Alumni Award Recipient: Bhakta Bhattarai
Meet the former refugee championing care and connection across cultures
From a Bhutanese refugee camp to an award-winning community leader, Bhakta Bhattarai (Durga) has turned personal hardship into a mission of healing, inclusion and hope in regional Australia.
For Bhakta Bahadur Bhattarai – known to most as Durga – health care isn’t just a profession. It’s a lifelong commitment to supporting people through their most vulnerable moments.
“When I was in the refugee camp, I witnessed how a lack of compassionate care and timely treatment affected people, which inspired me to pursue my nursing career,” Durga says. “I wanted to help others and have a meaningful impact on the community.”
Today, Durga provides patient-centred care as Associate Nurse Unit Manager for psychiatric and mental health nursing at Albury Wodonga Health, and is a Clinical Care Manager in Aged Care services.
Yet it was his own struggles resettling in Australia that inspired him to become an award-winning community advocate, and founder of a thriving multicultural organisation in regional Australia.
New beginnings
Born and raised in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal, at 17, Durga and his family resettled in Albury-Wodonga on the Victoria–New South Wales border. The new country offered opportunities, but also new trials.
“It was very challenging out here in the beginning because of the cultural shock and the language barrier,” he recalls.
Determined to make a difference, Durga enrolled in a nursing degree at La Trobe University’s Albury-Wodonga Campus. His studies provided direction and purpose.
Yet despite his dedication and access to education within his local community, Durga’s early years in Australia were marked by isolation.
“I was not fully socialising and connecting with friends, only focusing on work, which affected my mental health,” he says. “A thought came in my mind to set up something where I can bring all the communities together to reconnect, socialise and to celebrate cultural diversity.”
In 2014, that thought became reality. Durga founded Albury-Wodonga Multicultural Community Events Inc, a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting multicultural communities. What began as a personal pursuit to build connection, soon grew into a major regional platform for inclusion.
Hear from Durga
From lived experience to professional impact
Investing $7,000 of his own savings, Durga began hosting multicultural events. “I got to organise an interesting live concert with local artists and a multicultural youth fashion showcase featuring different cultural backgrounds,” he explains.
The organisation quickly expanded, introducing wellbeing sessions – including yoga, hiking and cycling. It also provided critical pandemic support – supplying homemade masks to the elderly, administering Covid-19 vaccinations and organising emergency food relief.
“We distributed over 450 individual packages to Covid-impacted families in the Wodonga region,” reflects Durga. “I'm really proud that we got to help.”
Durga’s efforts even extend internationally. In Nepal, he leads women’s empowerment projects distributing hygiene kits and essential supplies to women with disability.
“I know what it feels like to have nothing. I just want to give back to the communities who are struggling,” he says. His personal investment in the charity has now exceeded $20,000.
Lessons in perseverance
Durga’s contributions have earned wide recognition, including the Meritorious Service Award from the Government of Victoria in 2019 and the 2024 VIC Young Australian of the Year Award.
Yet for Durga, every accolade carries a deeply personal meaning. “My parents were illiterate… I was the first person [in my family] to go to the university,” he reflects. “My parents are very proud and grateful.”
Durga is also continuing his studies at La Trobe Albury-Wodonga with a post-grad degree – and hopes to eventually complete his Masters.
Throughout his incredible journey, Durga’s guiding philosophy remains perseverance. “Don't hesitate to step out, to chase your dreams,” he says. “Failure has taught me a lot of lessons… without challenge, you won’t learn anything.”
From a refugee camp in Nepal to the lecture halls of La Trobe, and now the heart of Albury-Wodonga, Durga’s journey embodies resilience, compassion, and the transformative power of education.
Durga completed a Bachelor of Nursing (2019) at La Trobe University Albury-Wodonga.