Indian life in Australia: food, festivals and entertainment

Australia is home to 845,800 overseas Indians. Here is where to find Indian food, festivals and entertainment there. For the Indian embassy and NRI services, see NRI services in Australia.

Where to find Indian food and shops

Sydney's best known Indian area is Harris Park in the City of Parramatta, around Wigram Street, often called Sydney's Little India, with restaurants, sweet shops and grocers. In Melbourne, the Little India Cultural Precinct on Foster Street in Dandenong has been the centre of Indian shopping since 1990. Every Australian city has Indian restaurants, from Punjabi and Mughlai to South Indian, Gujarati and Indo-Chinese. Long-established names include Saravanaa Bhavan, the South Indian chain from Chennai, with branches in several cities, and Sydney's Govinda's in Darlinghurst, run by the Hare Krishna movement, where dinner can come with a film.

Festivals and celebrations

Harris Park closes Wigram Street for a free Diwali street party each year, and Diwali and Holi are celebrated by community associations in every state capital. The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne is held every year.

Culture and films

New Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and other Indian films usually open in Australian cinemas in the same week as in India. India's cultural centre in Sydney, run by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, holds classes and performances; see ICCR's list of Indian cultural centres.

Overseas Indian figures: Ministry of External Affairs, as of January 2026.