Canberra, October 30
When he was four, Krishna Hamal moved to Bardibas in Mahottari. The place was nothing like the developed town it is today. A new settlement was taking shape amid the dense forests of the Terai, where tigers, bears, leopards and elephants posed a constant threat.
Even stepping outside the house could be dangerous. Sometimes, his father would leave the house after locking the door from the outside, keeping young Krishna, his mother and his uncle safely indoors.
The boy who grew up in that isolated settlement would go on to spend more than three decades working as an economist in the Australian federal government’s policy-making system. Now based in Canberra, Hamal remains actively involved in strengthening ties between Australia and Nepal through various organisations serving the Nepali community.
His journey, from a childhood in a remote settlement to a career in government research and policy, has also been shaped by a lasting commitment to the community he left behind.
Growing up as the only child in a new settlement
Krishna Hamal’s childhood began in Pipal Bhanjyang, Udayapur. When he was four, his family moved to Bardibas in Mahottari.
His father had descended from the hills to help establish a settlement in the Terai. Forests were being cleared to make room for homes, and in the early days, few families lived in the area.
“I was the only child there. There were my father, mother, uncle and one or two other people,” he recalls.
The settlement was new, and the surrounding forest made life uncertain. Wild animals were a constant concern. Gradually, more people arrived, health workers came, and the village began to take shape.
But there was no school.
Hamal and a few other children had to walk for around an hour and a half to reach a school in another settlement. Eventually, his father took the initiative to establish a school in their own community.
After Bardibas, Krishna continued his education in Janakpur before travelling to Darjeeling, India, for further studies. There, he recalls studying alongside the writer and filmmaker Nir Shah.
His education would eventually take him much farther from the place where he had grown up.
To Australia on a scholarship
In August 1979, Krishna Hamal arrived in Australia on a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in agricultural economics. His destination was the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales.
Australia was very different then from the country it is today, with its large international student population and diverse migrant communities. Nepalis, in particular, were few and far between.
At first, the quiet surroundings of Armidale reminded him of Nepal’s hill villages. Yet, coming from the bustle of Kathmandu, he also found the place unusually deserted.
A room in a hostel cost around seven Australian dollars, an amount that could cover his weekly living expenses at the time. Petrol was inexpensive, too.
“Being in a new place, I did feel homesick. But I focused on my studies,” he recalls.
Keeping in touch with family in Nepal was far more difficult than it is today. To make a phone call, he had to go to a post office, arrange a suitable time and set aside money for the call. Sometimes, he could only manage to call home during festivals such as Dashain.
His journey to Canberra was equally different from the convenient travel options available today. He remembers taking a train from Sydney to Goulburn and then hitchhiking in a truck to reach Canberra.
He had gone to Australia to study, but the country introduced him to an entirely different world.
After completing his master’s degree, however, he did not immediately settle in Australia. In 1981, he returned to Nepal.
What followed would take him back to Australia, this time for a long-term career. The reasons behind that decision were tied not only to his personal ambitions but also to the political and institutional changes taking place in Nepal.
From development planning in Nepal to a doctorate in Canada
After returning to Nepal, Krishna Hamal began working at Agricultural Projects Services Centre (APROSC), an organisation associated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Nepal Rastra Bank.
APROSC provided project development, planning, policy analysis and policy recommendations to the government. It was also involved in preparing World Bank-supported rural development projects, including integrated development initiatives in the Seti, Mahakali and Rapti regions.
“The plans were about how to develop a region economically. Large projects were designed with a horizon of 20 to 25 years,” he recalls.
He spent nearly five years working in Nepal before another scholarship took him to Canada. He went on to earn a PhD in development economics from the University of Alberta.
This time, he did not return to Nepal after completing his studies. Instead, he headed to Australia.
For Hamal, the decision was connected to changes he believed were taking place in Nepal’s institutions.
He remembers APROSC as an organisation where skilled professionals contributed to development planning and policy research. But, in his view, political changes gradually led to recruitment practices in which political connections increasingly mattered more than professional competence.
“Skilled people were pushed aside. Some established their own private research organisations, many went to the United Nations, some went to the United States and others to Europe. I went to Australia,” he says.
That move would begin a career spanning more than three decades in Australia’s federal public service.
Three decades as an Australian government economist
Krishna Hamal settled permanently in Australia in 1991 and went on to work as an economist across several federal government agencies.
He spent four years at the Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, two years at the Bureau of Tourism Research, and approximately 20 years at the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics.
His work centred largely on economic research and policy analysis.
He contributed to studies on transport, airports, regional development and the environment, preparing research papers and economic analyses to inform government decisions.
Some of his work is preserved in Australian government research records. In a 2006 study, he served as the lead researcher on long-term forecasts of container and vessel movements through Australian ports.
In another study published in 2011, he worked on long-term forecasts of international air freight movements through Australian airports.
His research also examined environmental and transport policies, including the economic and transport implications of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
One particularly significant area of work involved the privatisation of airports. He contributed to research examining how airport privatisation could affect efficiency and produce longer-term economic consequences.
Hamal says he found satisfaction in seeing research used in government policy-making and in receiving recognition for his contributions.
His long service in the public sector was also recognised with a service medal. For him, the recognition reflected the value of continuity in government work.
