The work between the photographs.
Three organisations in Dandenong and Melbourne, and what he does in each: an association he founded and leads, a naming campaign he started in 2024, and a national leadership program he coordinates.
Photograph: Hazara Cultural Association
Hazara Cultural Association
Dandenong, Victoria
- His role
- Founder and president
- ABN
- Active since June 2025
- Website
- hazara.org.au
Barat Ali Batoor founded the association in Dandenong and is its president. Two things it did in 2026 say what it is for.
In May, Hazara Culture Day in Dandenong Park: music, food, dress and a stage, and thousands of people through the day.
In August, the Census. Volunteers helped more than 1,500 households record Hazara as their ancestry and Hazaragi as their language, so the community is counted as it names itself.
Thomas Street, Dandenong
Little Bamiyanبامیان کوچک
Two hundred shops on one street. The council stopped calling it the Afghan Bazaar in April 2025 and has not yet said what it is called. He started the petition to call it Little Bamiyan.
35,000signed the petition for Little Bamiyan
32,000signed the petition against it
- July 2024He starts a Change.org petition to rename Dandenong’s Afghan Bazaar precinct Little Bamiyan.
- 14 April 2025The City of Greater Dandenong votes to stop using the name Afghan Bazaar. The precinct is officially Thomas Street.
- 2025 to 2026The council’s consultation on a new name continues. A decision is expected in 2026.
- 11 September 2026No decision has been made.
His position: for many Hazaras the word Afghan carries a history of persecution. The campaign is about recognition, dignity and safety.
Alongside it he founded The Little Bamiyan Directory, a listing of more than 200 Hazara-run businesses, at littlebamiyan.com.au.
What the street already calls itself.
Every business OpenStreetMap has a name for, plotted on the precinct. The map takes neither petition’s side. It counts.
0of the 0 named businesses in the precinct carry the name of a place in Afghanistan.
The shops, ten years before the petition.
From The Hazaras in Melbourne, 2014: the bakery, the grocer, the travel agent, the barber, the carpet shop, and the street itself.
The directory
The Little Bamiyan Directory lists more than 200 Hazara-run businesses in and around Dandenong.
littlebamiyan.com.auIn the press
- Tensions growing over Afghan Bazaar renamingABC 7.30, 20 March 2025
- Name drops, heat rises on Afghan BazaarDandenong Star Journal, 21 April 2025
Write to him
A question about Little Bamiyan, or a council, school or service that wants to get this right.
Get in touchAsylum Seeker Resource Centre
He coordinates the centre's national Refugee Leadership Program. The centre is also an impact partner on My Refugee Journey.
Photograph: City of Kingston event
Recent activity
Tampa: The Turning Point
Screening and panel for the 25th anniversary of the Tampa crisis, Cinema Nova, Melbourne. Sold out.
- Recent
Community coffee sessions
Dandenong.
Get involved
If you are organising something in the Hazara community, have a question about Little Bamiyan, or work for a council, school or service that wants to get this right, write. Say what it is about and where you are.
For dates, the newsletter carries community events, in English or Hazaragi.