Afghan cameleers in Australia

Beginnings The various colonies of Australia being under the dominion of the British Empire, the early settlers used people from British territories, particularly Asia, as navigators. In 1838, Joseph Bruce and John Gleeson brought out 18 of the first "Afghans", who arrived in the colony of South Australia in 1838. The first camel, which became known as "Harry", arrived at Port Adelaide in 1840 and was used in an 1846 expedition by John Horrocks. It proved its worth as a pack animal, but unfortunately caused Horrocks's death by accidental shooting so was later put down. Camels had been used successfully in desert exploration in other parts of the world, but by 1859, only seven camels had been imported into Australia. In 1858 George James Landells, who was known for exporting horses to India, was commissioned by the Victorian Exploration Committee to buy camels and recruit camel drivers. Eight (or three) cameleers arrived in Melbourne from Karachi on the ship Chinsurah on 9 June 1860 with a shipment of 24 camels for the Burke and Wills expedition. as well as others (fewer in number) from Kashmir, Rajasthan, Egypt, Persia and Turkey. Use of camels Before the building of railways and the widespread adoption of motor vehicles, camels were the primary means of transporting goods in the Outback, where the climate was too harsh for horses and other beasts of burden. From 1850 to 1900, the cameleers played an important part in opening up Central Australia, helping to build the Australian Overland Telegraph Line between Adelaide and Darwin and also the railways. The camels hauled the supplies and their handlers erected fences, acted as guides for several major expeditions, and supplied almost every inland mine or station with its goods and services. In the 1890s, camels were used extensively in the Western Australian Goldfields to transport food, water, machinery and other supplies. In 1898 there were 300 Muslims in Coolgardie. Many cameleers were refused naturalisation and found themselves refused entry when they tried to return to Australia after visits home, based on the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. In 1903 a petition was raised about a number of discriminatory practices, but nothing came of it. ==Impact and legacy==

From the mid-19th century through to the early 20th, camels and cameleers were significant contributors to the wool industry, the mining industry, the construction of the Overland Telegraph and the rabbit-proof fence, and transporting water to wherever it was needed. Author Ryan Butta has highlighted the fact that the cameleers were rendered invisible in some of the popular mythologies and histories of Australia, such as Banjo Paterson's work. Paterson spent time in Bourke at the time the cameleers were an active part of the community and business there, yet did not write about them. Many camels were shot by police after they were superseded by modern transport, but some cameleers released their camels into the wild rather than allow them to be shot. A large population of feral camels remains from that time. Another legacy of the camel trains is the wide streets laid out in localities from Mundaring to Norseman in Western Australia, necessary to permit the trains to turn around. Descendants A fourth-generation descendant of a Baluch cameleer who settled in Geraldton, Western Australia, set up a sheep station and married an Aboriginal woman, is proud of her heritage on both sides. She says that it was difficult for her ancestor to acquire permanent residence and permission to marry, and notes that, according to her understanding of history, Afghan cameleers sought to honour Aboriginal women by marrying them rather than engaging in sexual violence. Several descendants in Adelaide formed the Australian Outback Afghan Camelmen Descendants and Friends Memorial Committee, which organised a memorial in 2007. They included Janice Taverner (née Mahomet), Mona Wilson (née Akbar), Eric Sultan, Abdul Bejah (son of Jack Bejah and grandson of Dervish Bejah), Lil Hassan (née Fazulla), and Don Aziz. Memorials There is a memorial at Whitmore Square, Adelaide which pays homage to the city's Afghan camel drivers, called Voyagers and created by South Australian artist Shaun Kirby and his company Thylacine Art Projects. It was unveiled on the night of 11 December 2007, so that the lighting of the sculpture could be appreciated. It is in the shape of a crescent, evocative of sand dunes in the deserts of South Australia as well as the Hilal (crescent moon) associated with Islam. The curved wall is covered with handmade rippled tiles, produced at the JamFactory. There is a red metalwork decorative screen with traditional Islamic patterning on the front of the crescent. The memorial does not have a plaque, but there is a small stone obelisk in front of the crescent wall with Arabic writing. There is also a bronze plaque honouring Bejah Dervish on the Jubilee 150 Walkway on North Terrace. It reads "Dervish Bejah, c1862-1957, Camel-driver, explorer". A commemorative plaque for Faiz and Tagh Mahomet on St Georges Terrace in Perth acknowledges their contributions as camel owners and drivers in the 1890s in opening up the interior of Western Australia before the building of the railway. In film • A 2020 documentary, The Afghan Cameleers in Australia, directed by Afghan/Australian filmmaker Fahim Hashimy, explores and records the relationships that many cameleers formed with Aboriginal women, and their descendants. • The 2020 drama feature film, The Furnace is set during the gold rushes in Western Australia and highlights the roles of Afghan cameleers. • Watandar, My Countryman is a documentary film directed by Jolyon Hoff and co-written and co-produced by Hazara photographer Muzafar Ali, who arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2015. The film, which explores the concept of identity, arose after Ali started investigating the long history of Afghan people in Australia. It premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2022. The film features Nici Cumpston, artistic director of Tarnanthi, and curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of South Australia. ==Mosques==

At first a special room set aside in someone's house served as places of prayer, but as time went on, the Muslim communities wanted to have dedicated places of worship. At Marree, an important junction of the camel trade, the Afghan cameleers built the earliest mosque in Australia in 1861, The Perth Mosque, which dates from 1905, was paid for by fund-raising efforts throughout the WA Muslim community, much of it instigated by the highly educated businessman Mohamed Hasan Musakhan (also known as Hassan Musa Khan) and the cameleer Faiz Mahomet. In 1910 there were also mosques in Coolgardie, Mount Malcolm, Leonora, Bummers Creek, Mount Sir Samuel and Mount Magnet (all in WA). ==Notable people==

• Dervish Bejah (or Bejah Dervish) (1862 – 1957), who had been decorated for his military service, led his community in Marree. He came from Baluchistan, and later took part with Lawrence Wells in the Calvert Expedition of 1896. • Gool Mohomet or Gul Muhammed (1865–1950), who married Frenchwoman Adrienne Lesire, owned a station and later became Imam at Adelaide Mosque. • Haji Mulla Merban came from Kandahar to Port Darwin in the early days. He became a leader of the camel drivers working for the Overland Telegraph Line, eventually settling in Adelaide. He married a European woman and was known as a peace maker, once settling a dispute between Abdul Wade and Gunny Khan, two wealthy camel owners. He also became the first mullah (spiritual leader) of the Afghan community in SA at the Adelaide Mosque. He was buried at Coolgardie in 1897. • Monga Khan (1870 – 1930) was a "licensed hawker" of imported goods based in Victoria. According to research by Len Kenna, Khan was originally from Bathroi, a village in Dadyal Tehsil, Mirpur, Azad Kashmir. His 1916 portrait (as recorded in the National Archives of Australia) was used in 2016 by Australian artist Peter Drew to create a poster campaign called "Real Aussies Say Welcome". This project was followed by the book and ebook "The Legend of Monga Khan: An Aussie Folk Hero", which includes illustrations, poems and short stories. • Mullah Abdullah (1855 – 1 January 1915), one of two perpetrators of an attack known as the Battle of Broken Hill in 1915, in which the former cameleers shot four people dead and wounded seven more, before being killed themselves. The other man was Gool Badsha Mahomed, not to be confused with Gool Mohomet of Adelaide below. • Abdul Kadir was the leader of the community in Oodnadatta. • Indian Australians • Afghan Australians • Pakistani Australians • Islam in Australia • Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin • Pashtun diaspora • United States Camel Corps ==References==