Australian Baloch

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Baloch Australians
استرالی بلۏچ
Australi Baloč
Total population
357 (by language, 2021)[1]
Regions with significant populations
New South Wales, Victoria
Languages
English, Balochi, Persian, Urdu
Religion
Predominately Islam
Related ethnic groups
Baloch diaspora

Baloch Australians (Balochi: استرالی بلۏچ, romanized: Australi Baloč) are Australian citizens who are of Baloch ancestry. There are measurable numbers of Baloch people in Australia.[2]

Background

Many of the so-called early "Afghan cameleers" in Australia were Baloch men who came from the region of Balochistan.[3][4]

Baloch cameleers began arriving in Australia during the late 1800s, primarily to support the inland pastoral industry by transporting goods and supplies using camels. At their peak, there were around 2,000 cameleers and 4,000 camels operating across Australia.[5][6] Small groups of cameleers were shipped in and out of Australia at three-year intervals, to service the Australian inland pastoral industry by carting goods and transporting wool bales by camel trains.[4]

Dost Mahomet and Dervish Bejah Baloch[7] were Baloch cameleers who worked the Western Australian Goldfields in the late 1890s.[8][9][4] Baloch would later settle in Hergott Springs where he fathered a son (Ben Murray) with Karla-warru (also known as Annie Murray), who was an Arabana and Thirari Aboriginal woman.[10][11]

The Baloch cameleers significantly influenced Australian culture, establishing makeshift mosques known as "bush mosques" during their travels. One of the earliest mosques in Australia was built by Baloch cameleers in Hergot Springs (Marree, South Australia) in 1884.[12]

Current presence

Today, there is a notable number of Baloch individuals in Australia[13] pursuing education and employment opportunities. Sabah Rind is a fourth generation Baloch woman continues to speak Balochi at home.[14]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. "Australian Bureau of Statistics". Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  2. Windfuhr, Gernot (2013). The Iranian Languages. Taylor & Francis. p. 634. ISBN 9781135797041.
  3. Westrip, J.; Holroyde, P. (2010). Colonial Cousins: a surprising history of connections between India and Australia. Wakefield Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-1862548411.
  4. Jones، Kenny, Philip, Anna (2010). Australia's Muslim Cameleers Pioneers of the Inland, 1860s-1930s. Wakefield Press. pp. 16, 17, 32, 40, 76, 87, 139, 187. ISBN 9781862548725.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. "Tracing The Identities Of Baloch Cameleers In Australia". The Friday Times. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  6. "Australia's Muslim cameleer heritage". National Museum of Australia. Retrieved December 19, 2024.
  7. Jupp, James (2001). The Australian People. Cambridge University Press. p. 164. ISBN 9780521807890.
  8. Jones, Philip G.; Jones, Anna (2007). Australia's Muslim Cameleers: Pioneers of the Inland, 1860s-1930s (Pbk ed.). Wakefield Press. p. 39,172. ISBN 9781862547780.
  9. "The Afghan camelmen". South Australian History: Flinders Ranges Research. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  10. Austin, Peter; Hercus, Luise; Jones, Philip (1988). "Ben Murray (Parlku-Nguyu-Thangknyiwarna)". Aboriginal History. 12: 115–188 – via Informit.
  11. Hankel, Valmai A., "Dervish Bejah (1862–1957)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2025-08-06
  12. "Tracing The Identities Of Baloch Cameleers In Australia". The Friday Times. 15 December 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  13. Carina،Korn, Jahani،Korn (2003). The Baloch and Their Neighbours. Reichert. p. 11.
  14. "Meet the fourth generation of a Baluch Afghan cameleer". SBS Radio. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2024.