Bawa Singh Jagdev
Bawa Singh Jagdev was born in Village Lohara, Distt. Jalandhar, Punjab. After obtaining his professional
qualification at Panjab University, he migrated to Kenya in 1959. For further education, he went to U.K.
When the political situation in Kenya became inclement, he shifted his family to Sydney, Australia in 1975.
There were a very few Sikh in Sydney at that time. S. Bawa Singh, being a devout Sikh established the first
ever Gurdwara and then two Punjabi Schools in Sydney. In 1998 he was responsible for the amendment to
the Weapon’s Bill so that Sikhs could legally wear their Kirpan. Bawa Singh established the Sikh Council
of Australia, this organization got Sikhs in Australia recognized as a denomination. He setup a Senate
Committee which received fair compensation for the Sikh farmers in Woolgoolga.
For his services to the
community, he was awarded the Medal of the order of Australia (OAM). He was the first ever Sikh Australian
to get this honour. Since then he has been actively engaged in community service. He is the Secretary of the
Sikh Council of Australia, which has since been authorized by the Australian Government as the nominating
authority for the appointment of the marriage celebrant for the Sikhs. It also goes to the credit of Bawa Singh
that, alongside addressing the issues of significance to Sikh-Australians, he has lobbied actively for other
communities to. He has made submissions for a ban of smoking, defended the right of Muslim girls to wear
the hijab to school, supported the Hindu community when then temple at Auburn was attacked, and raised
funds for victims of disasters like the tsunami in 2004 and the floods in Pakistan. Recently he has also started
a Helpline for women victims of domestic violence. Thus, it is justified that a role model Gursikh like him
has been awarded the Lifetime Community Services Award from NSW Government, Australian Sikh of the
year and the “Order of Australia” award for his services to the community. This makes him a role model
among the Sikhs.