“Most people stay in one place for three or four years, or four or five years, before moving somewhere else. Some of us continued working within the same government structure for a long time,” he says.
Yet, while his professional career was taking shape within Australia’s public institutions, another part of his life was growing alongside it. He was becoming increasingly involved in organising and representing the Nepali community.
Building a community far from home
When Krishna Hamal first arrived in Australia, the Nepali population was small. He remembers a time when Nepalis would organise picnics between Sydney and Canberra simply to meet one another and maintain social connections.
His association with the Australia Nepal Friendship Society in Canberra has been a long one. He first served as its president from 1998–99 to 2004–05, and later returned to the role from 2009–10 to 2010–11.
He was involved in community organisations during a period when the Nepali population in Australia was still relatively small and gradually expanding.
As more Nepalis settled across the country, organisations representing the community began emerging in different states and territories.
Hamal believed that these groups needed a stronger mechanism for coordination. Individual organisations might be able to address local concerns, but a collective body could bring common issues to the attention of Australian governments and give the Nepali community a more unified voice.
That idea eventually led to the Federation of Nepali Community Associations of Australia (FeNCAA).
Bringing the community’s voice together
In 2015, a five-member founding task force was formed to develop the concept of bringing different Nepali community organisations under a common umbrella. Dr Krishna Hamal was among its members.
The federation was formally registered on August 2, 2018. Hamal later became its president, serving in the 2021–23 executive committee.
The organisation’s purpose is to raise issues affecting the Nepali community with federal, state and local governments.
Through this work, Hamal has been involved in bringing attention to issues related to migration, regional settlement, employment, education, healthcare and the broader social circumstances of Nepalis living in Australia.
For him, the federation offered a way to move beyond separate community initiatives and establish a collective presence in the country’s public and policy discussions.
His involvement also reflects a broader view of what it means to build a life abroad. Professional and financial success matter, but so does helping the community establish its identity, demonstrate its capabilities and contribute to the wider society.
Taking Nepali community concerns to parliament
Through FeNCAA, Hamal has helped bring issues affecting Nepalis in Australia into parliamentary processes and policy discussions.
In a submission to a federal parliamentary inquiry into regional migration, the federation argued that encouraging Nepali families to settle in regional Australia required a broader approach. Employment opportunities, family needs, children’s education and the development of local communities needed to be considered together.
Hamal signed the submission in his capacity as the federation’s general secretary.
Under his leadership, the Nepali community has also advocated for skilled migration, better employment and social infrastructure in regional areas, and greater opportunities for younger generations to participate in sports and community activities.
Domestic violence within the Nepali community, mental health and the engagement of younger generations have also been among the issues he considers important.
For Hamal, success as a migrant is not measured solely by individual economic achievement. It also involves helping the community establish its place in the society it has made home.
An enduring connection with Nepal
Despite spending decades in Australia, Hamal has maintained close ties with Nepal.
Through organisations such as Help Nepal Network, he has remained involved in initiatives related to Nepal’s social and economic development. He has also participated in various initiatives of the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), including serving on a task force related to the establishment of an open university.
One of his early areas of involvement was supporting eye camps and treatment services in remote parts of Nepal.
While working with the Australia Nepal Friendship Society, he recalls helping raise funds for eye care initiatives in remote areas in collaboration with Dr Sanju Rohit.
He later became involved in relief and assistance efforts during major crises, including Nepal’s 2015 earthquake and the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, he helped bring together Nepali organisations in Australia to collect relief supplies and medical materials for Nepal. According to Hamal, the supplies were transported by truck to Sydney, shipped to Nepal by sea and distributed to areas in need in coordination with the Nepal Army.
He also says assistance was provided for the construction of school buildings in Nuwakot and Chitwan during that period.
His connection with Bardibas, where he spent his early childhood, has also remained personal. Hamal says he funded the construction of a dharmashala, or community rest house, there at a cost of approximately Rs 25 million. He also recalls being personally involved in building a temple in the same area.
He believes that Nepalis living abroad can contribute to Nepal through education, investment and the transfer of knowledge and expertise.
Rather than allowing his career in Australia to distance him from Nepal, he has used his professional experience and networks to maintain connections with the country and support its communities.
A new generation, a new set of priorities
Hamal says the Nepali community in Australia today looks very different from the one he encountered when he first arrived.
In the early years, meeting another Nepali could be difficult. Today, Nepalis have established community organisations, businesses, professional networks and social connections in cities across Australia.
His attention is now increasingly focused on the next generation.
He is particularly interested in connecting young people with the community through sports, raising awareness of mental health and strengthening their relationship with their Nepali identity.
He also says community organisations are working to expand opportunities for Nepali language teaching in Australian primary schools.
For Hamal, this is the next stage of his community journey: ensuring that younger generations can maintain a connection with their heritage while building their lives in Australia.
The distance between the child who began school in a settlement surrounded by the dense forests of Bardibas and the economist who contributed to Australia’s federal policy research is considerable.
But his story does not end with a government career.
Since arriving in Australia on a scholarship in 1979, Hamal has continued to contribute to community organisations, policy discussions and initiatives aimed at creating opportunities for younger generations.
His life reflects two parallel journeys — one that built a professional career within Australia’s public institutions, and another that kept him connected to the Nepali community and the country he left behind.
