"A Nation's Culture Resides in the Hearts and in Soul of its People"  Mahatma Gandhi

THE NATIONAL FLAG OF INDIA  is in tricolour (TIRANGA) of deep saffron (Kesari) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportions.

The Indian flag is a horizontal tricolour in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. The ratio of the width to the length of the flag is two is to three. In the centre of the white band, there is a wheel in navy blue to indicate the Dharma Chakra, the wheel of law in the Sarnath Lion Capital. This center symbol or the 'CHAKRA',  is a Buddhist symbol dating back to 200th century BC.

Its diameter approximates the width of the white band and it has 24 spokes, which intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; the white, for purity and truth; the green for faith and fertility.

The design of the National Flag of India was adopted by India's constituent assembly on 22nd july, 1947. It's use and display are regulated by a code.

The flag symbolizes freedom. The late Prime Minister Pandit Nehru called it a flag not only of freedom for ourselves, but a symbol of freedom for all people.

There is always a Gujarat wherever a Gujarati resides

The Gujarati Community in Queensland has come along way since the early days of 1950’s and 60’s when Gujarati students came to study here and went back to their home countries. Referring to the article in the GAQ booklet 1994 about our history in Queensland, it is clear that now we have three strong associations which are interlinked. We have regular annual activities like Navratri and New Year. Our school is running well. Attempts are made regularly to get the members interested in other activities like picnics, dinners, trips for the seniors and activities for the youth.

All this is no mean achievement when we consider that we have come from various parts of the world like India, England, Fiji, South Africa and East Africa ( to name a few places ) where we practiced our culture in the local environment with varying conditions and paradigms. Our common heritage and the belief that we are all of one cultural background have united us together here. 

The questions raised are “Are we happy with the progress we are making?” “Is there more which can be done for us to put our heritage on firmer foundation?” The first generation of Gujarats is who arrived here thirty to forty years ago are still making economic contribution to our adopted country – some have retired from active work force. The second generation of Gujarati Queenslanders have finished their schooling and tertiary education and joined the work force on equal terms with the established communities and are contributing well. Some of them are married or getting married with partners from other parts of the world or local Gujarati Queenslanders.

 Can the first generation Gujarati Queenslanders sit back and rest and proudly boast that they have made enough of a contribution that our Gujarati culture and traditions will be firmly entranced in Queensland with our successors? After all it was the foresight of our forefathers in the countries they migrated to that made certain that we inherited all traditions of Gujarat. Our forefathers worked hard to retain our traditions and heritage while settling down in difficult environment and passed the heritage and traditions on to us to bring the riches here. Are we comfortable that we haw instilled enough of our rich history and community values in our children for them to be proud to be Gujarati Queenslanders and pass the values onto future generations? Will our future generations feel lost without proper education of their roots?

 If the answer by the members is that they have done enough then we can sit on our laurels. If the answer is that we do more then this gives us an ideal opportunity to review and work out a strategy for future planning.

 Our numbers are strong enough for us to have influence in the politics of this state and share our traditions with Non-Gujarat is. We are big enough to lobby the Indian High Commission in Canberra. We can be a force in the Indian Community here in participating in various activities-social, cultural, economic, religious and spiritual. We can determine our own destiny. The choice is ours and the hard work is for us to perform to achieve the goals we set.

 A GUJARAT QUEENSLANDER

(source GAQ 10th Anniversary 1993-2003 handbook)