Australia’s largest Anglo-Celtic community group has spoken out after the town of Griffith in western New South Wales renamed a roundabout in Punjabi as a result of lobbying from Sikh immigrants.
The roundabout at the intersection of Thorne Road and Kidman Way had been called Forlico Corner by locals for 50 years in honour of the pioneering Forlico family, but last year Sikh community leader Harpreet Singh proposed naming it Khalsa Chowk, which means “pure junction” in Punjabi.
The initiative was supported by former councillor Manjit Singh Lally, the only Sikh to have served on the Griffith City Council, and the new name was approved in December, despite Sikhs being just 3.4% of the town’s population at the time of the 2021 Census.
A new sign was erected at the roundabout earlier this month with the name Khalsa Chowk written in the English alphabet and Punjabi, which Mr Lally called a “proud moment”.
But the British Australian Community (BAC), which is running a Name Back campaign against the erasure of Australia’s historic place names, criticised the decision to give the roundabout the new foreign name, along with many others who complained on social media.
BAC president Harry Richardson told Noticer News the renaming was yet another example of immigrants from non-European backgrounds trying to “stamp their own identities” onto Australia’s history and culture, and said it “shows our elites to be idiotically out of touch at best”.
“British Australians built a free and democratic society that works fantastically for a homogenous and individualistic people. Unfortunately, this system is vulnerable to self-serving minorities,” he said.
“By collaborating, even a small minority can steamroll the interests of the traditional Australian majority who are concerned with fairness and win-win solutions that benefit everyone. This dynamic includes ethnic bloc voting and lobbying.
“When combined with systemic Anglophobia which is ingrained in our children by ruthless educators it leaves traditional Australians locked out of the political system and browbeaten with accusations of extreme racism for simply defending their heritage.”
Mr Richardson said aggressive minorities had their demands met with ease as a result, and that Anglos needed to organise in a similar way to counteract the phenomenon.
“Traditional Australians are still the majority and need to back organisations and individuals who understand the game and are looking out for majority group interests in the same way that these minority groups do,” he said.
“We understand that this goes against our national ethos but if we don’t, we will soon find ourselves and our children as a hated minority in the land which our forebears settled and built.”
🚨 A roundabout known locally as the ‘Forlico Corner’ for over 50 years, named after a pioneering Australian family who helped build Griffith—has now been officially renamed in Punjabi as “Khalsa Chowk”, complete with foreign script. The Sikh community makes up just 3.6% of the… pic.twitter.com/ok4Qw4gzf5
— British Australian Community (@Brit_Aus_Com) June 21, 2025
Griffith is home to fewer than 1,000 Sikhs, and when the renaming was proposed a group of local residents objected at a council meeting in November, saying it should be named after the Forlicos instead, in line with local tradition, Region Riverina reported.
“I met the Forlico family on Sunday and they are in agreement with what I’m saying. I have a deep respect for what the Sikh community have done, but we believe there are other ways they can be recognised, other than this roundabout,” community representative Brian Sainty told council at the time.
“The people of Griffith and Hanwood have always called that corner Forlico roundabout; it’s been that way for 50 years; I don’t think you can rush away folklore like that.
“The Forlico family have been here for 102 years and they have been icons of the city … the considerable contributions of the Forlicos have been dismissed.”
But the following month the council voted in favour of the Punjabi name, with documents stating that the mayor had visited the Forlico family who told him they did not want the roundabout named after them, and former councillor Lally again pushing for the Sikh name.
“We chose this place as it’s very close to our amenities, which makes it significant for us to recognise this place just next to our temple,” he said.
“The community is getting bigger and bigger; I would like to request the naming of the roundabout again.”
The renaming comes after a tiny town in Western Australia with a Sikh population of zero was given the state’s first Sikh place name, and Berwick Springs Lake in Melbourne was renamed Guru Nanak Lake after the founder of Sikhism without community consultation, sparking a series of protests.
Sikhs are also lobbying the NSW government for a religious exemption from motorcycle helmet laws, and earlier this year Indian immigrants in Ballarat, Victoria, angered Australians by demanding Punjabi be taught in state schools so their children feel more accepted.
Header image: Left, the roundabout’s new sign. Right, Mr Lally with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Facebook).
