Remembering Minto: Life and Memories of a Community

Dharshika Gnanasundaram
My heart is still in Minto

I am a 23-year-old girl who has been an active part of the Minto temple since its conception. The temple originally started its operation in 1992/93, and became a fully-fledged structure when construction was over in 2003.

I migrated from Sri Lanka in 1989 and moved to Minto in 1990. Our close-knit community started building the Minto temple and I have been there ever since. I would have been about ten. When the temple was first started up, it was a great way of inviting all the community in the Campbelltown area, to give them a place they could perform daily prayers, and weekly pujahs, which are just offerings to the Gods. We built a very strong community base from that. We have at least 15 or 20 families in Minto or Campbelltown area who we visit each week.

To encourage the younger generation, the adults came up with the idea that we would learn devotional songs and sing them at the temple. When the prayers were over, the adults would tell us things about the Hindu religion and how the temple is going to become a great temple one day.

I live in Strathfield now, but my heart is still in Minto. When we moved there, I had no idea how pleasant or how beautiful the place was. I made so many friends in my street. It was even safe to walk in the dark. Nowadays even though I have moved, we still go to Minto temple because that’s really where our heart is. It’s great to see how far we’ve progressed.

When I grew up in Minto I never encountered anything resembling racism because I am a dark skinned girl… and my parents had warned me about it. I did encounter it in some places but not in Minto.

The Minto community has been absolutely fantastic in recognising the Hindu culture and as far as I know, there haven’t been any problems with the construction of the temple. I see it growing in the future. I see it, you know, becoming this place of great beauty, a place of serenity.