A love of metallurgy brought his doctor of science to Melbourne in 1953
Speaking to someone who came to Australia on a ship, as that was the only alternative at the time, is quite an enriching experience. Living in Australia, away from most of our families -- especially the older members of our families, we miss out on such narratives.
Dr Hari Narayan Sinha is a distinguished academic and specializes in the field of metallurgy. Born in 1929 in Rourkee, he speaks of the time that the government of the day set up a college for civil engineering at his hometown following the 1857 Mutiny (which is now referred to as the First War of Independence). “It is the oldest college for civil engineering. Much later, it became an IIT. They have very active research facilities there,” says Dr Sinha.
His interest in the subject was sparked when the college organized a trip to and iron and steel plant in Burnpur. “I thought at the time that this would not be a bad field to follow up on,” says Dr Sinha with a smile. He was probably smiling because that decision has guided the course of his life since.
After doing his post graduate studies at Banaras University, Dr Sinha was offered a fellowship by the Ausralian government to do a PhD at Melbourne University. This was in 1953.
So Dr Sinha set sail from Mumbai and, after touching Colombo and Perth, he docked in Melbourne. “The number of Indians here, you could count them on the fingers of one hand,” says Dr Sinha with a laugh. “Most of them were academics at the time. There were some hawkers who used to go to all these country town selling things. They used to use a horse drawn carriage. You don’t have such things now anymore.”
After his PhD, Dr Sinha went back to India as a Reader at Banaras University and later took up a position at IIT Mumbai. It was around this time that Melbourne University called him back to Australia to do a post-doctoral course. “I was involved in that work for about 3 years and that’s when I got an offer to join CSIRO.” Dr Sinha worked at the CSIRO facility for a long time and was involved in a number of other projects for many other company such are Murphy Ores. “I don’t know if you remember the Fraser Island mining issue. I was working on that when it was stopped and then I went back to CSIRO.” The facility, which is now in Clayton, used to be in Port Melbourne. “In fact, one of my last projects before I retired was the amalgamation of the two facilities in the early 1990s,” says Dr Sinha.
Dr Sinha used to go to India about two or three times a year when he was working and traveling around the world as part of work. “I haven’t been back to India since 1998 I think,” says Dr Sinha, struggling to remember when he last went there. With his two daughters and granddaughter here, it is no wonder.
Speaking about the work done by Indian organizations at the time, Dr Sinha stresses that the focus used to be very different. “When it was first set up, the Australia India Society of Victoria was meant to be a forum where people who were interested to know about the culture and philosophy of India would find information. We used to hold seminars and so on.”
Melbourne University had a department for Indian studies and it was a Professor Gibson from this department who initiated the work on the society. Dr Sinha was one of the founders and served as President on many occasions. “In fact, when the constitution of the society was written, we stipulated that half of the executive board would be composed of Australians. This was before the time when Indian would be given Australian citizenships,” says Dr Sinha, chuckling.
There used to be a lot of Indian academics at the time as many universities were being set up. La Trobe, Monash were all set up around this time and the wave of Indian arriving on Australian shore usually made their way to one of these facilities.
Melbourne University also encouraged some of the students from their department of Indian studies to travel to India and the Australia India Society of Victoria would help out with some of the logistics. Today, he has chosen to move on and leave the younger group to deal with the various Indian organizations that have come up.
One of the main problems of having such a small population is the access to Indian food. “I remember when there were no spices or anything available. Then cames Mrs Fernandes’ pickles and spices. That was from Pune.” Dr Sinha remembers the trouble hosting parties for visiting Indians like Pandit Ravi Shankar. “They would have very strict diet restrictions and we would have various Indian families pitching in with their dishes.”
Dr Sinha has been in Australia so long that he remembers the first Indian restaurant that opened on Swanston Street.
While Dr Sinha is proud of his membership of the Order of Australia for his contribution in Science and Technology and Australia India Relations, he is also keen to point out a group that he founded called IDEAS. IDEAS stands XXX. “I am not involved in it now but I believe the youngsters are still carrying on. It was set up so we could exchange ideas between India and Australia. There are obviously some knowledge that we are not free to share due to its nature but then there were others that we could.”
