Post by Soren on May 27th, 2012 at 7:49pm
Look, kids! I've found some representations of Muslims in popular culture!
There are others, apparently.
There are others, apparently.
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http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl
General Discussion >> General Board >> Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1337937414 Message started by Annie Anthrax on May 25th, 2012 at 7:16pm |
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Title: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Annie Anthrax on May 25th, 2012 at 7:16pm
Negative or positive. Can anyone think of some?
I have Fat Pizza- Habib and Co. Swift and Shift - Abdul Azar The Librarians- Nada I thought about Underbelly: The Golden Mile, but although I believe the Ibrahim family are Muslim, I can't be certain enough to actually use it as part of my research. There was a film a while back about young Muslim guys on a night out with Aussie girls, but I can't remember what it was called. It's times like this I wish I watched more television. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Annie Anthrax on May 25th, 2012 at 7:22pm
ANy smartasses will be shot on sight.
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Antonio Primo de Rivera on May 25th, 2012 at 7:49pm
i wish i knew :( :( :(
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Antonio Primo de Rivera on May 25th, 2012 at 8:10pm
not tv chars but try these guys
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/aug/16/fear-of-a-brown-planet-edinburgh-review |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Annie Anthrax on May 25th, 2012 at 8:14pm
Perfect. Thank you.
I just remembered the first season of the Australian version of The Amazing Race with those two fat guys too. I loved those guys. Again, thank you. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Soren on May 25th, 2012 at 8:22pm Annie Anthrax wrote on May 25th, 2012 at 7:22pm:
That is soooo Muslim. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Annie Anthrax on May 25th, 2012 at 8:28pm
Bang.
Dickhead. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Soren on May 25th, 2012 at 11:49pm Annie Anthrax wrote on May 25th, 2012 at 8:28pm:
That too. And this in response to words. Imagine if I posted cartoons. Just soooo Muslim and Lebby Muslim at that. Nothing to call on except an imaginary authority and going apesh!t at any sign of challenge. You have never left Islam. It suits your temperament. It allows you to live without self-reflection. Bang bang. Isn't that the name of the Prez of the largest Muslim country? |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by pansi1951 on May 26th, 2012 at 6:27am
I don't think this short film is part of Australian film and tv, but interesting anyway.
As part of an Arab cultural festival some young Muslim women produced a short film. I don't know if it was aired on public media, but I would like to see it. SBS should have much more ethnic content, it used to be good but its gone to the pits. Huriyya and Her Sisters will be launched on 5 July 2009 at the Arab Film Festival Australia in Sydney. http://www.hreoc.gov.au/racial_discrimination/partnerships/projects/arts_huriyya.html |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by freediver on May 26th, 2012 at 8:54am
I saw a movie called "Four Lions" recently. It is a documentary about four young British Muslims overcoming negative stereotypes of Islam and finding their way in the world. It's a bit simplistic to label it as negative or positive. You should watch it Annie. It is very insightful.
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Annie Anthrax on May 26th, 2012 at 6:27pm Soren wrote on May 25th, 2012 at 11:49pm:
Oh would you just bugger off? Pansi, you have my sincere thanks for that - I will check it out. FD, hardy har har. A robot with a sense of humour. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Karnal on May 26th, 2012 at 7:09pm
What about Johnny Turk?
For some reason we had a lot of fondness for him, despite him sitting there with his cigarette, mowing us down with his machine gun. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Soren on May 26th, 2012 at 8:02pm Annie Anthrax wrote on May 26th, 2012 at 6:27pm:
Muslims in the popular culture arena: irritable, always ready to explode, so to speak. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko_N4BcaIPY |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Karnal on May 26th, 2012 at 8:39pm Soren wrote on May 26th, 2012 at 8:02pm:
I feel we are making real progress, Annie. Yes, the patient is still projecting, but he is starting to articulate the very real pain he is in. I do feel for him, dear. I'll only sign off on euthenasia as a last resort, you understand. We do have the other patients to consider. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Soren on May 27th, 2012 at 12:10am
That's another Muslim archetype: the Paki with the cravat, a gold tooth and a smooth manners, plotting bloody mayhem, selling everyone down the river.
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Karnal on May 27th, 2012 at 3:51pm Soren wrote on May 27th, 2012 at 12:10am:
Annie, this one's delusional rantings remind me of that other patient. What was his name? Corporate something, wasn't it? The only thing corporate about that one was his medical cover. Remind me to ask which ward he ended up on after the surgery. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by PoliticalPuppet on May 27th, 2012 at 3:53pm
Imagine how you would represent soren.
A man(questionable) with small genitals, bold hair and a 700ft carrot up his ass. Also uneducated, ignorant and unable to answer questions, accept reality and incorporate facts and evidence which would make dialogue fairly hard |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by angeleyes on May 27th, 2012 at 3:58pm
A man(questionable) with small genitals, bold hair and a 700ft carrot up his ass.
Also uneducated, ignorant and unable to answer questions, accept reality and incorporate facts and evidence which would make dialogue fairly hard A bit of self analysis I see. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by PoliticalPuppet on May 27th, 2012 at 3:59pm angeleyes wrote on May 27th, 2012 at 3:58pm:
So uneducated and ignorant that you cannot answer my questions or prove me wrong. Sorry, education and lack of ignorance are clearly highlighted by believing in fairy tales. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Karnal on May 27th, 2012 at 3:59pm angeleyes wrote on May 27th, 2012 at 3:58pm:
Excuse me, are you trained in this area? No? I'll thank you to keep quiet and wait for the doctor. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 27th, 2012 at 4:36pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3p3T8mORGQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnz0pKEjAfo |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Soren on May 27th, 2012 at 7:49pm
Look, kids! I've found some representations of Muslims in popular culture!
There are others, apparently. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Karnal on May 27th, 2012 at 8:05pm
That bottom one looks like Captain Haddock.
