Punjabi Pioneers

Joginder and Rupinder Kaur, from Far North Queensland, share their family’s migration story, tracing their roots back to over a century ago, when an ancestor arrived in Australia in 1895 to work in the cane fields. They describe how later generations followed in the 1950s and 1970s, and how the family’s journey evolved from cane cutting to dairy farming in the Cairns and Millaa Millaa region. Rupi...

In 1954, Harmail Kaur (Merle Singh) arrived from India in Australia after a month-long sea voyage, her young son in her arms and no English skills. As one of the very few Punjabi women in Far North Queensland at the time, she says local Australian families treated her “like their own”. With no formal lessons, Kaur learnt English simply by listening, watching and observing, eventually developing a...

Jaswinder Kaur’s family story spans five generations in Australia, beginning with her husband’s great-grandfather's arrival in regional Queensland. It traces back to 1894, when early discrimination forced her husband's ancestors to shave, to modern times where later generations actively reclaimed their Sikh identity. She also shares her journey of how she adapted to an isolated sugar cane farm by...

When newlywed Devender Singh arrived in Cairns in May 1978, she expected an Australia of skyscrapers and bustling cityscapes. Instead, she found a quiet coastal town with no high-rises, where staying in touch with family in India meant waiting weeks for blue aerograms to arrive. Despite the isolation and challenges of starting life in a new country, Devender had her B.Ed. from Ranchi University re...

Gurmeet Kaur’s family story traces more than a century of Punjabi presence in Australia, beginning with her husband’s grandfather Daleep Singh, who arrived in 1898 as a hawker and farmer. He later died in Bombay while travelling back to India, never making it home to his village in Punjab. Today, Gurmeet’s family is part of Australia’s fifth-generation Punjabi community. She reflects on migration,...

Growing up as a Punjabi in 1970s regional Australia, Narinder Singh reflects on her family’s migration journey that began when her father arrived in 1956. Her parents married in Cairns in 1965, building a life in Far North Queensland while holding closely to their faith, language and traditions. Narinder recalls balancing Punjabi life at home with Australian life at school, saying, 'As children, w...

In this interview, Simar Kaur recounts her migration from Punjab to Australia in 1973, her early encounters with an unfamiliar country, and the life and business she built in Far North Queensland. Alongside her journey, her granddaughter Jaspreet Kaur reflects on growing up between cultures, sustaining Punjabi language and identity, and how belonging evolves across generations. - 1949 ਵਿੱਚ ਫਗਵਾੜੇ...

Jagindro Kalkat’s family’s connection to Australia goes back generations when her father’s nana ji, Mangal Singh, arrived in Australia by ship in 1878 and worked for years cutting trees and clearing land for vegetation and cultivation in Gordonvale and the Tablelands in Far North Queensland. In this episode, she reflects on her own migration journey, arriving in Australia as a two-year-old with he...

In 1967, Surinder Kaur Sodhi migrated from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, to Far North Queensland, at a time when the White Australia Policy was still in place. In this interview, she reflects on her unique one of a kind grand wedding in regional Queensland, her early experiences of arriving in Australia, her husband’s family’s Punjabi roots dating back to 1888, their transition from hawking to sugarcane far...

In this episode of Punjabi Pioneers, we hear Devo Singh’s journey from a small village in Nawanshahr, in India’s northern state of Punjab, to Australia in 1964. Devo recalls seeing a plane and telephones for the first time, navigating strict household expectations, and making sure her three daughters received the education she never had. Arriving in Cairns, the sugarcane farmland reminded her of P...

Punjabi Pioneers is an SBS Punjabi podcast series uncovering the untold stories of Australia’s earliest Punjabi settlers. The first season of the podcast series brings to light the voices of Punjabi women from early Sikh families in Far North Queensland, whose courage and contributions helped shape Punjabi life in Australia. - SBS Punjabi ਦੀ ਇਸ ਪੌਡਕਾਸਟ ਸੀਰੀਜ਼ ਰਾਹੀਂ ਅਸੀਂ ਫਾਰ ਨਾਰਥ ਕੁਈਨਜ਼ਲੈਂਡ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੀ...