It’s now official!
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Blacktown/ Parramatta and Liverpool areas are the Curry areas (People of Indian and Subcontinent language speaking origins) of Sydney, having the largest migrant groups. The recent ABS study, Sydney’s Ethnic Suburbs, clearly shows “Sydney’s curry belts in the greater west from Harris Park to Blacktown….. Minto with surrounding suburbs.” Also growing to be another curry belt corridor is Glenwood/Kellyville Ridge/The Ponds in the northwest, with its close proximity to Blacktown/ Parramatta, with many Punjabis enjoying living in Sydney’s outskirts. Source – ABS Sydney Ethic Suburbs 2014
The ABS study also shows 250 languages spoken across Sydney, making Sydney truly a cosmopolitan and multicultural global city, one to be proud of. Surprisingly there is a fourth “curry area” in Sydney-Eastlakes/ Hillsdale in the Mascot/Botany area. According to Telstra’s White Pages, “Singh has replaced Smith as the largest surname group in Blacktown local council area.”
In the Parramatta local government area, the largest Indian surnames are Patel and Arora. Nearly 40% of Sydney’s population speaks some language apart from English, coming out of the ABS 2011 Census Data. “Language groups in Sydney are more concentrated than in Melbourne, Australia’s other great home to migrants”, making Sydney the migrant capital of Australia. Indian and Subcontinent people, referred to as South Asians, are the five largest migrant groups across Sydney, after East Asian, Middle Eastern, Southern European and South East Asian.
NSW Minister for Multiculturalism and Community, Victor Dominello MP who visited India in February this year feels encouraged at the growth and success of the Indian/Subcontinent community in Sydney, saying “looking forward to returning to India to build on the strong relationship between NSW and India, which is a priority market for our State. NSW is open
and ready for business with India.” “NSW and India are both pursuing ambitious infrastructure programs, with the Indian Government aiming to invest a staggering US$1 trillion into infrastructure in the five years to 2017.”
“In 2012–13, India was Australia’s largest source of permanent and skilled migrants and the Indian community is the fourth-largest migrant community in our country.” “India is NSW’s second largest source of international students, with almost 11,300 Indian students enrolments in NSW in 2012.”