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by PoliticalPuppet on May 27th, 2012 at 9:25pm Mattyfisk wrote on May 27th, 2012 at 8:05pm:
Alcohol is a no no |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 9:24am
History of Australia’s Muslim cameleers
From 1860, 20,000 camels and their handlers from Afghanistan and Pakistan were shipped to Australia. Leaving a small township with stores for stations along the Strzelecki Track, early 1920s. The camel team would return with a loading of wool bales. More than one million feral dromedary camels are wandering around the Australian outback, stripping vegetation and knocking down fences. They're viewed as pests, and there are plans to cull them. But their ability to flourish in some of the harshest, driest conditions in the world was the very reason their ancestors were brought here. From the 1860s to the 1920s, an estimated 20,000 camels and more than 2000 cameleers – men skilled in handling them – were shipped to Australia from Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a new exhibition at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. Unlike horses and bullocks, the camels could trek long distances without food and water, which made them indispensable for exploration. “The cameleers played a key role in many of the exploring expeditions,” said Philip Jones, curator of the exhibition. “They opened up the interior.” Burke and Wills expedition Following a few small-scale exploration successes with camels in the late 1850s, the Victorian Expedition Committee in 1859 commissioned a local businessman who exported to India to buy camels and recruit cameleers. On 9 June 1860, 24 camels and three cameleers arrived at Port Melbourne, to join the pioneering Burke and Wills expedition. Unloading camels, Port Augusta, 1890s. While the expedition successfully made it from the south coast to the north, through the heart of Australia, Burke, Wills and others lost their lives on the return journey. “Disastrous as it was, it was quite certain that Burke, Wills and King could not have made the north-south continental crossing without camels,” Jones says. By the late 1860s, camels and cameleers were arriving regularly. The men signed three-year contracts. In return for their meagre pay, they made a vital contribution to the history of Australia – one which has largely been left out of the history books, says Cara Rosehope, an amateur historian in Melbourne. Cara's great-great grandfather was a cameleer who married an Australian and stayed in the country. Camel way or the highway “Until the arrival of motorised transport in the interior, in the early 1920s, there were only camels. It was the only way to get across great stretches of land.” As well as being used for exploration, the camels were indispensable for the development of central Australia. Their keepers walking beside them, they carted food and water to gold mines, and took produce to the railheads. They were also crucial to the construction of the Overland Telegraph, and carried wire for the rabbit-proof fences. “The expression 'Australia rides on the sheep's back', which was current during the early 20th century, was probably due to the camel's back, and to the men who had the skills to manage and load the camel,” Jones says. Australia's Muslim Cameleers: Pioneers of the Inland 1860s to 1930s is at the Immigration Museum at 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne, from 26 February to 19 September 2010. Leaving a small township with stores for stations along the Strzelecki Track, early 1920s. The camel team would return with a loading of wool bales. Loading camels at Marree, circa 1901. Cameleer thought to be Fazal Deen, circa 1910. Port Augusta’s mayor, Mr Noel Webb, posed on a camel with newly arrived cameleers, 1897. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/exhibit-reveals-history-of-australias-muslim-cameleers.htm |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 9:36am
Birdsville cameleer
Charlie (real name Dur Muhammad Dadleh) had been a cameleer himself, working the Birdsville Track until trucks took over. Now in his in 70s, his memory was sharp with recollections of the camel days. Not for the first time, I wondered at the fortitude of Charlie and his people. Here at Farina they baked in their tin shanties in the scorching summers and were exposed to howling winds and piercing cold in winter - comfortable compared with the conditions under which they worked their cartage contracts in some of the harshest terrain in the world. Charlie echoed my meandering thoughts: "They were real hard workers, long hours. Never took holidays in them days," he said. Pausing, his soft, lisping voice continued: "I was out working with camels when I was 14." And a longer pause. "I perished three times along the Birdsville Track." My surprise turned to amusement as I realised he was using the old bush meaning of the word 'perish' - to become faint, dizzy, dehydrated. Charlie had been my mentor and guide during several trips to the Marree area on my search for information about these elusive Afghan cameleers. Son of Dadleh Balooch and an Irish mother who had married at Marree, Charlie lived in Ghantown there. He had taken me to locations long forgotten by the world - old Ghantowns, lonely graveyards, crumbling old mosques. He could tell me who was buried in the unmarked graves, recall who had occupied which Ghantown hut, and vividly recount stories of the characters and incidents of childhood in Marree. [/b] Ghantowns - apart of Australia's foundation years Camels opened the great central expanses of Australia. For more than 50 years until the 1920s, camel trains radiated into the outback from railways that gradually extended into the interior, or from points near otherwise Isolated, inaccessible parts of the country. In long strings of up to 70, they sustained human life and new endeavours in the emerging outback communities. They carried building and railway materials, food, furniture, water, mail and medicine to the pastoralists and mining ventures, returning with the products of those inland enterprises - baled wool and oil. Camel cartage bases were formed at railheads or near ports, and 'Afghan-towns' developed on their outskirts. These became known as Ghantowns. The cameleers were Muslims who adhered faithfully to their religion and built mosques wherever they settled. They brought with them no women, and although some married European or Aboriginal women, their families always lived in the Ghantowns and rarely mixed in Australian society. Camels were singularly superior to horses and bullocks in the dry centre, and the Afghan cameleers were better suited physically than the Europeans to the harsh conditions in inland Australia. My six-year odyssey began in May 1982 at the Port Augusta wharves - where the first commercial shipment of camels and their handlers disembarked from the steamer Blackwell on New Year's Day 1866. The shipment was made by pastoralist-entrepreneur Thomas Elder, who was determined to establish a carrying business and camel stud at his Beltana property in the nearby Flinders Ranges. A great crowd had gathered on the wharves to watch the unloading of such strange cargo with their exotic, turbaned handlers. They weren't, however, the first camels in Australia. Among the first were those imported in 1860 for the Burke and Wills Expedition that was the first to cross the continent from south to north. Their use on that expedition led to the later imports. Elder's original, elegant homestead at Beltana stood on a hill at the end of a winding road, behind date palms planted 100 years earlier by his Afghans. Station manager Peter Moroney was a little surprised by my interest in Afghans, and pointed down the hill. "They lived down there, somewhere near the troughs, but there's only a bit of rubble left. Their cemetery was somewhere between the hills," he said. "I've never been able to find it." Outside the homestead I passed a memorial cairn erected to the explorer Ernest Giles, who set out from Beltana station in 1875 with Beltana camels and two of Elder's cameleers - Coogee Mahomet and Saleh - to successfully cross the Great Victoria Desert to the coast of Western Australia. Beltana became a recruiting base for the invaluable camels and their handlers for major desert exploration expeditions - including Colonel Warburton's horrific crossing of the Great Sandy Desert in 1873 and William Gosse's into central Australia the same year, when Gosse and his Afghan offsider, Kamran, were the first Europeans to see and climb Uluru. At the bottom of the hill below Beltana homestead I was surprised to see beautifully preserved stone and slate camel