We’re a people of mixed race. our origin is rooted in families formed during the time of European occupation in India, and a unique community that has mixed heritage, blended looks and culture, speaking English as our mother-tongue, yet who imbibe very strong Indian values, and consider India their motherland till today, although we call other countries home. A quick dash on Wikipedia or Google will give you a great rundown on the history of Anglo-Indian, as a mixed race created to be a conduit bridging European and Indian cultures. After India’s independence in 1947, many Europeans and Indians stayed in India as it is the land they called home.
Over the decades spanning from the 1950s through to the 2000s, many Anglo-Indians, unsure of their future and prospects in India due to their mixed heritage, migrated to Australia, in search of greener pastures, and found a home in the land Down Under. While the majority of Anglo-Indians have migrated to many parts of the world, in Australia, the people of this community have gravitated towards their own heritage even in Australia, with a high concentration in Melbourne followed by Sydney, and then other major cities such as Perth and Brisbane. Today, Indians are the second largest ethnic community in Australia, and Anglo-Indians are the second largest after the Punjabis.
Coming from wartime families, and with little ancestral wealth, and spending their life’s savings on an expensive immigration process, the people of this community put to work their multi-skilled backgrounds, hard-working nature, great communication skills, good ethics and values, and easily adaptable personalities to gain good employment opportunities in various industries and fields of work and have made a name for themselves. Even though, in political spheres Anglo-Indians are still bundled in with Indian immigration statistics, of late, many of our second-generation Australian-born Anglo-Indians have started proudly sharing their ancestry in public forums, bringing about a resurgence of pride in our mixed heritage and Indian identity!
As an Indian-born Australian Anglo-Indian myself, and my son being an Aussie-born Australian Anglo-Indian, my personal journey has been a plethora of amazing opportunities and experiences drawing on my mixed basket of versatile capabilities, the innate adaptiveness inborn in a person of mixed heritage, and a strong disciplined and Indian value-based upbringing. You may ask the question “Why move overseas?” and as you keep reading further, that’s precisely what you’d come to understand! Like every other Indian who sought greener pastures, armoured with an MBA and already on a successful career path, I set off on a one-way flight to Sydney Australia at the age of 29 years, leaving behind all that I knew of the world and life, to face a new reality. Was it easy? Absolutely NO. From proving my ability to converse in English, authenticating my qualifications, to having the right etiquette and skills, I had to re-prove myself every step of the way, which often left me wondering why I left home. But within a year, my reality changed so dramatically that I knew life had changed for the better. From healthcare when I encountered a huge health setback, to support in personal circumstances of domestic violence and marriage breakdown, and career progression with opportunities that came my way through a fair process, I achieved my end-of-career goal by the age of 48 years, serving as a Company Director for ANZ, and Regional Head of Communications (Europe, South Africa, ANZ) to a large Multi-national corporation! Owning my own home and having all my needs met, I can say that I am truly blessed to be living every Anglo-Indian’s dream!
There are many Anglo-indians today who are making a name for themselves, achieving success in spheres such as sports, the arts, the sciences and in business! Some recognisable Australian Anglo-Indian legends such as Frederick Teepoo Hall who helped establish physiotherapy in Australia, Basil Sellers sporting philanthropy pioneer, Olympian sprinter Ronald Burns, of the yesteryears, to the recognisable names of today, including WA Senator Christabel Chamarette, Australian former cricketer Stuart Clark, Australian singer song-writer Samantha Jade, Australian professional soccer player Samantha Kerr, Australian international cricketer Alana King, and even young theatrical singer and Australia’s Got Talent’s youngest finalist Sienna Desmier.
I caught up with a few fellow Anglo-Indians who are true everyday success-stories in the corporate world, traversing down memory lane on their journeys to success and capturing their thoughts and sentiments about their Indian heritage along the way….
Brian & Marcel Jones – Father and Son duo were a pleasure to catch up with. Brian Jones, ex-VP Wipro Limited, and his wife ex-Headmistress of The Frank Anthony Public School, Bengaluru.
Both Brian and Jeanne Jones had “reached the pinnacle of career success” when they made the life-changing decision to immigrate to Australia on realising that “In India the competition is so fierce and educating three children in the US would be frightfully expensive”. Besides, “the ease of the move, having family already in Australia” seemed to be an easy decision, but nothing could prepare them for the harsh reality that Brian faced for “someone of his calibre” especially in the 90’s in the height of the Australian depression. As a family they returned to India, and re-visited their decision two years later, returning to Australia with a “reset mindset” and “a focus on what was required rather than what we require” and with the primary motivation being their children “to give them a go”. Surprisingly, the first person in the family to start working was their teenage son, Mark! Life then took a change for the better with jobs, home, cars, and fabulous opportunities for their children then and for their grandchildren today. “It meant a lot of adjustments,” stated Brian, foregoing the luxurious lifestyle of cooks, maids and car drivers, settling for a simpler suburban lifestyle in Sydney. He added “thank God we had more ups than downs”. He proudly stated that the rewards are “qualitative” in that all his 3 children “achieved well academically and professionally, which may not have been possible in India” at that time, and calling it a “rewarding experience, that it was all not done in vain” and considering it their biggest achievement. What Brian loved about his new life in Australia is that “you are not seen as different; you are accepted and given a fair opportunity to prove yourself” and believes that his roots in India inculcated “the principles and values of family”, “the ethics of hard work” and the ability to focus on and navigate your personal path amidst all that happens around you. Sharing his sentiments about India, Brian shared mixed sentiments stating that, “Today, India is a much more vibrant country than what it was, a lot more universal, and a far better opportunity for the middle-class person, but still has remnants of the past with divisions”. Brian loves visiting family in the motherland, but still calls Australia home.
