Tennant Creek is approximately 1,000km south of Darwin and 500km north of Alice Springs. An apace and ethnic mosaic place to live. There lives Sidhant Vashisht, an Indian-origin man who fell in love with Aboriginal culture.
Sidhant Vashisht, who is known as Sid in the community, arrived in Australia with dreams such as a good job, a big car and his own home etc, but, life took a turn and landed him in the Northern Territory.
“And I found my home,” says Sid.
“My journey to Australia was like as any other international student,” he says.
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“I graduated from Deakin University in Victoria. I worked for supermarkets as a night stock filler.” Sid worked hard and became a manager in a supermarket. The experience took him to NT, where his desire to work with Aboriginal people found the ground.
“I worked with tiny communities. I worked with a community of 20-30 people. I wanted to learn about the first people of Australia. And the kind of acceptance I got, that stopped me in NT. I fell in love with this place.”
Among International students from India, a few desire to work for the First Peoples of Australia. Those who desire, achieve a lot in this country as Sid Vashisht says, this country will do anything for those who genuinely want to work for people.
Originally from Haryana in India, Sid is the first ever councillor in the Northern Territory of Indian origin.
Sid lives in Barkly region of Tennant Creek where there are 17 different language groups. He has become a part of the Aboriginal community and says it has been a fantastic journey to live and walk the walk with the First Peoples.
“My elders in this community took me under their wing. They showed me around. They showed me the culture, the song lines, understanding of the dreaming. I am fortunate to have experienced this thus far. I have also been given a skin name. That way I can relate with the family groups here,” explains Sid, who is known as Jakamara in the Aboriginal community.
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He never feels an outsider in the community, for he finds many similarities between his Indian culture and Aboriginal culture.
“I do not want to go into cultural details as it is not my right, and I respect that. However, there is some correlation between India and Aboriginal culture,” says Sid.
“There are links between our cultures.”
“Culture is a beautiful thing, and Australia is beautiful like that. Sometimes there are interesting things that give me goosebumps. There is a tourist place here called The Devil’s Pebbles.
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This place is called ‘Moonga Moonga dreaming’, which is similar in Hindi. There is a word like Chalo, which means ‘let’s go’ same as Hindi.”
Sidhant Vashisht is working for the rights of First People and wants to be their voice. He wants Indians to learn more about them and support the Uluru Statement From The Heart.
Listen to the complete interview with Sidhant Vashisht:
“The theme this year is – Let’s work together for a shared future. So, we need to work together for the First People of this country and do the right thing. Voice, Treaty and Truth. First People want to have a strong voice.
"They want constitutional recognition. They want to be in the upfront of decision making. We are on their lands, and we should never forget that” he says.