troughs, and the remains of a 'camel whip'. This latter piece of Afghan ingenuity allowed water to be drawn from a deep well using two wheels, rope and bucket and two camels - one attached to each wheel. Today, a windmill pumps water to the surface at Beltana, and the water quenches the thirst of its sheep, not camels. Nearby were the crumbling stone walls of the cameleers' living quarters, where broken china and glass, forks and a few metal fragments were all that remained of their material possessions. Among the windswept hills I found four or five graves haphazardly huddled together. They were a dilapidated but recognisable representation of the folk graves of north-eastern Afghanistan. Some had pieces of local slate as head and foot markers; others had the wooden jenaza bier grave-surrounds (a representation of the deceased's last bed) of the Afghan's native land. Faiz Mahomet was chief cameleer, or jemadar, at this first Afghan settlement in Australia. Born in Khandahar, he had come out with his younger brother, Tagh, in Elder's' first shipment. The brothers later became camel importers and merchants themselves, borrowing money from Elder to start their carrying business. In 1883 they established a base at the new railhead at Marree (then called Hergott Springs), which soon became the hub of camel cartage, servicing virtually the whole of central Australia. http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/afghan-cameleers-australias-outback-history.htm |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 9:37am
Gold rush time
From Marree, Faiz and Tagh Mahomet and many of their compatriots followed the great 1893 gold rush to Coolgardie, Western Australia, and the new fields in the north, taking supplies to the diggers. Coolgardie is Australia's most famous mining ghost town. Majestic Bayley Street, wide enough for a camel-train to turn unhindered, was once lined with grand hotels (by bush standards). The Afghans lived on the western periphery. The district relied on them and their animals even for entertainment, for camel races drew the crowds. These races between locals and Afghans were the forerunners of such events as the Alice Springs Camel Cup and the Coolgardie Cup. The sight of these ungainly, exotic beasts lumbering towards the finishing line or, just as often, away from it - with their often eccentric riders, continues to give perverse pleasure to outback crowds. Frances Tree, together with her husband is custodian of goldfield warden John Finnerty's original house at Coolgardie. Thanks to the Trees, the house is now a public museum. "The Afghans' mosque was on Mount Eva," said Frances, pointing to a hillock south of the house. "The camel camp was below it, spread around the base." The bare, rubbly hillock was the site of the 1896 murder of Tagh Mahomet, Faiz's brother. A Ghilzai tribesman had crept up on the Durrani merchant as he was preparing to enter the mosque for prayers and had shot him dead. It was a revenge murder: the Ghilzai and Durrani tribes had fought over leadership in their own country for hundreds of years, and factions had continued the feuding in Australia. Their country was Afghanistan. The cameleers were indeed predominantly Afghan tribesmen - Durranis, Afridis and Baluchis (from the Afghan province of Baluchistan}) -and not Indians, as some historians claim. In 1893 the Amir (king) of Afghanistan and the Government of India agreed upon a border between Afghanistan and India, and the Durand Line was drawn on the maps. But the freewheeling tribesmen paid no heed to such abstractions and straddled or crossed the line as they chose, many living at or near Peshawar (once an Afghan city) and Karachi (once an Afghan port), now both part of Pakistan. In the coolness of late afternoon I drove to the Coolgardie cemetery, a few kilometres east of town. The Afghan graves were at the very far end. There I found the headstone that marked Tagh Mahomet's grave, next to that of the Ghantown religious leader (mavlavha), Hadji Mullah Merban. Magenta rays from a setting sun slanted through the gums beyond, enveloping the monuments in a mystical light. As dusk fell, a vision of these men swam before me - bowing, prostrating, performing their evening prayer beside a scrubby, shallow creek or in their crude bush mosques dotted across the outback, their camels chewing contentedly nearby, the beasts' tinkling bells barely audible above the exotic chanting. I drove back to the Railway Lodge, one of the few hotels still surviving from the boom days that followed the arrival of the railway at Coolgardie and nearby Kalgoorlie in 1896. That significant event was followed in 1903 by the opening of a pipeline carrying water 560km from Mundaring, near Perth. The railway and pipeline ruined Afghans' pack-camel businesses. Some took their camels north to the goldmines, around the Murchison River and into the Kimberley district; others set off for north-west Queensland. Copper mining near Cloncurry, Queensland, was booming in the late 1890s as the world price escalated. Last century the whole area, from Bourke to Barcaldine, was ablaze with violent clashes between cameleers and the Australian horse and bullock teamsters. 'The Great Shearers' Strike of I891 had inflamed deep antagonisms. 'The Pastoralists' Union was attempting to lower both carrying charges and shearing rates because of a slump in wool prices, and its members were glad to use the cheaper non-unionist cameleers from over the border to carry baled wool from strike-bound areas. The police and army had to be called in to protect the Afghans and their camels. An important Afghan leader in Cloncurry last century was the flamboyant esmel merchant Abdul Wade, known as the 'Prince of the Afghans'. He arrived from Bourke, NSW, following the copper rush. The headstone of his chief cameleer Sayyed Omar, who was the Ghantown's mullah (prayer leader), is one of the few to survive in the Afghan section of Cloncurry's cemetery. Settling in Alice Springs It is ironic that although Alice Springs has been popularly and romantically linked with camels and Afghans in recent years, Alice was the last place where the cameleers settled. Their camels serviced central Australia from Marree and Oodnadatta until well after the turn of the century. During one of several visits to Alice Springs, one of my great thrills was the sight of a herd of feral camels on the Oodnadatta Track. The track runs close to the path the Afghans took from Marree and Oodnadatta to Alice, and on my visit it was bordered by brilliant red rosy docks that are believed to have germinated from the grasses and seeds used to stuff camel saddles. On the outskirts of Alice, I found the Mecca Date Farm, with the palms originating from eboee the Afghans planted in various Ghantowns between Marree and Alice Springs. Dates were the fruits of the Prophet, enriching the health and the spirit, and were eaten at the end of the day during Ramadan, the month-long religious fast. Jim Lukin, the farm's Swiss-born proprietor, showed me the palms from which much of the plantation had been seeded, now named for certain old Afghan characters like Saddadeen and Abdul gbarlick. Camel farms around Alice Springs today lead safaris on which adventurous Australians and overseas visitors, get a taste of the romantic outback. I met Robin Mcleay when I came across one of his camels tied to the branch of a tree outside a shopping complex, and visited his camp south-west of Alice Springs at the edge of the MacDonnell Ranges. From there he takes those brave enough along the craggy escarpment and into the ranges. While we were having a cup of tea, a playful young camel stole the teapot and refused to give it back. Camels are curious, intelligent, strangely endearing animals. Today only a few second-generation descendants of the original Afghans are still alive in Australia, most being in their 70s or older. A few still live in their original Ghantown houses, with Muslim mementos of camels and turbaned men on their walls. They have a quiet dignity and reserve; their houses smell deliciously of curries, they keep the pork taboo and many remember a few phrases in Pushtu or Dati, a few prayers in Arabic. Marree, the centre of Afghan activity in Australia has the longest-surviving Ghantown. Still living there are the descendants of Khan Zadaa, Moosha Balooch, Dadleh Balooch and Mullah Assim Khan. Afghan influence has stretched from Perth to Townsville, from Melbourne to Port Hedland, from Adelaide to Darwin - criss-crossing inland Australia. Afghan cameleers played an extraordinarily important - and unacknowledged - part in our history. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 9:40am
The Afghan Camelmen.
