are held every Sunday, open to everyone, members and non members alike. Each week the gurdwara also holds its Punjabi School, a cultural education class the gurdwara describes as approved by the Australian Ministry of Education, where children are taught the Punjabi language and Sikh history alongside life and social skills, martial arts, music, and the dangers of drug and alcohol use. The school's mission is simple: the Guru Granth Sahib Ji is written in the Gurmukhi script, so children who learn Gurmukhi and Punjabi can understand the message of the scripture for themselves. Its teaching works two ways, building the vocabulary children need to talk about community life, and giving knowledge of Gurbani through a systematic Gurmat program, with parents asked to help with homework at home.

Seva beyond the gurdwara walls

The gurdwara's own account of its community work lists fundraising for bushfire and flood victims, blood donation for the Australian Red Cross, shelter and food for disadvantaged members of the community including the elderly, support for new migrants, and help for overseas students in finding accommodation and work. During the COVID-19 pandemic its volunteers started a Free Meal Project so that, in the group's words, no one slept hungry, and the work has continued since: Sikh Gurdwara Perth told the Australia Day Council of Western Australia that it had served more than 175,000 free meals, and it now also provides groceries for international students struggling with living costs. In 2021 the City of Swan gave the group its Active Citizenship Award in the Community Citizen of the Year Awards.

The same spirit of seva runs through its public life. Sikh Gurdwara Perth was one of the partners, with the state Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, the City of Canning, the Australian Sikh Heritage Association and the Sikh Association of Western Australia, that created the Australian Sikh Heritage Trail at Adenia Park, opened on 17 April 2018 beside the old Canning River cremation site. Its Sikh band joins the Anzac Day parade, honouring the forefathers who fought alongside Australians in both World Wars. And on 9 November 2019 the gurdwara organised the public parade for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, from the Supreme Court Gardens to Forrest Chase in central Perth, which drew more than 2,000 participants and onlookers and was recorded in the Western Australian Parliament.

How do you reach Sikh Gurdwara Perth?

The gurdwara stands at 10 Cheltenham Street, Bennett Springs WA 6055, in the City of Swan, reached by road from across Perth's north east; most visitors drive. Everyone is welcome, member or not, Sikh or not. As at any gurdwara, cover your head, remove your shoes and wash your hands before entering the prayer hall, sit quietly for the kirtan, and stay for langar afterwards if you wish: the free meal is the gurdwara's oldest welcome, and at Bennett Springs it has grown into a service the whole city knows.