Nowadays, he spends his days improving his golf.
Dr Hari Narayan Sinha is a distinguished academic and specializes in the field of metallurgy. Born in 1929 in Rourkee, he speaks of the time that the government of the day set up a college for civil engineering at his hometown following the 1857 Mutiny (which is now referred to as the First War of Independence). “It is the oldest college for civil engineering. Much later, it became an IIT. They have very active research facilities there,” says Dr Sinha.
His interest in the subject was sparked when the college organized a trip to and iron and steel plant in Burnpur. “I thought at the time that this would not be a bad field to follow up on,” says Dr Sinha with a smile. He was probably smiling because that decision has guided the course of his life since.
After doing his post graduate studies at Banaras University, Dr Sinha was offered a fellowship by the Ausralian government to do a PhD at Melbourne University. This was in 1953.
So Dr Sinha set sail from Mumbai and, after touching Colombo and Perth, he docked in Melbourne. “The number of Indians here, you could count them on the fingers of one hand,” says Dr Sinha with a laugh. “Most of them were academics at the time. There were some hawkers who used to go to all these country town selling things. They used to use a horse drawn carriage. You don’t have such things now anymore.”
After his PhD, Dr Sinha went back to India as a Reader at Banaras University and later took up a position at IIT Mumbai. It was around this time that Melbourne University called him back to Australia to do a post-doctoral course. “I was involved in that work for about 3 years and that’s when I got an offer to join CSIRO.” Dr Sinha worked at the CSIRO facility for a long time and was involved in a number of other projects for many other company such are Murphy Ores. “I don’t know if you remember the Fraser Island mining issue. I was working on that when it was stopped and then I went back to CSIRO.” The facility, which is now in Clayton, used to be in Port Melbourne. “In fact, one of my last projects before I retired was the amalgamation of the two facilities in the early 1990s,” says Dr Sinha.
Dr Sinha used to go to India about two or three times a year when he was working and traveling around the world as part of work. “I haven’t been back to India since 1998 I think,” says Dr Sinha, struggling to remember when he last went there. With his two daughters and granddaughter here, it is no wonder.
Speaking about the work done by Indian organizations at the time, Dr Sinha stresses that the focus used to be very different. “When it was first set up, the Australia India Society of Victoria was meant to be a forum where people who were interested to know about the culture and philosophy of India would find information. We used to hold seminars and so on.”
Melbourne University had a department for Indian studies and it was a Professor Gibson from this department who initiated the work on the society. Dr Sinha was one of the founders and served as President on many occasions. “In fact, when the constitution of the society was written, we stipulated that half of the executive board would be composed of Australians. This was before the time when Indian would be given Australian citizenships,” says Dr Sinha, chuckling.
There used to be a lot of Indian academics at the time as many universities were being set up. La Trobe, Monash were all set up around this time and the wave of Indian arriving on Australian shore usually made their way to one of these facilities.
Melbourne University also encouraged some of the students from their department of Indian studies to travel to India and the Australia India Society of Victoria would help out with some of the logistics. Today, he has chosen to move on and leave the younger group to deal with the various Indian organizations that have come up.
One of the main problems of having such a small population is the access to Indian food. “I remember when there were no spices or anything available. Then cames Mrs Fernandes’ pickles and spices. That was from Pune.” Dr Sinha remembers the trouble hosting parties for visiting Indians like Pandit Ravi Shankar. “They would have very strict diet restrictions and we would have various Indian families pitching in with their dishes.”
Dr Sinha has been in Australia so long that he remembers the first Indian restaurant that opened on Swanston Street.
While Dr Sinha is proud of his membership of the Order of Australia for his contribution in Science and Technology and Australia India Relations, he is also keen to point out a group that he founded called IDEAS. IDEAS stands XXX. “I am not involved in it now but I believe the youngsters are still carrying on. It was set up so we could exchange ideas between India and Australia. There are obviously some knowledge that we are not free to share due to its nature but then there were others that we could.”
Nowadays, he spends his days improving his golf.
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