Although the number of Afghans coming to Australia was small (no more than 3000) compared with other ethnic groups, their contribution to this country has been much greater than most people realise. Afghans have made a substantial contribution to South Australia and Australia but history has almost ignored them, and the role they played opening up inland Australia. Without the Afghans much of the development of the outback would have been very difficult if not impossible. Whole communities, towns, mining establishments, pastoral properties and some well known explorations in the interior have been made successful because of their contributions. With their camels, who received more publicity than their owners, these cameleers opened up the outback, helped with the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line and Railways, erected fences, acted as guides for several major expeditions, and supplied almost every inland mine or station with its goods and services. These 'pilots of the desert' made a vital contribution to Australia. The first Afghans arrived in South Australia in 1838 when Joseph Bruce brought out eighteen of them, one of whom died on 1 February 1840. When Bruce himself died, the men were handed over to John Gleeson, who also had imported some of them. The first camel arrived at Port Adelaide in 1840 but was shot in 1846 after it caused the death of explorer John Horrocks. As early as 1858 it was suggested that camels should be imported into the colony and that a depot should be established for their 'propagation and acclimation'. It led to the formation of the Camel Troop Carrying Company Ltd which unsuccessfully petitioned the government for financial aid in October 1858. In 1862 Samuel Stuckey went to Karachi to bring out camels. He was unsuccessful that time, as was McKay from Mount Deception in 1864-5. However in 1866 Stuckey succeeded in bringing out more than a hundred camels and, as nobody knew how to handle camels, 31 Afghan cameleers as well. Although these, and later camel men, came from different ethnic groups and from vastly different places such as Baluchistan, Kashmir, Sind, Rajastan, Egypt, Persia, Turkey and Punjab, they were collectively known as Afghans. Most of the men and their camels were first brought to Thomas Elder's station Umberatana, but after a few months most were transferred to Beltana where a camel breeding program was started. Soon the camels and their drivers were transporting materials and supplies to Elder's stations at Blanchewater and Murnpeowie. In early 1870 the Afghans went on strike and most left Beltana and moved to Blinman. In 1873 Mahomet Saleh, an Afghan cameleer, left Beltana for Western Australia with explorer P.E. Warburton. William Christie Gosse was assisted by three Afghans in his attempt to find a way from the Finke River to Perth. Two years later he assisted Ernest Giles on one of his expeditions. J.W. Lewis, surveying the country north east of Lake Eyre in 1874 and 1875 used camels. Later Thomas Elder's teams carried desperately needed supplies for the starving diggers at Milparinka. One early arrival was Haji Mulla Merban from Kandahar, Afghanistan. He came to Port Darwin and acted as leader among the Afghan camel drivers working for the Overland Telegraph Line. After a three year visit to India and Afghanistan he eventually settled in Adelaide. He married a European woman and acted as a peace maker between his countrymen, once settling a dispute between Abdul Wade and Gunny Khan, two wealthy camel owners. With the completion of the Adelaide Mosque in Gilbert Street in 1888 he also became the spiritual leader of the Afghan community in South Australia. He was buried at Coolgardie in 1897. Many of these Afghans did extremely well in their chosen business. Abdul Wade had four hundred camels and sixty men working for him. Fuzzly Ahmed worked the Port Augusta - Oodnadatta line for many years before moving to Broken Hill. Faiz Mahomet, who arrived at the age of 22, settled in Marree where he operated as a Fowarding Agent and General Carrier. In 1892 he moved to Western Australia and worked from the Coolgardie gold fields with his brother Tagh Mahomet. On 10 January 1896, while Faiz Mahomet was at the Murchison gold field, Tagh Mahomet was shot in the Coolgardie mosque by Goulham Mahomet. The case was reported in most newspapers both in Western Australia and South Australia. The Express and Telegraph called it 'Cold-Blooded Murder, Shot in a Mosque, Killed Whilst at Prayers'. Headlines like these were bound to attract attention. Port Augusta Dispatch September 1888. Wherever these Afghan cameleers settled, they lived in a separate part of town. Consequently many inland towns had three distinct sections, one for the Europeans, one for the Aborigines and a third section for the Afghans. Their areas became known as Afghan or Ghan Town. There was contact between the Aboriginal and Afghan groups but almost no contact between the Europeans and these two groups. Examples of this are well illustrated in Farina and Marree where even the cemeteries are divided along these lines. Marree, with its high concentration of Afghans, was soon referred to as Little Asia. It also became the centre for inland transport with camel strings leaving regularly for the Birdsville, Oodnadatta and Strzelecki tracks, Broken Hill, the Northern Territory and the Western Australian gold fields. They often suffered from racial prejudice as a result of their religion, culture or the economic competition they provided for a declining number of jobs. In 1884 nearly three hundred camels and fifty-six Afghans were landed at Port Augusta. The largest group landed in 1893 when four hundred camels and ninety-four men disembarked. During his election speech at Port Augusta, in March 1893, Alexander Poynton made it clear that he was against the importation of more Afghans and their camels. If elected 'he would put a prohibitive Poll Tax upon them'. A month later it was reported that 94 Afghans had landed at Port Augusta and 'meant business and money getting'. Contemporary opinions about their presence in the outback were not always very kind. Each Afghan community had its own leader. In Oodnadatta it was Abdul Kadir and in Marree it was Bejah Dervish. Bejah, decorated for his military service, came from Baluchistan and later took part with L.A. Wells in the Calvert Expedition of 1896. In these communities the Afghans continued to live as they had always done, following the Muslim religion and customs. 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. Very few married white women. Afghans provided almost all goods and services from South Australia to the Northern Territory. On a regular basis they left Marree, and later when the railhead was at Oodnadatta, with their camel teams for Stuart, later renamed Alice Springs. Some of the well known Afghans among them were Hector Mahomet, Peer Mahomet and Charlie Sadadeen. In 1933 Ernestine Hill wrote, 'Within the high tin walls of the Afghan camps in all towns of the north line, white women are living, the only ones in Australia who have blended to any extent with the alien in our midst. Renouncing the association of the women of their own race, they have forsaken their own religion for the teachings of the Prophet and the life of the cities for the desert trail. Several of these have made the pilgrimage to Mecca'. In 1880 Sub Inspector B.C. Besley suggested that the police in the north should use camels for the collection of statistics and census forms. His suggestion was taken up and camels were from then on used by all police in the north for all kinds of work. The Marree police used camels to patrol the outback until 1949. When the camels, who were brought here because they could carry loads of up to 600 pounds over long distances with little food or water over almost any terrain, had outlived their usefulness, they became a pest. Most were shot when found on common land or without a registration disk. In this way hundreds were shot by the police to the delight of the pastoralists. Lasting legacies of the Afghans are the date palms which they planted wherever they went and the Ghan which was named after them. http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/afghans.htm |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 9:51am
Afghan Cameleers
Broadcast 6.30pm on 01/11/2004 For 100 years or more, ‘Afghan’ cameleers travelled around many part of Central Australia, from Kalgoorlie to Broken Hill, Marree to Alice Springs. They lived in enclaves on the outskirts of these towns. Little of these Ghan communities remain today, except the memory of a rugged way of life. GEORGE NEGUS: For 100 years or more Afghan cameleers moved around many parts of Central Australia. As the books tell us, from Kalgoorlie to Broken Hill, from Marree to Alice Springs, they certainly got about. They usually lived in enclaves on the outskirts of towns. These days, though, little of these Ghan communities remains except the memory of a pretty rugged way of life. ABDUL BEJAR, CAMELEER'S SON: My name is Abdul Hamid Bejar. With my heritage, it goes back to my grandfather who came from India, Bejar Dooj. In 1939, Dr Madigan was having an expedition through the Simpson Desert and he asked for my grandfather as a cameleer. He said he was too old, so he sent his son, who was my father, to do that expedition. (PHOTOGRAPH OF ABDUL BEJAR'S FATHER) ABDUL BEJAR: And during that expedition, my father walked every inch of the way. He didn't ride the camels as the Europeans did. He walked. I therefore believe that he would have been the first non-Indigenous person to ever walk right through that desert trip. Even his dog rode the camel, but he walked. ZELLICA HASSAN, CAMELEER'S DAUGHTER: My father was a cameleer. And he came out in the early days with camels. He used to take the camel teams up into the stations delivering the goods to the station people. And he'd be away for weeks. PAMELA RAJKOWSKI, AUTHOR: When camels were loaded up with supplies to go out to pastoral stations there could be about three or four Afghans handling a whole string of camels. And you could have from 25 to 70 camels on one long string. They would walk all day, saying their prayers in the morning, walk all day and then say their prayers in the evening and let their camels graze. And they would be on the road for about five to six months doing a complete circuit. ZELLICA HASSAN: My father was a Muslim and he was very devout to it. I remember when he used to come home, put his prayer mats out into the big living room we had. And every night he used to pray and we'd keep silence in the kitchen. ABDUL BEJAR: As a child, we were sort of taught in two Sunday schools - the Christian Sunday school and then we'd also attend the Muslim school, which was taught by a lady there. The main prayer is... (Recites prayer in Arabic) ZELLICA HASSAN: We had to marry into our own colour and creed and it was always older men, much older than ourself. But we had our children and we all grew together and learned to love each other. So it was quite a romance after a while. PAMELA RAJKOWSKI: The camel strings in South Australia were used to cart out materials for the Overland Telegraph Line back in 1870 to 72. They were used to take supplies out to stations and then they would return with bales of wool. And that was a very important industry that they were involved there. In Western Australia, in the goldfields, they carted out water in bales out to the mining areas and also firewood. And they also carted sleepers for the Perth to Coolgardie railway line. Their camels were also used for emergency work. When some towns were struggling for lack of water, camels were used to sort of save settlements. In their time, that probably wasn't seen to be extremely demanding. It was just a way of life and that's what you had to do to survive. When they lived in the outback of Australia, they never really doubted their abilities and they never questioned what they had to do. They were very resilient and lived through very trying times to make a living for their families and their community. ABDUL BEJAR: I think he loved the serenity of the desert and just the peacefulness. And, of course, he adored his camels. ZELLICA HASSAN: It is a beautiful history for somebody to have...to remember what the Afghans did in the early days of opening up the outback with their camel teams. GEORGE NEGUS: What a tough way to earn a quid. A bit of old Islam there, here in this country, including arranged marriages, no less. http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s1231969.htm |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Sprintcyclist on May 28th, 2012 at 9:51am hey, how come you did not post about the first terrorist we had here. A muslim cleric camaleer who shot and killed aussies here. he was the typical hothead who knew the koran perfectly well. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Sprintcyclist on May 28th, 2012 at 10:03am Ahah - found it !!!! Quote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Broken_Hill |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by PoliticalPuppet on May 28th, 2012 at 10:06am
What is your point? We all know that people of any religion and culture are capable of those things, and have been. I could post just as many examples of Christians doing it but that would get us nowhere. Clearly the religion has nothing to do with people doing this things, it could be religion as a whole considering how similar Christianity is to them but then it could just be human nature.
