THE AFGHANS IN AUSTRALIA - CIGLER -HARD TO FIND EDITION

This book is part of the Australian Ethnic Heritage Series and is the hardest of all the titles to procure.  Don't miss this great opportunity to pick up a copy at a cheap price.

When in the middles of the nineteenth century the early explorers tried to penetrate the arid centre of Australia, they were faced with a problem of transport.  Horses and bullocks had been tried and each had proved more or less unsatisfactory.  A decision was therefore made in the 1860s to bring in camels, and men who were skilled to handle them.  These men, throughout the history of camel driving in Australia, were referred to as Afghans or simply as Ghans.  Some of them came from Afghanistan but many originated in Baluchistan, the Punjab, Kasmir and Sind provinces, and some came from the Turkish Empire, which included the whole of the Middle East and Egypt.

The arrival of Afghans heralded a new era in the history of transport in the arid regions.  With their camel strings, the Afghans participated in several national projects: building railway lines, telegraph lines, border fences, roads and dams; and their reliability and skills were important in hauling supplies to and from outback stations and mining camps.

Their cultural contribution includes the introduction of Islam to the fifth continent, but in spite of their tremendous contribution to the development of Australia, Afghans were not fully accepted and were forced to live 'apartheid' style in some communities.

The automobile age, which reached the outback in the 1930s, spelled the end of the camel era; some cameleers returned to their home countries and those who stayed became hawkers, labourers or small property owners.

The purpose of this book is to highlight the contribution of the Afghan cameleers, without whose efforts and hard work the opening of Australia's centre would have been delayed by at least another fifty years.

This book is ex-library and as such has all the usual stamps and stickers internally and externally.  There is a plastic covering to hardcover.  Internally it is in a good, tight, clean condition.  This book has had very little use and has none of the usual grubby marks so often associated with ex-library books.  Don't miss this great opportunity to pick up a cheap copy!

Postage quoted is for within Australia. Overseas customers are more than welcome to email me for a postage quote. Local Pick up is not available.

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