“You are the custodians of the Indian community’s history in Australia.”
The weight of these words struck us when a well-wisher recently described us so. Hearing that statement brought home to us the sheer length of the journey we’ve travelled with you, our readers and listeners.
We’ve been fortunate to have been storytellers of Australia’s Indian community for 28 years now. What a privilege it has been to record the different chapters over the years, as we jointly reached new heights in business, corporate, science, arts, community service, sport and other endeavours.
The documenting of our history expanded across platforms as new avenues of communication opened up. Indian Link is still the community’s only continuous published masthead – having printed every month, even during COVID lockdowns.
Indian Link Radio, born in 2002, entertains and informs, has real-time interaction in a 24/7 format, and is an integral part of the daily lives of many of you reading this.
As we embraced digital, Indian Link took on many ‘new looks’ in connecting with community. Our website is refreshed with new stories every day, and at last count had over 800,000 monthly impressions. Our Facebook, Insta, and Twitter accounts offer thought-provoking content as well as lifestyle features, and yes, the occasional cat videos (how could we miss those).
Many of you who have given up on your print habit continue to engage with us digitally, faithfully opening our weekly e-newsletter – which has just under 50,000 subscribers today.
Even as the community has burgeoned from less than 100,000 in 1994 to over 750,000 in 2021 and counting, the avenues from which to gather community information have similarly increased, and this is heartening for us to observe as our own industry evolves. We must all however, endeavour to uphold our responsibility to this community, and ensure the fair and accurate representation of all its views. Without this, the core social values of free expression and critical debate are restrained, limiting our growth and development.
As the relationship between India and Australia continues to grow, the obvious trend of higher Indian migration will continue. It is important that they get the full story rather than ‘selfies’.
What excites us about the future is the clear trend emerging with young Indian-Australians as they burst into mainstream Australia – ambitious, industrious, intelligent and articulate, they are keen not only to make a mark in their field, but to speak up for what they believe is right, to join movements for righting wrongs, and to be the change they want to see in the world. We can’t wait to unravel the treasure trove of their stories.
A word of thanks to our fellow chroniclers of community – our contributors, radio presenters and office team – you make it possible for us to continue doing what we do.
Our readers, listeners and followers, thank you for your trust.
To our advertisers, those who have been with us for years as well as those who jumped on in recent months, we value your support.
To all of you together, a sincere thanks from Rajni and I, for being part of our own journey of growth.
As we begin our 29th year, all we can say is, it’s been a blast.
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