Ceylonese Archives

A half century of Sri Lankan prominence… fast fading? – By Aubrey Joachim Last evening the Sri Lanka Association of New South Wales (SLA) held its Annual Winter Ball at the plush Sofitel Wentworth in Sydney. It was also the formal celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Association. The premier black-tie Sri Lankan event in Sydney saw some 300 attendees including a number of past presidents and their ladies grace the occasion. The SLA was formed in 1973 when a small group of Sri Lankan professionals came up with the idea of forming a community of interest to foster and promote togetherness among Lankan diaspora in Australia. While Ceylonese had been migrating to Australia in reasonable numbers from the 1950’s – even greater numbers chose to do so in the 1960’s following the socio-political changes and language / ethnic upheavals that ostracized some groups that made up the rich ...

VOLUNTEERS FROM CEYLON WHO SERVED IN THE BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH FORCES DURING WORLD WAR 1 [1914-1918] AND WORLD WAR 2 [1939-1945] ABSTRACT This abstract is a compilation of records in honour of all Ceylonese who served in the military during the two world wars, based on newspaper articles, historical records and material shared by relatives, military history enthusiasts, and web based information. Sri Lanka or Ceylon, as we were known then, played a comparatively important role in the First World War although we were a crown colony of the British Empire. In 1917 the Times of Ceylon estimated that 1,250 volunteers had enlisted for overseas service. At least 351 Ceylon volunteers signed up while in England and another 438 enlisted on their own account. In addition, the ‘Times Fund’ facilitated the expenses for 156 Ceylon volunteers to enlist overseas. From the various available nominal rolls and rolls of honour it appears there were ...