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 10:07am
Origins and arrival of cameleers
Known in Australia as ‘Afghans’, the cameleers came mainly from the arid hills and plains of Baluchistan, Afghanistan and the north-west of British India (today’s Pakistan). The cameleers belonged to four main ethnic groups: Pashtun, Baluchi, Punjabi, and Sindhi. Despite cultural and linguistic differences, the cameleers shared ancient skills. In their homelands many led semi-nomadic lives, carrying goods by camel string along centuries-old trade routes through arid and harsh regions of Central Asia. The cameleers also shared the Islamic religion, which had spread eastwards through Afghanistan and northern India between the 7th and 10th centuries. The Muslim faith blended with local custom, such as the Pashtun code of honour, the Pashtunwali. Islam was a strong bond between cameleers in Australia, despite their different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. A small number of cameleers were of the Sikh religion, but the great majority were Muslim. Many found time for prayer as they travelled through the outback. In their communities Small iron or earth-walled mosques provided a focus for daily prayer, religious festivals, and sociability. The cameleers spoke a mix of languages in Australia , reflecting their diverse origins. It is likely that Pashto, Dari (Persian), Baluchi, Punjabi, Sindhi and Urdu were heard in the streets of Kalgoorlie, Bourke and Marree. Some cameleers were literate, while others relied upon oral tradition, reciting poems or folk-tales at evening campfires and celebrations. Although the language of the Qur’ãn was not widely spoken in Central Asia, the cameleers uttered their prayers in Arabic. By the late 1850s it seemed clear that camels would provide the best and most efficient means of exploring inland Australia and transporting goods across it. Horse and bullock teams could not cope with the sandy deserts, extreme heat and lack of water. Several attempts were made to introduce camels. In 1860 organisers of the Burke and Wills Expedition brought 24 camels and their handlers from Peshawar and Karachi. Five years later, South Australian pastoralists Thomas Elder and Samuel Stuckey imported 124 camels and 31 cameleers on a three-year contract to cart wool and supplies. More contracts followed. During the early 1870s these pioneering cameleers played a vital role in exploration and helped construct the Overland Telegraph Line. European cameleers were not unknown, but the Muslim cameleers were recognised as the best and most efficient. For them the camel was more than a beast of burden; it figures in the Qur’ãn as a ‘blessed animal’. Most cameleers knew each of their camels by name. At least 2000 cameleers and 20,000 camels arrived in Australia during the period from 1870 to 1920. The 1893 gold discoveries at Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie greatly increased demand. A vast network of camel routes spread across the inland. Most cameleers arrived in Australia as young men, in their 20s or 30s. Many left wives and families at home, returning to them at the end of their contracts. Others stayed on in Australia, and some formed unions with European or Aboriginal women. Today their descendants retain strong links with this distinctive heritage. http://www.cameleers.net/?page_id=2 |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 10:25am
Muslims were representated in Aboriginal Pop Culture:
Australia’s earliest contact rock art discovered http://news.anu.edu.au/?p=2531 Accessed 16 August 2010 Friday 23 July 2010 A team of researchers from The Australian National University and Griffith University have discovered evidence of Southeast Asian sailing vessels visiting Australia in the mid-1600s – the oldest contact rock art in Australia. The discovery was made by the team taking part in the Picturing Change fieldwork project in the Wellington Range, Arnhem Land. The rock shelter the researchers are studying at Djulirri has nearly 1200 individual paintings and beeswax figures. It was documented by Professor Paul Taçon (Griffith University), Mr. Ronald Lamilami (Senior Traditional Owner) and Dr Sally K. May (ANU). “This site includes at least 20 layers of art,” said Dr May. “And importantly, it has also yielded the oldest date yet recorded for contact rock art in Australia. A yellow painted prau (Southeast Asian sailing vessel) is found underneath a large beeswax snake. This snake was radiocarbon dated by Dr Stewart Fallon at ANU to between AD1624 – 1674, meaning that this is a minimum age for the sailing vessel painting.” While historians and archaeologists have speculated that visits to the northern parts of Australia from Southeast Asian ships have been happening for hundreds of years before European settlements, this is the first rock art evidence found that dates the visits back to the 17th century. The ARC-funded ‘Picturing Change: 21st century perspectives on recent Australian rock art’ project highlights the importance of contact rock art as some of the only contemporary Indigenous accounts of cross-cultural encounters that took place across Australia through the last 500 years. Between 2008 and 2010 the researchers worked with local traditional owner Mr Ronald Lamilami to document rock art sites in the Wellington Range, one of the areas of focus of for Picturing Change. “This part of Arnhem Land is well known for its Southeast Asian heritage and extensive pioneering archaeological research undertaken by Campbell Macknight, although rock art was not a focus of his early archaeological research,” said Dr May. “Djulirri has more diverse contact period rock art than any other site in Australia” said Professor Taçon. “Besides the oldest dated paintings of Southeast Asian ships, there are European tall ships and many other forms of watercraft, all of which can be placed in chronological sequence”. The research will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Australian Archaeology. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 10:27am
First Fleet Was Late - Aboriginal Rock Art Shows Southasian Ships Sailing for Australia in 1600s
Australian researchers says they have discovered the oldest 'contact rock art' in Australia, evidence of Southeast Asian ships sailing for – and reaching – Australia's shores as early as the mid-1600s. This undermines popular assumption that the continent was largely isolated and unvisited until the British First Fleet arrived 'Down Under' in 1788. Between 2008 and 2010 Dr Sally K. May from the Australian National University (ANU) and Professor Paul Taçon from Griffith University worked with local traditional owner Mr Ronald Lamilami to document rock art sites in the Wellington Range area. At a rock shelter at Djulirri they identified nearly 1200 individual paintings and beeswax figures in multiple layers applied over the millennia. “This site includes at least 20 layers of art,” said Dr May. “And importantly, it has also yielded the oldest date yet recorded for contact rock art in Australia. A yellow painted prau (Southeast Asian sailing vessel) is found underneath a large beeswax snake." Besides the oldest dated paintings of Southeast Asian ships, there are European tall ships and many other forms of watercraft, all of which can be placed in chronological sequence. Historians and archaeologists have speculated that visits to the northern parts of Australia from Southeast Asian ships have been happening for hundreds of years before European settlements. Traders from Makassar (in what is now Indonesia) visited the coast of northern Australia dry and smoke the trepang – or sea cucumber – they caught, before taking their catch back to the Makassar and other Southeasian markets, where it was highly valued. At the hight of the ancient trepang trade, large fleets of Macassan ships would sail to Arnhem Land and stay for the entire monsoen season. The trade lasted up to the