Independent Study shows Australia selected 3 times

Some stats on Indians migrating to Australia since 1982

Year                 No
1982-83         1673
1992-93         3553
2001-02         5091
2002-03         5783

China was on top of the migration list with India coming second.

In 2002 there were 110,600 Indians those who were born in India and 61,400 Sri Lankans born in Sri Lanka.

In 2001 there were 95600 people those who can speak Hindi and 13.5% out of those were born in Australia. 

Migrating to another country is not a simple decision, and there are instances where people went back to their country of origin because of the following major reasons.

- Home sick
- Family reasons
- Don't like the wildlife of Australia
- Racism
- Finding Work

And may be few more reasons, which I might not be aware of. The most obvious reason for Indians to leave is that, if you have lived in a high-class life style in India where you have servants to cook, clean and listen to your load voice then all that is not available in OZ. It will be very hard to come to terms with this new life style of western world where you do all the work around your house. So the easy way out is to go back and live in that life style which might be important to many of us. The main reason for most of us to move to these countries is that either, we don't like the corrupt system or lack of opportunities to grow in a peaceful environment. Our country has everything, but no control over population, poverty and above all corrupt politicians who are eating our motherland like white ants.

If you are planing to settle in this beautiful country, my sincere advise to you is that do not get the feeling of being discriminated by others as it's the easy way out for any failure. So do not feel that you failed because of the colour of your skin or because you don't know people in high positions, these things don't work here. So if you fail then next time try harder, and keep trying till you get the right job. It took me 9 months to find my first job, but I was determined to find the right job. Most of the time when I meet Indian people the major complain they have is about the whole system in OZ, but it's not true, you can see Indians in Australia on top jobs, if they can get those positions and fame why not you or anyone else. So please try to think positive and if you still feel that this system is corrupt and not up to your standard, then be honest to yourself and go back where you feel the system is better, don't become a crying Indian.

Other honest advise to all my fellow Indians is that it is important to mix with people of your own culture so that young kids learn all the good things about our rich culture. But also remember to mix with the western society as well. There are many good things about their culture too. In past 15 years I have seen on 2 occasions when some crazy politician fires up the issue about immigration and Asians taking up this country, the main reason for all this is that other cultures are not mixing with local Australians, people not appreciating the good things about this country etc. In all fairness it's shameful that we live here, work here and some of us make big money here and at the end of the day still complain about the system, is not justified. So be fair and appreciate the good things and mix up with western culture too as this is going to be your HOME now.

The major cities are the capitol of each state, Sydney in NSW, Melbourne in VIC, Brisbane in QLD, Adelaide in SA, Hobart in TAS, Darwin in NT, Canberra in ACT. Other cities are not as cosmopolitan as these capitol centers. I have lived in most of the major cities and I found good number of Indians settled in every state. Each city has associations and religious places, check our Business Directory for detail listings. To find out how many Indian Restaurants are in each major city, check our Restaurant page. Out of all these major cities, here is the order in terms of Indian population.

Sydney
Melbourne
Brisbane
Adelaide
Perth
Canberra
Darwin
Hobart

Major Indian events take place in most of the cities but their major attraction is in Sydney and Melbourne. Indian Shows (Film actors, singer's etc.) mostly take place in Sydney and Melbourne and at times in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. Indian movies are available in all the cities and cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide have movies in cinema halls too. Movie videos are available from any grocery stores. The complete list of these stores can be seen at www.IndiaToday.com.au site.

Most of the major cities have schools for regional languages e.g. Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil etc. these schools are run by non-profitable organisations on weekends. Contact your local association for more details. List of Associations is available at www.IndiaToday.com.au. Sporting activities take place in all the cities where cricket, football, hockey, golf etc. teams are formed for local competition. I recommend you to get your kids (if you have some) involved in playing some sport, as it will help them to become active and get involved with other kids in cultural and social activities. Lisa Sthalekar is first Indian to play for Australian Women's Cricket. I have seen basically Indian people are very shy and it's not very good for any kid to be brought up as a shy kid. As most of you know in this competitive world one has to make sure their kids are getting the best education and also getting a chance to express their views. I think at times when I see 16-18 years old kids gets up at 5.30 in the morning to work part time at McDonalds, where they get chance to work under the best management in the world and also gain all that confidence which lacks in most of our kids.

I welcome you to GREAT COUNTRY where you will meet good fellow Indians and hope to see you around. In case you would like to add any more info to this article please feel free to email me.

Good Luck