Rani Khuman nee Siyali arrived in Australia in September 1963 from India to further her Library Science studies at the University of New South Wales. She joined her two brothers who had come to Australia in the 1950s.
"It concerned my mother ... she thought when I go to overseas I might change my values ... I had to promise my parents I will assimilate but still keep my culture."
"When I came here people thought I come from such a poor country ... they would say to me … 'do you live in a mud hut?' I come from Chandigarh which is one of the most modern places in the world ... it is an architecturally designed place ... . That sort of thing surprised me. ... that people are a bit naïve ... I felt we knew more about Australia than Australians knew about other parts of the world."
"When I came here there were hardly any [Indians], ... maybe one or two people. There was no Indian worshipping place ... I'm Sikh, I need a Gurdwara ... now we have seven big Gurdwaras ... One in Parklea [Sydney] could sit 1,000-2,000 people at a time."