end of the 19th century. Dr Stewart Fallon at ANU now radiocarbon dated the beeswax snake above the dug out canoe to between 1624 and 1674AD, meaning that this is a minimum age for the sailing vessel painting. The rock art evidence dates the visits back as early as the 17th century. In two years time, Professor Taçon's team recorded at least 81 images of ships in the Wellington Range. Among them dugout canoes, 19th century British tall ships, a luxury cruise ship and a Second World War Destroyer. Some of the Aboriginal art in the area depicts more modern-day inventions such as a car, a biplane (painted over a kangaroo). Even the portraits of a missionary and a captian were identifiefd by the team. SMH has a great slideshow of the images. “Djulirri has more diverse contact period rock art than any other site in Australia,” said Professor Taçon. “Besides the oldest dated paintings of Southeast Asian ships, there are European tall ships and many other forms of watercraft, all of which can be placed in chronological sequence”. The research is part of the ‘Picturing Change: 21st century perspectives on recent Australian rock art’ project, which aims to highlight the importance of contact rock art as some of the only contemporary Indigenous accounts of cross-cultural encounters that took place across Australia through the last 500 years. It will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Australian Archaeology. The Makassan prau is in the top right-hand corner http://heritage-key.com/blogs/ann/first-fleet-was-late-aboriginal-rock-art-shows-southasian-ships-sailing-australia-1600s |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 10:29am
We have contact: rock art records early visitors
SALLY PRYOR 24 Jul, 2010 12:00 AM A team of archaeologists has uncovered ancient rock paintings showing that South-East Asian ships were visiting Australia well before European settlement. The paintings, found in Arnhem Land by a team of archaeologists from the Australian National University and Griffith University, are the oldest known contact rock art in Australia, dating back to the mid-1600s. Working with a local traditional owner in the Wellington Range, the research team found a rock shelter containing almost 1200 individual paintings and beeswax figures. ANU archaeologist Sally May said the process had been unfolding over the past two years. The discovery was part of the government-funded Picturing Change project, which highlights the importance of contact rock art as some of the only contemporary indigenous accounts of cross-cultural encounters in the past 500 years. ''When we refer to contact, what we're talking about is contact between Aboriginal groups in Australia and overseas counterparts, whoever that may be,'' Dr May said. ''In this case, we've taken it back to the mid-1600s, and some of the earliest evidence of contact. Chances are contacts been going on for a lot longer than that, but this is the first tangible evidence that we've got of this contact with South-East Asia.'' She said it was possible to pinpoint the vessel in the painting as coming from South-East Asia because of the design of the boat. ''It's a classic South-East Asian fishing vessel, most commonly associated with Macassans who were coming to north Australia, usually collecting sea slugs from the water and trading it back across.'' Dr May said that although there had always been speculation about contact in Australia with South-East Asian fishing boats long before European settlement, the team didn't expect the art to date back as far as the 17th century. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/we-have-contact-rock-art-records-early-visitors/1894397.aspx |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Soren on May 28th, 2012 at 10:48am Annie Anthrax wrote on May 26th, 2012 at 6:27pm:
You asked for positive or negative, dozy bint. Annie Anthrax wrote on May 25th, 2012 at 7:16pm:
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 11:05am
Parts of my own thesis about the influence of the Muslims from Macassar on Aboriginal culture of Northern Australia:
Quote:
[Anthropologist] Mulvaney also described the effect of the relationship between the Macassans and Aborigines in these terms: Quote:
Peter Worsley, who conducted field research in Groote Eylandt in1952-3 for the Australian National University, considered the Macassan relationship influential on the religious and social organisation of Aborigines on Groote Eylandt, as well as affecting the way they evaluated their past 8: Quote:
Anthropologist Donald Thomson, who conducted research in Arnhem Land in the 1930’s, considered that the Macassans set a benchmark for conduct of foreign visitors in Arnhem Land: Quote:
Historian Alan Powell argues that the impact of large numbers of Macassan traders visiting Australia may be the reason why the Northern Territory’s coastal Aborigines were better able to cope with European attempts of colonisation: Quote:
Anthropologist Ian Crawford has written that Islamic beliefs such as the existence of Allah, the unity of mankind, and the existence of a universal law for mankind ‘provided Yolngu with a means of both comprehending and coping with developments’ that came with dealing with outsiders. Crawford argues that these beliefs have been used by Yolngu as “a conceptual weapon…in the struggle against domination against the ‘Other’.’12 Berndt and Berndt argue that contact with Macassans prepared Arnhem Landers, in some measure, for the cultural clash with Europeans.13 Crawford writes that ‘fleets of perahus sailing to the northern coasts of Australia in search of bêche-de mer opened to Aborigines a vision of a wider world.’ 14 The visitors from the East Indies opened up a wider world to Aborigines they visited, not just through their own presence, but by employing Aborigines to work on their perahus which took them around the northern Australian coast and sometimes even to the East Indies Islands to the north. Charley Djaladari, told Berndt and Berndt of what he had seen at Makassar: Quote:
In 1841, Port Essington settler, George Earl, remarked upon the Aborigines who were seen travelling with the Macassans in their praus: Quote:
Berndt and Berndt noted that those Aborigines that had returned from such a journey ‘liked to talk of their journey through the islands to Macassar, and around the camp fires stories were told and songs were composed about what they had seen.’ 17 Quote:
Groote Eylandt elder Galiawa Nalanbayayaya Wurramarrba narrates how his father travelled to Makassar: Quote:
[/quote] 5 D J Mulvaney, The Prehistory of Australia, Thames and Hudson, London, 1969, pp. 19-20. 6 D Mulvaney, 'Beche-de-Mer, Aborigines and Australian History', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 79, 196, p.454. 7 Mulvaney, The prehistory of Australia, p. 39. 8 P Worsley, Early Asian Contacts with Australia, Past and Present, vol. 7, 1955, pp. 6. 9 Ibid, pp3-5. 10 D Thomson, Arnhem Land: explorations among an unknown people, Geographical Journal, Vol. 112, 1948, pp.146-7. 11 A Powell, Far Country: a short history of the Northern Territory, Charles Darwin University Press, Darwin, 2009, pp.30-1. 12 I McIntosh, Can We Be Equal In Your Eyes?: a perspective on reconciliation from northeast Arnhem Land, PhD thesis, Northern Territory University, 1996, p214. 13 R Berndt, & C Berndt, Arnhem Land: its history and its people, F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne, 1954, p.70-1. 14 I Crawford, We Won the Victory: Aborigines and outsiders on the north-west coast of the Kimberley, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, 2001, p.97. 15 Berndt & Berndt, Arnhem Land…, p.56-8. 16 G, W, Earl, 'An account of a visit to Kisser, one of the Serawatti group in the Indian archipelago’, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 11, 1841, p.116 17 Berndt & Berndt, Arnhem Land…, p.50. 18 R Berndt & C Berndt, ‘Secular figures of Northeastern Arnhem Land’, American Anthropologist, vol. 51, issue 2, 1949, p.216. 19G Wurramarrba, & J Stokes, (trans.) in K Cole, (ed.) Groote Eylandt Stories; changing patterns of life among the Aborigines on Groote Eylandt, Church Missionary Historical Publications, Melbourne, 1972, p. 32. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Karnal on May 28th, 2012 at 11:26am Sprintcyclist wrote on May 28th, 2012 at 9:51am:
