Siva Singh Memorial - Monument Benalla Victoria
Updated: 26 minutes ago
Siva Singh
© Len Kenna and Crystal Jordan 30 November 2019.
The memorial plaque commemorates Siva Singh, a farmer and hawker in the Benalla district.
Siva Singh arrived in Victoria in c.1896 and worked as a hawker in the Benalla district, supplying groceries and other goods to farming households. By 1915, he owned 422 acres, including a 320-acre farm in the Benalla Shire.
In December 1920, Siva Singh conducted the first confirmed Akhand Path in Australia on his farm. This continuous, cover-to-cover reading of the Sikh scripture, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, commemorated Benalla resident Herman Singh, who had died that year. Siva Singh also served the local Sikh community as a granthi, performing religious duties and providing leadership.
In 1915, Siva Singh was removed from the electoral roll under the discriminatory restrictions of the White Australia era. He challenged his exclusion but was unsuccessful at the time. He was reinstated on the roll in 1925. Note: It is recorded on the plaque that Siva appealed to the High Court, however, with further research it was found that he was unsuccessful in appealing to the High Court and the matter was settled in the Benalla Court.
Dedication Date
The memorial was unveiled on Saturday 23 November 2019 by Councillor Don Firth, former Mayor of Benalla.
The Event
The Siva Singh Memorial event followed many years of work by the Australian Indian Historical Society. Community groups supported the unveiling ceremony in November 2019, including Guru Nanak Langar and Sikh Volunteers Australia, who served traditional meals to attendees. The event was covered by Tim Lee from Landline SBS and by Simon Ruppert as, Siva Singh Celebrated, in the Benalla Ensign, Wednesday, November 27, 2019, p. 3.
The Photograph and its Research History
The photograph is described as: “A group of Indian men, possibly Sikhs, outside a timber cottage at Reef Hills near Benalla. They may be participating in a religious ceremony.” Photographer: William John Howship. Archive reference: UMA-ITE-1988013700702.
The photograph belongs to the Howship Collection, which includes historic glass-plate photographs of Benalla and its district. The Benalla Family Research Group Inc. houses 1,260 photographs from the collection in collaboration with the University of Melbourne Archives.
Before 2010, Len Kenna and Crystal Jordan of the Australian Indian Historical Society brought the images of the gathering on Siva Singh’s property to light through their research into the glass-plate collection.
The Australian Indian History Photographic Exhibition brought together photographs collected during extensive research by Len Kenna and Crystal Jordan. It was first shown in Warrnambool, Victoria, on 25 July 2010 at the handover ceremony for Pooran Singh’s ashes. Len and Crystal then took the exhibition to India when the ashes were returned to Pooran Singh’s ancestral village of Uppal Bhopa, near Jalandhar and Bilga, Punjab, India where Len and Crystal were honoured by Pooran's descendants and the village and were presented with several garlands around their neck.
Published Research
Len Kenna and Crystal Jordan published historical details in two volumes of their series Are Indians an Ethnic Minority?:
· Volume 4, Hawkers 2013— ISBN: 9780987564221
· Volume 5, A Pictorial History 2013 — ISBN: 9780987564238
Further details appear in their 2026 book, Siva Singh Benalla — ISBN: 9780980384857.
The research and publications by Len Kenna and Crystal Jordan led to an interview by Amrit Gill with Manmohan Singh Shergill, after the installation of the Memorial at Benalla.
The interview resulted in the research and images being used to create the basis for the 'Bush Diwan' Exhibition at the Benalla Art Gallery curated by Amrit Gill and Reina Takeuchi.
Location
Fawckner Drive, lake Benalla Foreshore, (Near Benalla Library), Benalla, Victoria, 3672, Australia.
GPS Coordinates Approximates
Lat: -36.552649
Long: 145.982731
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