Essay: How did the Afghans contribute to Australia’s development?

During the 1800’s Australia was at its peak of exploration and becoming a nation. The race was on to map Australia; locate neutral resources and valuable goods. It was soon the truth that horses and wagons were not going to do their initial job as there were many goods being transported from one side of the continent to the other. The solution to the problem of finding suitable transport for inland transportation and travel was to bring in camels and cameleers, as nobody at the time knew how to handle camels. The introduction of camels and the alleged ‘Afghan’ or ‘Ghans’ cameleers proved to be a turning point in the exploration and development of Australia’s transport and travel. Without realizing these cameleers were the backbone of Australia’s economy but also the booming of it as well. They carted supplies such as mail, food and even water to remote settlements. They transported the supplies; tools and equipment needed for the surveying and construction of some of Australia’s earliest, and greatest, infrastructure projects. They were really the backbone of Australia as a child nation. The Afghans came from a wide region of south Asia and the Middle East, ranging from the Turks all the way from the west to the Punjab region of India in the east (Pakistan, India and Afghanistan). During 1838, eighteen Afghans were brought to Australia and they seemed really good in their jobs so a pastoralist, Joseph Stuckey, brought out 100 camels and 31 cameleers in 1866 to keep them doing what they are best in. They came here signing a contract stating that they will stay here for as long as the employee wants them to, after their contracts finished they returned back to were they came from. Most Afghans who came to Australia were single or if married left their wives behind as they expected to return wealthy in the not too distant future. Many remained single but others married Aboriginal women because they were not allowed to marry any white women considering being different in both color and race. They originally came because they were living in harsh conditions backs were they came from: not being paid what they should be paid, civil war and war with other countries.The Afghans were scattered all around the region but it was really common for the population to be separated into thirds. One-third for the Europeans, one-third for the Aborigines and one-third for the Afghans. The Afghans and aborigines used to speak to each other but the Europeans never came into close contact with them both. Where the Afghans lived became known as Afghan or Ghan Town. Each Afghan community had its own leader. In these communities, the Afghans continued to live as they had always done following the Muslim religion cultural and traditional practices. The Afghans also built many mosques during their stay in Australia of which one was the broken hill mosque. When the mosque was first constructed in 1880 it was constructed using corrugated iron sheets and wood painted rust red and still till today with less than 10 renovations it is still in fair conditions.
The Afghans worked to their extremes to keep their employees happy. It came to an extent in which they used t transport items day and night to keep up with the load. They had no family to care about but they had many camels to care for. The Afghans contributed to Australia’s development in many ways but one of the most important one of them is the fact that they helped transport things for the Australian people. For example, transporting water and food to places, which were in drought during the 1890s helping them, survive longer. Also, Afghani camel handlers played an important part in opening up Central Australia, helping in building of telegraph and railway. Their contribution is countless but the history books will never forget them, as it was what helped Australia’s economy boom while it was still a child nation and also help Australia become one of the first countries to use camels as transport compared to other countries.