Second-generation Australian Anglo-Indian, Marcel Jones, currently in Executive Leadership with a Multinational Tech Company immigrated to Australia as a teen under the wings of his parents, Brian and Jeanne Jones, shared his journey with a very different lens! He shared that he has “a very clear memory and good memories of growing up in India, going to school and church in Bangalore, and friends” with whom he is still in touch. He also shared equally good memories of growing up in Australia as a teenager. Discussing the two cultures, and being married to an Australian, he made an interesting point describing “Anglo-Indian culture and Australian culture are very different but are very complementary. There is no large conflict with coming from an Anglo-Indian background and settling in Australia, as the Australian society gives you the ability to maintain your heritage, culture, values and all that’s required to maintain it, and all this in the context of a largely migrant-based country”. He reflected on his first major achievement assuming a Company Director role at the age of 26 at a Global Tech company, giving credit to the pure meritocracy in Australia, and shared that his hard work in his 20’s and 30’s have led to his success, as his journey continues! He expressed gratitude to his parents, referring to his journey as “relatively easy” compared to that of his parents, stating that he “would not have had all these opportunities and would not have been able to succeed the way he has, if his parents had not made that life-changing decision”. Marcel sentimentally shared that he is “proud to be Anglo-Indian, but more so proud of his Indian heritage”. When asked about how he would share his heritage with his children, he shared that his children, although young, already refer to their heritage as “half Indian” and as they grow, he intends to tell the tale of Anglo-Indian history and focus more on passing down the core values of family-orientation. Having lived most of his life in Australia, although Marcel calls Australia home, he shared that “India will always hold a very special place” in his heart.
Algy & Isobelle Pereira, an Anglo-Indian couple hailing from Chennai, who immigrated to Australia in their early 20’s. Algy, currently CEO at Direct Group, and with over 2 decades of Executive Leadership roles with retail giants such as Woolworths, Myers and Big W, is an absolute example of corporate success based on good old home-grown values of hard work, clear goals and persistence.
Algy recounted his personal journey as being, “bitter sweet, leaving Mum and Dad, my sisters, family, and close friends that I grew up with in Pallavaram (Madras)”. Algy recollects as most first-generation immigrants would, that they started with nothing and went through enormously difficult times early upon arrival in Sydney. “Life was hard, from sleeping on the floor to filling out rental forms for accommodation, and with furniture and household stuff purchased at garage sales”. He also shared pivotal memories of “the generosity of fellow Anglo-Indians, who gave us a room, so we had somewhere to stay and a truckload of their second-hand furniture to get us started.
Algy described his journey as grabbing “every opportunity with both hands as it came along”
About his Anglo-Indian heritage, Algy says “Our kids will never know or experience our upbringing back in India, and this is the fundamental difference. I think our kids identify as Australian first and then Anglo-Indians. It’s not a bad thing, as this is evolution”.
Algy sentimentally summed up saying “Australia has given me a lot, and I will always be grateful. However, deep down, I love and cherish my childhood memories in India. I reminisce about my early, carefree life with family, friends, a close-knit neighbourhood, and our unique Anglo-Indian culture”.
Anita Chettur, an Indian-born second-generation Anglo-Indian, and serving as a Director within the Community Services Directorate of the Australian Government, shared with us her unique journey of immigrating to Australia with her husband and young child. She recollects that “the support system was very limited; you leave the comfort of familiar friends and faces and readjusting can be challenging especially with a 3 year old at the time”.
A Social Worker by profession, although fully qualified in India, the professional path in Australia wasn’t easy. As a young mother then, Anita recounts “I stayed home with my little girl and took on odd jobs for 3-4 years. Then my son was born in Australia and when he was 3, I pursued a profession in the field of Child Protection. I had definitely found my niche”.
Anita described their family life as being one where her husband gladly shared all the parenting duties, which allowed her to pursue further studies in Australia and kick-start her career, making it from a front-line social worker to leading the whole department. She attributes “that success I put down to nuances that culturally rich upbringing gave me and my life experience of moving to a new country”.
Her mixed cultural background, she says “has always allowed me to be more tolerant and appreciative of differences and emerged as my strength. My husband and I, as a result have raised our children in an environment that was laced with diversity, curiosity and allowed for a open view and a pride for our identity”.
Speaking of home and homeland, Anita is sentimental about the home built by her husband and herself through their hard work, nestled in a lovely suburb in the vicinity of Canberra.
I hope that the accounts of these everyday successful Indian-born Australian Anglo-Indians, shares an appreciation of the Indian values that have rooted deeply in this community, who hold fast to it today, and whose lives it has shaped in the new land they call home.
In a decade from now, who knows! The Anglo-Indian community may not even exist or may have a completely different tale to tell. For now, many of us have found a home away from home in lands outside India, yet the values, culture and fond memories of our childhood and foundations continue to live in our hearts and continue to be told as tales to our next generation!