What about those hothead Irish, eh? |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on May 28th, 2012 at 11:37am
cont'd:
Quote:
Captain Collet Barker, commandant at Raffles Bay, recorded in his journal an interview with a Macassan perahu captain who informed Barker about East Arnhem Land Aborigines: Quote:
On 7 May 1829 six praus appeared. 'In the last prau,' Barker recorded, 'I understood there were four…blacks who were going to Macassar.'” 23 Certainly, in the last days of the Macassan trade there were many Aborigines visiting Macassar and even living there as Charley Djaladjari told Berndt and Berndt in the 1940’s: Quote:
Berndt and Berndt describe Makassar as a ‘Mecca for of the northeast Arnhem Landers.’ 25 Aborigines who had travelled to foreign lands must have profoundly changed the world view of their families and tribes upon their return to Australia. James Urry and Michael Walsh discuss the fact that “Aborigines appear to have joined the praus voluntarily” and suggest that Aborigines may have been travelling with the Macassans due to having adopted the Islamic religion, and write that “the issue of religious conversion should not be overlooked.”26 Earl encountered some of these Aboriginal Muslims at Port Essington (1841): Quote:
Another factor suggesting religious conversion amongst Aborigines was the intermarriage with Macassans, which would have been socially unacceptable on the Macassan side without converting the Aborigines to Islam. In the late 1940’s, Ronald and Catherine Berndt noticed that some of the people they encountered in Arnhem Land had physical features which suggested East Indies ancestry.28 Berndt and Berndt write that in the early periods of contact, relations between Aboriginal women and Macassan men were well-regulated.29 The traditional arrangement was that Aborigines should provide wives for their trading partners.30 Charley Djaladjari informed Berndt and Berndt that he had met several Aboriginal men and women who in Makassar who had married locals.31 Barbara Laklak Ganambarr, a Yolngu woman, tells how her grandfather told her that when the Macassans went back to their country: Quote:
Archaelogical, documentary, and oral evidence demonstrates that the trepang trade was most intense in the region around Arnhem Land, while a less intense relationship occurred in the Kimberley region. Berndt argues that the East of Arnhem Land is the area of longest contact: “no other group of Aborigines in the Northern Territory, or perhaps in all Australia, has been subjected to such intensive contact with alien peoples, over such a long period of years…”33 In East Arnhem Land the attitude of Aborigines towards inter-gender relations was affected by the culture and attitude of the traders. In South Sulawesi, there are cultural boundaries between women and men who are not close relatives.34 This influence on Aboriginal culture was observed by Warner observed that in the East of Arnhem Land, Aborigines were protective of their wives and did not like to share their wives with others.35 Berndt and Berndt also noted that in areas where the cultural influence of the East Indies traders was greatest, such as in Groote Eylandt, women were segregated from men, and were jealously guarded from European and Japanese intruders. Women in these areas also had a notion of physical modesty, covering their private parts. In East Arnhem Land, and on Groote Eylandt, European explorers and missionaries noticed that Aboriginal women did not mix with strangers, and went to the bother of covering their private parts. A newspaper article regarding Arnhem Land in 1934 describes inter-gender relations on Groote Eylandt: Quote:
In 1803 Flinders noted at Caledon Bay, in northeast Arnhem Land, that the only female that could see ‘wore a small piece of bark, in guise of a fig leaf.’37 Crawford that in the Kimberley an elderly man who died in the 1970’s had earlier informed his translator that he had seen an Aboriginal woman that on a trepanging boat wearing a grass or fabric skirt.38 This is likely to have been a result of the influence of Southeast Asian Islamic thought affecting Aboriginal culture. Intermarriage would have helped to spread cultural ideas about women. This attitude toward women is contrasted in the East coast of Australia where Aboriginal women could be seen by early explorers such as Captain James Cook who wrote: Quote:
Outside of Arnhem Land,40 and even in Western Arnhem Land, which saw less Macassan contact, Aborigines were less protective of their women.41 Warner wrote that wife-lending and prostitution was common in the West, however he did not discover such conduct in East Arnhem Land.42... ...In the 1940’s Berndt and Berndt noticed that venereal disease was rare in eastern Arnhem Land, whereas it was more prevalent in Western Arnhem Land, which had less influence from the Macassans.44 In Western Arnhem Land, the Goulbourn Island Mission authorities had stated that in the 1940’s, 80 per cent of the population had been infected with venereal disease.45 The Aborigines in Western Arnhem Land informed Berndt and Berndt that they did not suffer from venereal disease in the days of early Macassan contact.46 Venereal disease seems to have been introduced at the time of European contact.47 Dr Cecil Strangman, Protector of Aborigines for the Northern Territory in 1908 considered Europeans to be the source of gonorrhoeal infections.48 Considering the devastating effect sexually transmitted diseases had on Aborigines population levels in other parts of Australia through its often resulting infertility, it is likely that the practice of segregating women from strangers saved the East Arnhem Land from a significant drop in population that had occurred in Aboriginal communities elsewhere. Another aspect of introduced Macassan culture was observed by John Lort Stokes, an officer onboard the HMS Beagle, who found that Aboriginal inhabitants of Arnhem Land possessed clothing, which he had not seen elsewhere in Australia: Quote:
Stokes later added this explanatory footnote regarding the clothing: Quote:
Considering the warm climate in the area...[and]...that the region was visited by trepangers, and Muslim Aboriginal men had visited the nearby colony at Port Essington, it seems likely that the wearing of clothes was a result of the influence of the Muslim trepangers.[/quote] 20Urry & Walsh, p. 94. 21G W Earl, Enterprise in tropical Australia, London, 1846, p. 118. 22C Barker, Joumal at Raffles Bay, 13 Sep 1828 - 29Aug 1829, NSW Archives, 912747 SR Reel 2654. 23Ibid. 24Berndt & Berndt, Arnhem Land…, p.56. 25Ibid, p.60. 26Urry & Walsh, p. 94. 27G W Earl, 'An account of a visit to Kisser, one of rhe Serawatti group in the Indian archipelago, Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. 11, 1841, p.116. 28 Berndt, & Berndt, Arnhem Land…, p.6. 29Ibid, p.28-9. 30Ibid. 31Ibid, pp.56-7. 32B Ganambarr, ‘My Grandfather Used to Tell Me Stories About Makassans’, cited in Cooke, M, Makassar & north east Arnhem Land : missing links & living bridges, Batchelor College, Batchelor College report on a Makassan field study, June 1986, Darwin, 1987, p.15. 33Berndt & Berndt, Arnhem Land…, p.14. 34C Pelras, The Bugis, Blackwell, UK, 1996, p.161-5. 35W L Warner, A Black Civilization: A study of an Australian tribe, Harper Torchwood, New York, 1964, p. 459. 36‘Darkest Arnhem Land’, Courier Mail, 4 January 1934, |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by freediver on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 2:07pm
Off-Topic replies have been moved to this Topic.
