Gurmeet Kaur’s family story traces more than a century of Punjabi presence in Australia, beginning with her husband’s grandfather Daleep Singh, who arrived in 1898 as a hawker and farmer. He later died in Bombay while travelling back to India, never making it home to his village in Punjab. Today, Gurmeet’s family is part of Australia’s fifth-generation Punjabi community. She reflects on migration, sacrifice, family separation, working on banana farms, rebuilding after Cyclone Larry, and raising children in Far North Queensland.
The family’s history in Australia also carries stories of courage and legal struggle. Gurmeet recalls how her father-in-law fought and won an immigration case to help family members settle in Australia.
"To support the wider family, they even sold their dairy farm in Millaa Millaa, a regional town in the Atherton Tablelands of Far North Queensland. It reflected how migration was never just an individual journey, but a collective family sacrifice," she says.
Gurmeet worked in banana packing while helping build family life on the farm. In 2006, Cyclone Larry devastated their home and farm — painfully, the same year the family had cancelled their insurance.
Despite the enormous loss, she says, “We rebuilt from scratch.”
“Over time, our children studied in Townsville and moved into professional careers, marking a generational shift away from farming."
Today, Gurmeet speaks with gratitude and pride, “Despite hardship, we built a life shaped by resilience, community connection and a strong Indian-Australian identity," she says.
Her Australian friends often ask her to bring Punjabi suits from India, while she has passed language, culture and values on to her children and grandchildren. Through loss, labour and love, Gurmeet says her story “began long before her own migration.”
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