Known as the City of Churches, Adelaide is fast becoming a place of choice for residents from other religions too.
Two of the city’s three gurdwaras (Sikh temples) have been established inside what were, at some point, churches, thus reflecting Australia’s diverse multicultural fabric.
Gurudwara Guru Nanak Darbar at Allenby Gardens and Gurdwara Sarbat Khalsa at Prospect in Adelaide are housed inside buildings where the church bells once tolled. Now, they have made way for kirtan (hymn-singing).
Visibly evident from the exterior, the building’s architecture is that of a church with its sloping roof and spire on which the Cross, a symbol of the Christian faith, must have once stood.
The entrance of the Langar Hall with the plaque of foundation stone-laying date. Source: Ruchika Talwar
The Cross has now been removed since the building was repurposed as a gurdwara in 2005.
A Nishan Sahib (a saffron-coloured flagpole with the Sikh symbol, khanda) now stands tall on the gurdwara premises, making it visible from a distance.
“In 2005, we learnt that a church in Allenby Gardens is up for sale. Our foundation, Guru Nanak Society of Australia was interested in establishing a gurdwara in Adelaide keeping in view the rising number of people from Punjab there. Back then, I used to live in Port Augusta, another city in South Australia. So, we used our properties there as a collateral security for purchasing this church for around $4,57,000,” says Mahabir Singh Grewal, who is one of the founders of the gurdwara and its president.
The gurdwara, says Mr Grewal, is spread across 1100 square metres in this residential suburb.
Inside the gurdwara, you find tell-tale signs of a church: an altar and stained glass windows with the cross painted on them. The podium currently in use by the gurdwara’s priest could well have been the pastor’s lectern when the building housed a church. With changed purpose, the khanda has found its place on this lectern.
Children of Punjabi families, wearing kurta-pyjama (traditional Indian dress worn mostly by men) and saffron headscarves with ‘Satnam Waheguru’ (a phrase from Sikh religious scriptures) printed on them frolic around the gurdwara compound.
A plaque at the entrance of what is now the langar (community kitchen) hall states the stone was laid in 1931 by ‘Mrs A. A. Smith’, who could have possibly been associated with the church.
The main 'Darbar Hall' of the gurdwara. Source: Ruchika Talwar
“We have tried to retain the original building as much as possible, be it on the exterior or interior. The kitchen in which we cook langar was also the church’s kitchen. We’ve only merged what was a community hall next to it, into the kitchen area and created the langar hall where the sangat (congregation) can partake langar,” says Mr Grewal, an octogenarian businessman-turned-philanthropist who divides his time amongst various places in South Australia for business and family.
The third and oldest gurdwara in Adelaide, the Sikh Society of South Australia at Glen Osmond, however, is set up inside a former function centre.
No gurdwara in Adelaide has architecture typical to a gurdwara.
Click on the player inside the picture at the top to listen to this interview in Punjabi.
