Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne is the capital of Victoria, the Australian state with the largest Sikh community. In the 2021 census 210,400 Australians, 0.8 percent of the population, gave their religion as Sikhism, up from 125,900 in 2016 and 72,300 in 2011 (Australian Bureau of Statistics). Victoria had 52,762 Sikhs in 2016 (SBS) and, according to Wikipedia citing ABS data, 91,745 in 2021.

Key moments

• 1 November 2012: the Queensland MP Warren Entsch was set to table in the House of Representatives a petition of 4,453 signatures, organised by Daljit Singh of Cairns, on the November 1984 killings of Sikhs. His media release called it the first time the issue had been raised in the Australian Parliament.
• 13 December 2014: more than 1,000 people marched from the State Library of Victoria to Federation Square for the 30th Sikh Genocide Remembrance, organised by the Supreme Sikh Council of Australia and the Sikh Community of Australia. SBS named Jagmeet Singh of Ontario, Jatinder Singh of Sikhs for Justice Canada, Warren Entsch and Greens Senator Janet Rice among the speakers or supporters.
• November 2018: during the state election campaign Premier Daniel Andrews pledged A$1 million for refurbishing the Blackburn gurdwara and A$200,000 for a 2019 celebration of Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary.
• 13 April 2019: the Victorian Sikh Gurdwaras Council led a Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan from Parliament Gardens to Flagstaff Gardens, with the Panj Pyare in front and the Guru Granth Sahib on a golden palanquin. SBS reported up to 20,000 people, by estimate, and said the council meant to hold it every year.
• 29 January 2023: Sikhs for Justice held the Australian round of its Khalistan Referendum at Federation Square. Two scuffles broke out, Victoria Police used pepper spray in the second, and two men were arrested and given penalty notices.
• 2024: UNITED SIKHS hosted an event at the Parliament House of Victoria for the 40th anniversary of the 1984 killings and Guru Nanak's 555th Parkash Purab, with MPs Tim Read and Steve McGhie taking part and an exhibition that included documentation of 1984.

Institutions. The Victorian Sikh Association, formed in 1988 and based in Ashwood in the eastern suburbs, built its clubhouse in 2015 with help from the community, the federal government and Monash City Council. It runs hockey, soccer, netball, basketball, badminton and golf, with youth and seniors programmes, and plans over 40 events in 2026. A Sikh Youth Australia list gives Melbourne gurdwaras at Craigieburn, Blackburn, Keysborough, Lynbrook, Hoppers Crossing and Tarneit.