Muslims in Australia

Islam came in Australia in the early period of European settlement. Camels, beasts of burden in the Middle East, were first introduced into Australia in 1840 when two animals a male and a female, were landed in Hobart.
In 1846 JA Harrocks, a pastoralist and explorer from Adelaide, was the first man to use a camel for his expeditions. A few years later, in1860, twenty-four camels were imported to South Australia for the Burke and Wills expedition across Australia.
With them came the first of the Afghan camel-men, Dost Muhammad, who accompanied Burke Wills for a part of their journey into the centre of Australia. In AD 1866 Thomas Elder, a South Australian pastoralist, imported a further 120 camels and 12 Afghan drivers. These Afghans were the forerunners of many who journeyed throughout central Australia as drivers and breeders of camels.
However, officially, their numbers never exceeded 393 and by 1931, they dwindled to 153. Their numbers could have been much greater since it is likely with much Afghans, for various reasons would not have completed census returns of recorded their religion. In the harsh arid conditions of inland Australia, camel trains were invaluable for transporting supplies to the isolated cattle stations and gold-mining settlements. Like many people transplanted into a strange environment, the process of adjustment for the Afghan Muslim in Australia was not easy, given that the European Colonist did not accept them as bona fide settlers.
The governments at the time refused to grant them legal citizenship, even though their contribution to the development of inland Australia had been invaluable. Throughout the period of the camel trains, the camel-men were referred to as Afghans or simply 'Khans'. Some of them came to Australia from Afghanistan, but many originated in Baluchistan, Punjab, Kashmir, and Sind provinces, while others came from the Turkish empire.
Like other immigrants, the Afghans brought with them their religion, culture and skills, as well as their personal qualities of endurance and tolerance of loneliness.As the need for the camel trains lessened (and finnaly ceased with the advent of motorised transport), some of the Afghans returned to their place of origin. Others stayed to become railway workers, general labourers, hawkers and small property owners. The immigrants ceased to function as an active Muslim community, but the cemeteries in such as Broken Hill, Maree, Alice Springs and Coolgardie bear silent witness to a bygone era.
The most visible monuments of their past are the mosques in Adelaide, Perth and Broken Hill. The introduction of Islam is the most important spiritual and cultural contribution made by the Afghans to Australian history. Apart from the visible monuments, the first Muslim settlers have left a legacy in the value-system of Islam.
They refused to drink any alcoholic liquor (as prohibited in the Holy Qur'an), never stole, always kept their word of honour and were always honest in the dealings - applying the Sunna of the Holy Prophet of Islam(S.A.W.) in word and deed.
The period of 1890's was a difficult time of Muslims in Australia. In spite of their own great respect for law and order, the Afghans were exposed to open racial intolerance - not only because of their 'foreigness' but also because they were Muslims.
However, there were exceptions, among them, an Afghan from Kandahar, Afghanistan. Muhammadt Allum migrated from Kandahar in 1890 and settled in Adelaide. He started a business as a herbalist and published information on Islamic attitudes to the health aspects of food. Among his published works, he claimed: "...being harrased by your short-sighted, pumpkin-head politicians for the five years I have been in your midst in Adelaide, I considered leaving Australia."
Allums comments brought a deluge of letters and requests from all over Australia, asking him to reconsider his decision. One of the grateful patients collected 10,000 signatures on a petition. History has shown that Afghans were not the first Muslims to reach Australia. This honour goes to the Muslim Bugis seamen of Makassar (Macassar) in the Celebes (Sulawesi), whose fishing boats began collecting trepang (a sea slug in great demand at the Chinese court) from the Gulf of Carpentaria during the 17th Century.
During their limited contact with north Australia, the Muslim Bugis seamen made contact with the local Aboriginies, partially influencing their art, social organisation and religion. But it was the Afghans whose lasting influence remained. As they were not allowed to bring women with them, many single men chose to intermarry, forming partnerships with European and Aboriginal women.
The children of these marriages stayed in Australia and integrated with either the Aboriginal or the European section of the Australian population. They usually became involved in occupations otehr than those of their fathers.
In Australian society today, the contribution of Muslims to multiculturalism through the professions, business, industry and the farming community is recognized and appreciated by all government authorities.
Today the population of the Muslim community in Australia numbers about 250 000. Approximately 37 ethnic backgrounds are represented. Most Muslims in Australia live in the capital cities of Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Sydney and Melbourne, with the latter two accounting for 80% of the total Muslim population.
There are small communities in the provincial centers of Shepparton, Katanning, Hedland, Geraldton, Townswille, Mareeba and in the mining town of Newman.
Melbourne is the second biggest city in Australia after Sydney. Fittingly, Muslims in Melbourne outnumber any other city in Australia with exception to Sydney.
Muslims in Melbourne are from various ethnic backgrounds but are mainly Lebanese, Turkish, South East Asian or from the Indo-Pak subcontinent.
Local reverts are begginning to increase in number by the grace of Allah. Most Muslims in Melbourne are located in the northern suburbs, but a large number also exist in the western and south eastern suburbs.