Perth’s Langley Park glowed with colour and music over the weekend as the Indian Society of Western Australia staged its annual Diwali Mela on 4 and 5 October. Premier Roger Cook took the stage on Saturday evening, offering his warm wishes to the crowd: “What a night, WA! Wishing everyone a bright and happy Diwali.”
The event is backed by the State Government’s Global Connections Through Local Events program, which has committed $500,000 to the festival. In total, the program will distribute $900,000 among three major cultural events in WA this year: Diwali Mela, the Australian Arab Festival, and WA Africa Week.
Diwali Mela, run by the Indian Society of Western Australia, is free to attend and runs over two days from midday to about 9:30 pm. The organisers describe it as a family-friendly, smoke-free, alcohol-free festival, featuring a mixture of food stalls, cultural performances, spiritual stalls, and local entrepreneurs. Although official numbers for this year are yet to be released, past editions have reportedly drawn crowds in excess of 40,000 over two days.
Cook’s appearance reflected the government’s ongoing effort to support multicultural events that celebrate the diversity of the State. The initiative also aims to encourage participation from small and medium businesses across different communities, offering them a platform to engage with new audiences.
Other speakers during the festival included the Consul-General of India, Kajari Biswas, and prominent community figures who praised the contributions of the Indian diaspora to Western Australia’s multicultural fabric. Bollywood stars Chunky Panday and Poonam Dhillon performed to enthusiastic applause, while Murdoch University’s Prof Rajeev Varshney was presented with a Recognition Award by Member for Pilbara, Kevin Michel MLA.
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