While the organised labour movement could marginalise some Indian men, making it difficult for them to earn a living, others were accepted in the wider community in other ways. Some Indian men were drawn into sections of the Australian community as good citizens and trustworthy businessmen. Here, the emphasis was on their honesty, probity and public-spiritedness. These values were recognised and acknowledged, despite ‘racial’ differences. Judith Brett has argued that in the first half of the twentieth century,

Pam Oliver, for example, has discussed how Japanese people living in Sydney before World War II gained social acceptance through their involvement in community and voluntary activities.^[63]

Otim Singh’s life on Kangaroo Island can be understood in this light. In his obituary, his public-spiritedness was emphasised, and we read that he ‘interested himself in local affairs, always being willing to assist in any movement for the good of the town and district’.^[64] Singh took part in social activities befitting his business position. He appears to have been a member of the Freemasons in the Kingscote Lodge of the Royal Ancient Order of Buffaloes. In 1911, when the first Kangaroo Island Agricultural Show was held, he was on the committee and part of the group of leading citizens who dined with the governor, appearing in a photograph taken to commemorate the occasion.^[65] He was also involved with the local Vigilance Committee, a group of businessmen seeking to advance the interests of the township of Kingscote. He spoke at valedictory dinners for departing bank managers and other prominent citizens.^[66]

A close reading of the local newspaper for 1916–17 reveals that he was often a generous donor to fundraising activities. Late in 1915, therefore, he contributed prizes to the Kingscote School prize-giving. During the war years, he made contributions to the Wounded Soldiers Club and the South Australian Soldiers Fund. On New Year’s Day 1916, he presented an ‘ambulance car’, presumably a toy, for an Art Union that raised £1.16. When some South African soldiers had a rifle-shooting match against the Kingscote Club, Singh presented £1.1 to the highest scorer in the match.^[67] Such demonstrations of loyalty to the British Empire not only asserted his public spiritedness, they emphasised his common cause with other members of the local community.

There are other examples of Indians resident in Australia being generous philanthropists and good and respected citizens. In 1913, when Rahma Khan, a hawker from around Moama, New South Wales, was going on a visit to his homeland after some 20 years in Australia, his business colleagues wrote warm references for him. One local merchant wrote that he trusted ‘as he leave these shores he will enjoy the blessing’, and Mr W. Williams, a former chair of the local hospital board, noted that Khan ‘has given valuable assistance to many charitable institutions including the Echuca Hospital’.^[68] Similarly, in 1912 the Mayor of Bendigo wrote of Jumee Khan as ‘a most respected citizen of this city’, and two local businessmen expressed the ‘hope [that] he will have a pleasant voyage to his native home “India” and a safe return’.^[69]