A NEW COMMUNITY HALL IN TE RAPA

The proposal was to convert the existing industrial building into a Community Centre (1536m2) for the Sikh community.

In 2006 New Zealand was home to more than 9,500 Sikhs, a religious and ethnic community based in the Indian state of Punjab. The first Sikh families came to New Zealand in 1890, mostly from the same local area in central Punjab. The New Zealand Sikh Society was established in 1964. Sikh numbers were very small until the changes to immigration policy in the 1980s. The first Sikh gurudwara (temple) opened in Hamilton in 1997. Seven more gurudwaras were set up in the Auckland area, and others in Tauranga, Te Puke, Hastings, Palmerston North and Wellington. The community has tripled in size since the 1990s, and in 2009 the first South Island centre opened, in Christchurch. Sikhs in New Zealand place a particular emphasis on Anzac Day commemorations, when they remember Sikh combatants at Gallipoli. They are also active in interfaith dialogue. Prominent Sikhs include Sukhi Turner, the mayor of Dunedin from 1999 to 2004, and Kanwal Singh Bakshi, who became the first Sikh MP in 2008.

There are about 3,000 Sikh families in New Zealand.  In 1964, Sikhs in New Zealand formed the New Zealand Sikh Society.  Its main objectives are to provide instruction in Sikhism, to conduct religious ceremonies, to promote and foster a better understanding amongst the followers of various religions and creeds in New Zealand, to give assistance to the poor and the needy, and to promote the Punjabi language.  In our multicultural society, it is important that Sikh youth understand their culture but also blend in with the New Zealand way of life.  The youth is like a bird flying for pleasure, it flies with the wind, but it must turn and face the wind in order that it may rise higher.

The Sikh community has a positive attitude toward the Punjabi language and places a high value on its maintenance.  This is helped by the concentration of Sikh immigrants in geographical areas within Hamilton or near to Hamilton such as Morrinsville, Orini and on Piako Road.

The society supplies materials and information to promote the Punjabi language as well as the culture and holds a Punjabi language class in the Sikh temple once a week. A Punjabi directory is published and supplied to the Sikh community along with regular community publications.  Religious and community level functions are celebrated in the temples from time to time throughout the year, as well as traditional sports such as kabbadi, tug of war and national sports like soccer.  A Punjabi radio programme is broadcast from Hamilton every Friday.

There is now a need for another centre in the City: