Ghans

The "Afghans" or "Ghans" were camel caravanners who worked in Outback Australia from the 1860s to the 1930s. They included Pashtun, Punjabi, Baloch and Sindhi men from the region between the southern Hindu Kush in Afghanistan and the Indus River in what is now Pakistan, as well as others from Kashmir, Rajasthan, Egypt, Persia and Turkey. Besides providing vital support to exploration and settlement of the arid interior of the country, these cameleers played a major role in establishing Islam in Australia, building the country's first mosque at Marree in South Australia.

The first Afghan cameleers arrived in Melbourne in June 1860, when three men arrived with a shipment of 24 camels for the Burke and Wills expedition. Afghans without camels are reported to have reached Australia as early as 1838. Before the building of railways and the widespread adoption of motor vehicles, camels were the primary means of bulk transport in the Outback, where the climate was too harsh for horses and other beasts of burden. After their use was superseded by modern transport, some cameleers released their camels into the wild, and a large population of feral camels remains from this time. From 1850-1900, Afghani camel handlers played an important part in opening up Central Australia, helping in building of telegraph and railway lines. They also helped the growth of Muslims in Australia before 1850.

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 teamsters. Many of those European competitors were also cameleers and in 1903 a European camel train proprietor of Wilcannia replaced all of his Afghan camel drivers with Europeans.

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Wikipedia