Australia too has a Punjaub, a land of five rivers

There is a Punjab here, which you can visit without taking your passport along... (It’s matter of pride) that Sikh history has documented evidence of its influence in Australia since 1880s. TARUNPREET SINGH, Australian Sikh Heritage Association

MELBOURNE: There is a place called Punjaub in Australia. Sprawled on the border of Queensland and Northern Territory, this place was given its name in 1880 because it was home to five rivers –Logan, Albert, Pimpania, Coomera and Nerang.

Sharing this nugget with the author, Australian Sikh Heritage Association’s Tarunpreet Singh gushed, “There is a Punjab right here in Australia, which you can visit without boarding a ship or taking your passport along. This is probably the best new year gift for our community, to feel proud that Sikh history has documented evidence of its presence and influence in Australia since the 1880s.”

Singh said this was probably the only Punjab outside India. Several newspaper items preserved in Australia’s national archives show that the area was formally named Punjaub in 1880, and it was specifically given this name because five rivers flowed through it.

The references to the five rivers that flowed through the Australian Punjab

Domiciled in the district of Burke and containing a landmass of 446 sq miles, Punjaub cattle station was sold to Messrs Travers and Gibson for £2000, as reported in the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin of Saturday, 7 August 1880. It was sold by SG Watson, Esq of Melbourne. “It had a homestead, which was probably used for commercial purposes, and people would stay there for holidays,” says Singh.

Apart from being known as a major cattle station in the area, Punjaub boasts a very fertile land, with orchards of fruits, including orange, lemon, mandarin, comquat, guava, mango, mulberry, banana and fig.

Singh said it is clear there was Sikh presence in Queensland and adjoining areas in the mid to late 1800s. “We know that out of the 19 members in the Burke and Wills Expedition of 1860–61, there were four Afghans. It started from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition had a massive camel called Golah Singh, which suggests that there could be a Sikh cameleer among these Afghans.” Experts say this cameleer may have inspired the name Punjaub. Singh said many people in the indigenous community of Mt Isa, also go by the surname of Punjaub, much like villagers in the Indian Punjab, who usually take the name of their village as their surname.

The adjoining estate is named ‘Almora’, which further deepens the connection of the Australian Punjaub with the Indian Punjab. Both are named so because they are the land of five rivers, and both have an adjoining land called “Almora”