Highlights
- Welcome Wall at the Australian National Maritime Museum inscribes the names of migrants who come to Australia to make a new life.
- Ashak Nathwani arrived from Uganda in 1972 with 20 cents in his pocket.
- His message to migrants is to educate their children as much as possible and do humanitarian work.
Ashak Nathwani arrived on October 10, 1972, from Uganda after the infamous dictator Idi Amin ordered some 50,000 people of Indian origin to leave the country within 90 days.
The green light to come to this country, however, came by chance.
"Due to some coincidences, I ended up meeting the Australian attaché. I had gone to hand in my application and hoped he would call me for an interview when appropriate. To which he said, 'sit down, this is your interview'. The rest is history," he told SBS Hindi.
Mr Nathwani arrived in Australia with his fiance Samim and his brother.
Upon their arrival, he said the Australian attaché in Uganda, Mr Paddick, suggested they should create some awareness about the plight of the remaining refugees in Australia, so as to increase the settlement chances of other refugees from Uganda.
"So we agreed to the press conference. There were all the television channels as well as the newspaper reporters asking all sorts of questions about Uganda, about Idi Amin, about our trip and what it felt like coming to Australia," Mr Nathwani said, noting that it resulted in press attention.
Mr Nathwani recalls how he was termed as a refugee despite being a qualified engineer.
Press articles when Mr Nathwani arrived in 1972. Source: Supplied
He, his brother, and his fiance were the first non-white people to be given accommodation at hostels which only catered to white people at the time.
Since that period, he has gone onto fulfilling his dreams and has given back to the community.
"I got married to Samim in 1974. She recently passed away in 2019," he said.
Mr Nathwani was appointed a Member of the Australia Order (AM) in the general division of the Order of Australia on Sept 6, 2017, for his services to the Ismaili community in Australia, who are people of a sub-sect of Shia Islam.
He has also worked for the cause of education.
“I didn’t expect something like this after I arrived in the country with virtually nothing. To have been able to contribute to the country and to get acknowledged is very humbling,” he said.
“I worked as an engineer for almost 35 years and the last six years I’ve been at Sydney University lecturing there."
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He is also a founding member of the Ismaili Community of Australia, a cultural and semi-religious organisation that is involved in numerous charitable endeavours.
He has also volunteered at a Rotary Club on Sydney's north shore for almost 20 years and served as president of the St Leonards Club.
Although Mr Nathwani is an Ismaili, he has been closely connected with the Navratri festival celebrations, where he has been playing the drums for many years.
His message to migrants is to educate their children as much as possible and to do as much humanitarian work as they can do.
Mr Nathwani is also proud to have his name inscribed on The Welcome Wall at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, which honours Australia’s migrant history and celebrates the stories that have made Australia the nation it is today.
The Welcome Wall honours and celebrates all who have migrated from around the world to live in Australia. Source: Supplied
The names of migrants arriving in Australia by boat or plane were first inscribed on The Wall in January 1999.
For 21 years, The Wall has featured the names of migrants who came here to make a new life.
It presently contains more than 30,000 names of people who have made the journey to start a new life in Australia.
For more information about the next round of inscriptions head to https://www.sea.museum/discover/welcome-wall
