CAMELS
Camels were brought into Australia in 1840, mainly as a zoological curiosity.
Six years later a young Englishman, John Ainsworth Horricks, acquired a camel for use in an exploration tour of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
Unfortunately, while dismounting from the camel, a loaded gun carried by Horricks accidentally discharged, and he died as a result of injuries received.
Camels were used in the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-1861 and during the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line from Adelaide to Darwin in 1871-1872.
The forerunner of the camels to enter the Broken Hill district were imported in 1866 by Sir Thomas Elder for use in northern South Australia.
When supplies ran out for the goldminers at Milparinka and Mount Browne in 1881 and 1882, stores were ‘humped in’ by camel team which travelled from Port Augusta over the drought-stricken country to bring relief.
By the time the Broken Hill mines came into operation camels were being extensively used in the area.
Initially, packed camels were roped, single file Eastern caravan style, but in later years bullock wagons were adapted for camel haulage by replacing the wagon pole with two sets of shafts.
A large ten-tonne wagon could be hauled by a team of up to sixteen camels, working in eight pairs, travelling from 25 to 30 km a day.
Unlike bullocks, camels could walk over stony country without difficulty because of their soft pads; they virtually lived off the land while travelling, having natural access to trees foliage. They could, of course, journey long distances without water.
Cameleers who came to Australia with various shipments of camels were Moslems, holding strict rules of conduct, daily prayer and fasting.
Camel camps were established on the outskirts of many bush townships, including Broken Hill, where a small timber and iron Mosque was built near the western boundary, and a larger building erected at the northern extremity. The singsong prayer calls of the Mullahs, and the sight of camels in Broken Hill streets were long remembered by local citizens.
Camels were occasionally used for carrying mail, and in the early 1900's Khan Zada, riding a bull camel, is reputed to have delivered the mail from Broken Hill to Wilcannia in one day, a distance of 190 km.
Some Indians and Afghans became hawkers, such as Amadulla Khan, who owned a string of 20 camels, each of which carried two tea chests crammed with wares for sale at homesteads and mining camps in the isolated outback.
On September 1929,diminutive Sultan Aziz loaded up the last string of camels to leave Broken Hill with supplies for the outback. From the earliest days of the Broken Hill field, the camels and the Cameleers had provided a valuable form of transport for the scattered pastoral and mining areas in semi-arid regions of Australia.
Some of the prominent camel men at Broken Hill were Poujen Khan, Ali Akbar, Abdul Fazulla, Khan Zada, Amadullah Khan, Button Singh, Gungah Singh, Kie Shirdell, Dilbar, Ali Mahomet Allum, Said Ali, Shamrose Khan, Sedik, Hassan, Nassar Khan and Khan Kadoram.
The advent of motor vehicles sounded the death-knell of camels as a means of transport and, by the 1930's, only a small number were in use, mostly on dam-sinking and short haulage activities on station properties. With the phasing out of the camel teams a unique, colourful era in the history of the West Darling district was drawing to a close.
All references: BROKEN HILL PICTORIAL BY R.H.KEARNS
PHOTOS OF TRANSPORT