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Aussie
Sikh wins lifetime achievement award
WSN
Network
 SYDNEY:
A Sikh has been given the 2006 lifetime achievement award in
volunteering by the New South Wales (NSW) government, an ethnic
Indian newspaper Indianlink has reported. Bawa Singh Jagdev became
the first Sikh to receive the prestigious award for volunteering
which was handed to him by NSW Speaker John Aquilina at the NSW
Parliament recently.
Jagdev who arrived in Australia in 1975 from Kenya was among the
first few to set up the Sikh Council of Australia (SCA). The council
provides a platform for Sikhs in Australia to liase with government
and non-government agencies.
Jagdev defended the kirpan that was threatened by the knife
legislation passed by the NSW Government in 1997. He was
instrumental in convincing the then NSW premier Bob Carr to amend
the legislation to allow an average Sikh to carry the dagger.
The 72-year-old former lecturer at TAFE, an adult education
organisation in Australia, said SCA plans to build an old age home
shortly in Austral that would consist of six independent rooms which
would be available to interstate travellers, elderly people and new
immigrants for a limited period of time. This will be in addition to
the already existing two Punjabi language schools.
From humble beginnings as a school teacher with the local Revesby
Public School, Jagdev moved to being a lecturer at TAFE, and a
part-time lecturer at the Sydney Technical University. In between he
found time to represent the Sikh community in many issues to the
Government of NSW.
There were hardly 20 Sikh families living around Sydney in 1976, and
no gurudwaras. Along with some of his friends, he organised monthly
religious meetings at an informal level. In 1978, they were able to
cough up $18,000 to buy an old Church in Revesby. In 1988, Jagdev
was the prime force behind the SCA. In 1990, the Sikh Council
acquired a 3-acre land piece and established a Gurudwara, where to
this day, free meals and free accommodation are provided (for
members of any ethnic group) for a limited period, true to the Sikh
tradition.
21 February 2007
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