Afghan cameleers in Australia
[4] Although the cameleers came from different ethnic groups and a range of regions – mostly Baluchistan, Kashmir, Sind and Punjab (parts of present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, north-western India and eastern Iran), with a few from Egypt and Turkey, they were known collectively as Afghans, later shortened to "Ghans".
[4] Ethnic groups included Pashtun, Punjabi, Baloch (or Baluch) and Sindhis (from the region between the southern Hindu Kush in Afghanistan and the Indus River in what is now Pakistan)[9] as well as others (fewer in number) from Kashmir, Rajasthan, Egypt, Persia and Turkey.
[10] 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.
A thriving Afghan community lived at Marree, South Australia (then also known as Hergott Springs) leading to the nicknames "Little Asia" or "Little Afghanistan".
John Edwards wrote to the Attorney-General in 1902: "It is no exaggeration to say that if it had not been for the Afghan and his camels, Wilcannia, White Cliffs, Tibooburra, Milperinka and other towns...would have practically ceased to exist".
[6] By the turn of the century, Muslim entrepreneurs dominated the camel business, including Fuzzly Ahmed (Port Augusta–Oodnadatta, then Broken Hill) and Faiz Mahomet (Marree and Coolgardie).
Abdul Wade (also known as Wadi, Wabed, Wahid) was especially successful in New South Wales, and bought and set up the Wangamanna station as a camel breeding and carrying business.
Wade worked hard at fitting in and being seen as an equal to his Australian peers, dressing in the European style, educating his children at top private schools and becoming a naturalised citizen.
[6] While outback settlers, farmers and others who had dealings with the Afghans often vouched for them, finding that they held many values in common, prejudice arose and discriminatory legislation was introduced by colonial, state and federal governments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
[2] Through the 1930s and 1940s, with no employment and sometimes a hostile community, many cameleers returned to their homelands, but others remained and developed trades and other means of making a living.
[12] However, even though the Afghans' help was greatly appreciated, they were also subject to discrimination because of their religion and appearance, and because of the competition they provided to European bullock (ox)[2] and horse teamsters.
[15] 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.
[12] Australia's most famous train, The Ghan, was named a century ago but not in homage to outback cameleers as popular folklore would have it.
The antiquated passenger train that ran on the narrow-gauge Central Australia Railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs – a service that ended in 1980 – was nicknamed "The Afghan Express" by a railwayman at Quorn in 1923: he was observing a Moslem man running to a place of quiet for evening prayers during a brief stop there.
[17][18] 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.
[21] There is a memorial at Whitmore Square, Adelaide which pays homage to the city's Afghan camel drivers,[22] called Voyagers and created by South Australian artist Shaun Kirby and his company Thylacine Art Projects.
[25] 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.
[35] The Perth Mosque, which dates from 1905,[36] 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.
