From an Uttar Pradesh village to Adelaide: A migrant’s call for belonging beyond the numbers
Dr Prem Dwivedi reflects on his migration from rural Uttar Pradesh to Australia, urging leaders to balance housing and infrastructure concerns with inclusion, opportunity and belonging.
PEOPLE & COMMUNITY
Dr Prem Dwivedi says Australia’s migration debate must not lose sight of the people behind the statistics, arguing that discussions about housing, infrastructure and population growth should also recognise migrants’ hopes, contributions and need for belonging.
Speaking at South Australia’s Parliament House on 21 September during the Don Dunstan Centenary Celebration, Dwivedi shared the journey that took him from a small village in Uttar Pradesh, India, to a career in science and community life in Adelaide. He attended alongside parliamentarians, community leaders and members of Don Dunstan’s family, and met South Australia’s Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Hon Nadia Clancy, while reconnecting with multicultural community leader Amarjit Singh Grewal.
Dwivedi arrived in Adelaide in 1995 as a scientist, but says his outlook was shaped long before then—by life in a rural Indian village and by years spent crossing cultures and continents. For him, migration is not simply a movement between countries; it is the work of creating a life, participating in a community and finding a place to call home.
He acknowledges that Australians have legitimate concerns about pressure on housing, public services and infrastructure. But he says migrants should not be reduced to population figures, because each person arrives with a family, memories, uncertainty, ambition and the desire to contribute.
Dwivedi also says integration carries responsibilities for newcomers. Migrants, he argues, should learn English, understand Australian law and democratic values, participate in local communities and contribute to the country they choose as home. At the same time, he says Australia must offer meaningful opportunities for people to take part and feel that they belong.
In his view, integration should not require migrants to abandon their heritage. He recalls initially misunderstanding the Australian phrase “bring a plate,” before seeing it as a metaphor for a multicultural society in which people contribute their cultures, languages, food, traditions, values, struggles and hopes.
Dwivedi says he can celebrate Diwali, speak both Hindi and English, remember his village and remain proudly Australian. Belonging, he argues, is not about forgetting one’s origins; it is about adding them to a shared national story.
His appeal to political leaders is for a mature migration conversation that treats nation-building as seriously as population figures. He says policy must address housing, infrastructure and essential services, while also strengthening English-language education, employment pathways and community participation.
The most meaningful forms of inclusion, he says, are often local: a neighbour offering a greeting, a workplace making someone welcome, a community group extending an invitation or a family sharing a meal. Those moments, he argues, can help transform a newcomer into a neighbour.
Dwivedi’s memoir, The Unlikely Indian Migrant: From a Village Boy to a Scientist in Australia – Against All Odds, traces his path from Uttar Pradesh to Australia. The book became a number-one Amazon Australia bestseller after publication, was later read in the Australian Senate during a contribution on social cohesion, and has been nominated for the 2026 CreateSA Ruby Awards.
The biomedical scientist and author says he remains grateful for the opportunities Australia provided and has sought to give back through science, education, community work and storytelling. His central message is that Australia can honestly debate practical challenges without overlooking migrants’ contributions—or the kind of country Australians want to build together.
Dwivedi’s view is simple: Australia is strongest not when everyone is asked to bring the same thing, but when there is room at the table for people to share what is uniquely theirs.
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