TAMIL SENIOR CITIZENS FELLOWSHIP (Vic) Inc.
Reg. No: A0019136J
ABN: 36 907 732 292
(Jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments)
1. Preamble.
Many Tamils living in Colombo and suburbs were in a quandary since the outburst of the
1983 race riot. Many lost their homes and worldly possessions, not knowing what the
future holds for them having been drifted to refugee camps. Their children and next of kin
scattered oversees were even more worried as to what the future holds for these victims.
For those relatives resident in Australia who had emigrated to Australia under skilled
emigration appealed to the Australian Government to permit the victims of the race riot to
emigrate as refugees and under the category of family reunion of their children and near
and dear ones in Australia. The delegation was led by late Professor Eliezer who had
emigrated to Australia under skilled emigration earlier. Consequent to the holocaust,
among the early emigrants was late Rev. John Selvaratnam who was the former Warden of
St. Thomas's College Mt. Lavinia.
As the days went by, the uprooted seniors were wondering whether they were dropped
from the frying pan into the fire, where they found themselves in an alien country with
inclement weather conditions cooped up in the residences of their children and relatives.
Late Rev. Selvaratnam sympathised with the plight of these emigrants and formed a support
group of the younger emigrants in the church he was in charge to gather such people for a
meeting in the church hall where he was then in charge of, to evolve a solution to the
dilemma these emigrants were facing. This so called small gathering comprising of Christian
and Hindu members decided to form a group called the TAMIL SENIOR CITIZENS
FELLOWSHIP. They elected a committee and urged the Fellowship to apply for registration
as an association and eventually to draft a constitution for approval as a registered body in
1987. This is briefly the history of the formation of the Tamil Senior Citizens Fellowship (Vic)
Inc. This organisation received due recognition and from thence went on gathering
momentum to grow in membership. Presently there are around 400 members. As the
membership grew many problems arose concerning place of Religious worship, availability
of a venue for conducting meetings, need for cheap housing for independent living and
many other needs for the Emigrant Tamil Community was a great concern. As it is said that
Rome was not built in a day, so can problems be not solved immediately, but gradually by
and by.
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2. Scope of activities.
As the strength of the membership increased the need for independent living in cheap
housing facility was a primary requirement as living with children and relatives was not a
desired option for the emigrants, and many other issues arose. These issues were sorted
out with the Victorian government by giving us low cost housing scheme in selected
suburbs, the allocation to members is on a means tested basis for couples and individuals.
3. Social gathering for purposes of celebrating religious and cultural activities.
The council was able to make available a large meeting hall once a month to accommodate
about 250 members with an industrial kitchen attached and another small hall in a nearby
suburb for indoor recreational activities once a week together with a room in the bigger hall
for the purpose of holding monthly committee meetings for 3 hours. The rental for these
facilities are covered by grants from the council. The availability of these facilities are within
walking distance from public transport system which was a great boon for members
4. Monthly Activities at the main Hall.
A variety of activities are organised inviting a number of speakers to speak on interesting
topics with Power point presentations and also to conduct cultural and religious Hindu and
Christian celebrations. The local council also gives a cash grant for specific religious
celebrations. We also celebrate special birth days such as 100 years and 90 years and
present the members with engraved plaques. It is noteworthy to mention that in 2015 a
lady celebrated her 100th birthday and expired a week after her birth day the following
week. In the 30 years of existence of this Fellowship the centenarian was Mrs. Merlle
Satkunan relict of Mr. S P Satkunan.
5. Hindu Temple.
At the instance of one of our late members in the person of Dr (academic) Shanmuganathan
JP OAM who emigrated as a skilled emigrant in the 1970s began the Hindu Society which
was responsible for the building of a Hindu Temple and to bring in a priest to perform the
sacred duties and it was a tremendous benefit for the Tamil Sri Lankan Hindus. In order to
conduct the last rites of a deceased member of the Tamil community a priest had to be
brought from Sydney at great expense. Late Dr. Shan, on his own initiative prepared a
booklet for this purpose, printed this booklet at his own expense under the auspices of the
TSCF. He also handpicked a team of TSCF members to conduct the funeral ceremony
appropriately thus saving the relatives a large sum of money.
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6. Death Donation Fund DDF.
Another arm the TSCF is the creation of the above fund to which all members under the age
of 70 years can join initially as members of the fund by paying a monthly contribution of $15
till the time of death to entitle the nominee of the deceased for a lump sum of $ 3,500 from
the DDF
7. The area covered by the TSCF.
The following councils where the members reside are :1. Greater Dandenong City Council 2. Whitehorse City Council l 3. Borondara City Council
4.Knox City Council 5. Kingston/Bayside City Council Monash City Council.
8. Constitution of the Tamil Senior Citizens Fellowship (Vic) Inc.
The initially prepared constitution in 1987 was later amended in 1997 and again amended in
2006. In keeping up with the state government's "Associations Incorporation Reform
Regulations 2012 S.R. No. 128/2012", the New Constitution was amended and submitted to
the Department of Consumer Affairs Victoria and was approved on 26th March 2016
constituting 28 pages and 86 sections. The amended version is presently applicable. If
anyone needs a copy of the booklet, you may wish to contact The secretary Tamil Senior
Citizens Fellowship (Victoria) Inc. P O Box 5063 Vic. Australia enclosing a cheque/money
order for $10 to defray expenses and postage.
The essential features of the Constitution, inter alia, is the institution of a Management
Committee which is the Power house of the organisation that runs the monthly activities
among other duties. The team consists of The President, 2 Vice Presidents, of whom one is
a lady who is in charge of the kitchen Dept., and is also the Chief co-ordinator for the
luncheon arrangements at monthly meetings , Secretary, Asst. Secretary, Treasurer, Ass.
Treasurer, Editor and Asst Editor who are the Office Bearers, totalling 9 and 14 committee
members who perform the main duty of luncheon co-ordinators (among other duties). The
lunch co-ordinators are assigned each section of the members. The co-ordinators are
expected to contact members in their list to enquire from them about their attendance at
the monthly meeting and their preference of a vegetarian or non vegetarian meal, besides
in turn convey the information latest by Tuesday of the week prior to the Saturday luncheon
to the chief co-ordinator who has to inform the caterer the number of meals to be prepared
and the preferences of the meals. Within the committee are also formed sub committees,
such as budget, social activities and the Editorial board. The News bulletin of the
organisation is published quarterly consisting of any useful information and articles written
by members in Tamil and English for the reading pleasure of the members.
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9. Tenure of office.
The term of holding office by the Management team is 2 years consecutively. Nominations
are received by the secretary by the 31st December and tabled at the January Committee
meeting. If there are inadequate members to few positions then at the annual general
meeting in March vacancies are filled by open nominations and if there is a contest,
candidates are selected by secret ballot. More details are given in the Constitution as such.
It is also interesting to note that the present age of joining the TSCF as a member for both
males and females is 55 years.
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