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 2:13pm
This is what Freeliar does when he has been rolled. Splits up all the thread?
You can't even admit when you are beat Freeliar! An arrogant loser you are! |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by freediver on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 2:16pm
Again Falah, you fail to see what is right in front of you. Anyone looking at it objectively would see an attempt by me to draw attention to the debate.
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Baronvonrort on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 2:43pm falah wrote on May 28th, 2012 at 9:24am:
Faliar There were no muslims on the Burke and Wills expedition, pathetic pissant muslims are trying to rewrite history with this one. Quote:
The Indian sepoy's were sikh's who have a long history of helping the British. From a Islamic propaganda website- Quote:
There were no muslim cameleers on the Burke and Wills expedition they were Indian sepoy's from the sikh religion. Why are muslims telling lies about the Burke and wills expedition Faliar? |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 4:04pm Baronvonrort wrote on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 2:43pm:
There were no muslim cameleers on the Burke and Wills expedition they were Indian sepoy's from the sikh religion. Why are muslims telling lies about the Burke and wills expedition Faliar?[/quote] You ignoramus. "Sepoy" was a term used to describe anyone from the Indian sub-continent. Many of the "Afghans" were actually from Pakistan. Quote:
In those days, Pakistan was called India by the British. This was painted at the time the expedition left Melbourne. The man walking next to the camels looks like an Afghan/Pakistani judging by the turban. Pakistani/Afghan-style turban: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQyGwjpZIR1Vuw9MNEN9SxIHTFGZdB3wAMmGA4RU0HvmJy4aaMODkJHDbf5Kw Sikh turbans are different: |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Soren on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 4:09pm falah wrote on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 4:04pm:
What style turban is this? It just occurs to me - falah, are you Anthony Mundane's kid brother? Just wondering as I have never come across any Muslim so interested in other people's culture and history, let alone in Aboriginal history. Are you a disaffected Aboriginal who is chanelling his revolt against the oppressor by signing up with the Islamic liberation front (Salafi Jihadist branch)? |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Baronvonrort on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 4:56pm falah wrote on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 4:04pm:
You ignoramus. "Sepoy" was a term used to describe anyone from the Indian sub-continent. Many of the "Afghans" were actually from Pakistan. Quote:
[/quote] They were Indian sepoy's on the Burke and Wills expedition what part of Indian do you fail to comprehend in your pathetic attempt to rewrite history? Quote:
There were no muslims on the Burke and Wills expedition |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by Soren on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 8:19pm
OP.
Muslims are aliens to Western civilisation. As a result, they are represented as weird and alien. It is not prejudice, it is not a hidden agenda, it is simply a fact everyone can see. They are aliens in thought, manner, custom, sensibility, memory, aspiration, everything. Try this - could an ordinary Australian be himself, without making any concessions to what's around him, in Mecca? No fooking way. he'd be in jail, if he is lucky, within 24 hours of landing. In Paris? London, New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, Bern, Vienna, Montreal? No probs. Muslims are envoys, representatives, harbingers of an alien, undesirable culture. They should be reminded that we could treat them as they would treat us in Mecca but we don't. So quit whining and pissing yourselves about how put-upon you are. You are not. You are fooking lucky to be here. Show some sign of appreciation for a change. You could be in Mecca. Why aren't you in Mecca? |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on Jun 6th, 2012 at 2:12am Soren wrote on Jun 2nd, 2012 at 8:19pm:
Why are you not in a mental hospital? You should be locked up with Anders Brievik. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on Jun 6th, 2012 at 2:26am
Historian Dr Ian Crawford attributes the Macassan traders with teaching indigenous Australians on the northwestern coast about modern foreigners: "they subsequently developed effective guerrilla warfare tactics."1
1I Crawford, We Won the Victory: Aborigines and outsiders on the north-west coast of the Kimberley, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, 2001, p.22. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on Jun 6th, 2012 at 2:33am
If we look at the nature of the relationship between the Macassans and their Aboriginal trading partners, we can see that the Macassans created a benchmark of behaviour expected of aliens by Aborigines. Berndt and Berndt relate the Yolngu legend of the first Macassan contact which occurred at Cape Bradshaw, where the Macassans had demonstrated kindness to the Yolngu they encountered, and were thereby able to induce Yolngu people to work for them.1 Cordial relations were a hallmark of the relationship, as Worsley writes:
Quote:
Aboriginal elder, David Burrumarra, described how the Yolngu considered the era of early Macassan contact as a golden-age of partnership, coexistence and sacred alliance. McIntosh was told of an ‘unparalleled material wealth and prestige’ that was believed to have characterised that era.3 Galiawa Nalanbayayaya Wurramarrba an elder at Groote Eylandt narrated in 1969 how the Anindilyakwa tribe lived with the Macassans on Bickerton Island, between Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt: Quote:
A Maung elder on Goulburn Island, Lazarus Lamilami, as saying that his people remember that they ‘were very friendly with the Macassans.'5 1R Berndt & C Berndt, Arnhem Land: its history and its people, F. W. Cheshire, Melbourne, 1954, p.42. 2P Worsley, ‘Early Asian Contacts with Australia’, Past and Present, vol. 7, 1955, pp. 8. 3 I McIntosh, ‘A Treaty with the Macassans?: Burrumarra and the Dholtji Ideal’, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 7, No. 2, August 2006, p. 153. 4C Wuramarrba, trans. J, Stokes, ‘Macassar Story’, in L, Hercus, & P, Sutton, (eds.) This is What Happened; historical narratives by Aborigines, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Melbourne, 1986, pp. 119-23. 5D J Mulvaney, Encounters in Place: outsiders and Aboriginal Australians 1606-1985, University of Queensland Press, Adelaide, 1989, p.26. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on Jun 6th, 2012 at 2:40am
Warner found from interviewing Mahkarolla, a Yolngu tribesman from East Arnhem Land in the late 1920’s, that prior to the European embargo on Macassan trade in 1908, the Aborigines took a long-term view of the trade with Macassans and expected it to continue well into the future. When Mahkarolla was a young boy, his father had given him gifts to present to a Macassan prau captain in order to introduce him to the traders in the hope that alliances with prau captains would continue well into the future with the next generation.1 That the relationship is remembered by Yolngu as generally harmonious is demonstrated by folklore represented in the Yothu Yindi song Macassan Crew:
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp4hG8AfnI0 1W L Warner, A Black Civilization: A study of an Australian tribe, Harper Torchwood, New York, 1964, p. 469. 2M, Kellaway, S, Creed, J C, Farriss, A, ‘Macassan Crew’, from Garma record, Yothu Yindi Music, Sydney, 2000. |
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Title: Re: Representations of Muslims in Aust Pop Culture Post by falah on Jun 6th, 2012 at 2:47am
Professor Campbell Macknight talks about how Muslims established Australia's first ever export industry a century before Captain Cook was born :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz3IfOkiSQk |
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