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First recorded Sri Lankan immigrants to Australia: Drum Major O’Deen and his family – By Chandani Panditharatne Source : AUSTRALIA SRI LANKA ASSOCIATION INC NEWSLETTER When Australia was a Penal Colony of the British kingdom, convicts banished from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) too were sent here. The first convicts from Ceylon to arrive in Australia apparently drew considerable attention from the press. Australia’s first newspaper – The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, gave a prominent place to record the landing of the first ‘convicts’ from Ceylon – Drum Major O’Dean and his young family, in February 1816. O’Dean arrived in Australia as a ‘convict’ but his wife and three children landed in Australia as free settlers. Image Source : wikiwand This is the first recorded arrival of a Ceylonese (Sri Lankans) to the continent of Australia. The arrival of these first migrants took place in February 1816, when the SS Kangaroo ...