TE ROPU INIA O TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA

UNITE SERVE CELEBRATE

Welcome to Bharat Bhavan, the home of Wellington Indian Association and Gita Mandir.

Bharat Bhavan is open daily.

Established in 1925

Indian culture for Indians in Wellington.

You can help make a difference by making a donation. There are many ways you can contribute.

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Tracing our ancestry project

We’re working with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa to identify the portraits of our forefathers and foremothers who had their portraits taken in the 1930s.

Learn more

Enjoy an extraordinary evening celebrating with friends from across the decades.

Enjoy a three-course meal and complimentary refreshments all night.

To order tickets, please email info@wia.org.nz

Wellington's Indian Story: Beyond A Century

PREORDER $45

This year marks the centennial celebration of the Wellington Indian Association, and halfway through this year, a new book will unveil the community's rich history with the city.

That history goes back much further than 100 years, with the first Indian migrants jumping ship in the late 1700s.

Jaqueline Leckie said that was something that was still little-known to most Kiwis, but she had spent most of her career researching the Indian diaspora, and how they landed in white settler colonies like Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

"I think it was about 1769, [where] there's records of some Indian sailors on ships, one was with the French East India company. And then later, Indian men were working on ships that were run by the British East India companies," Leckie explained.

Leckie had written multiple books about the history of Indian migration, and her latest focused on the Wellington region. It detailed how Indians settled and developed into the community that existed there today.

"So looking more at the importance of place, and connection which you would find in other parts of Aotearoa," she said.

Wellington's Indian story: beyond a century will be released in the middle of this year.