Indian Community

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:17): Our nation is a nation built on multiculturalism. Over the years in our beautiful state of South Australia, we have been blessed with opportunities to attend and join in the many festivities and celebrations of our many diverse communities. The members of those communities have in common the desire to provide for their families and future generations of their families a better life with better opportunities.

Over the years, I have attended many cultural celebrations including the Greek Glendi, the Italian Carnevale, the Vietnamese Tet and Chinese New Year celebrations and, more recently, Diwali celebrations that are celebrated by, among others, our Indian, Nepalese and Bhutanese communities. Two weeks from now, Diwali, the Festival of Lights, will again be upon us. I look forward to being part of this celebration that celebrates good over evil, light over darkness and, for our Sikh community, Bandi Chhor Divas and Gurpurab.

During the month of September, I had the pleasure of attending the annual arts and cultural Ganesh Festival at the Angkor Hall in Parafield Gardens. Organised by the United Indians of South Australia, it is the third year that this festival has been held. I am pleased each year to have been invited as an honoured guest. The beginning of this organisation grew from a small meeting in my office with members of our Indian community who wanted to bring to our shores celebrations to share with the Indian community, who have made South Australia their home, and also with the wider community. This was about four years ago. Hence, the name United Indians of South Australia was born, and from it came the annual Ganesh Festival here in Adelaide.

With a lot of hard work by members of the committee, the creation of a large Ganesh idol was commissioned in India. The almost four-metre fibreglass statue took four months to build, following which it was loaded onto a ship bound for South Australia. It attracted much media attention in India as at the time it was believed to have been the largest Ganesh idol to leave the shores of India. The opening of the enormous carton protecting the Ganesh idol on its long journey was in the evening. There was much fanfare, including a special ceremony with drums and dancing and, of course, food. I felt privileged to be part of the celebration.

This Arts and Cultural Ganesh Festival was again a great success, due to the hard work of the United Indians of South Australia committee and the many volunteers who helped out. I make particular mention of those who cooked the food and also the many seniors from Gujarat, the parents of South Australian Indian families, who during their visit here to help their sons and daughters and bond with their grandchildren volunteered their time to serve food to the thousands who attended the celebration throughout the day. The event was a tremendous success.

Indian cultural events often invite participation by community members, not just observation, and one of these that I enjoy each year is the Garba, organised by the Anubhuti Cultural Group. This colourful dance festival, requiring excessive amounts of energy to dance the night away, with a lot of clapping and skilled use of special dandiya sticks, took place only a few weeks ago. I would like to acknowledge and thank the young girls, many from my local schools, including Hillcrest, Dernancourt and Klemzig primaries as well as St Martin's in Greenacres, who dressed in their traditional cultural dress and very patiently taught me the new steps, smiling delightfully when I got it right.

There are many volunteer hours that go into putting on such a successful event and I am always honoured to be invited. This year's Garba Dandiya night at the Parks Recreation Centre saw record crowds participate in the event, and included the guest appearance of popular singer Umesh Barot, who travelled from India for the occasion. I know the Anubhuti Cultural Group—Saurin, Chetan, Nyan, Rakesh, Milan, Gopal, Prakash and Kaushik—and the volunteers, who again did a wonderful job, work hard to ensure the Garba Dandiya is a true reflection of events taking place in India at the same time. It was also wonderful to meet with so many of their parents who are visiting as well. I congratulate the Anubhuti Cultural Group on their enormously successful Garba Dandiya.