At Government House we were told there would be a public reception at Fremantle on the coast as well. That made Mr Giles look tired. I think he would have welcomed a second battle at Ularring rather than go to another ball.
At one function Padar said to some young ladies that it was he who brought the expedition over from Beltana. Mr Giles laughed when he heard him say that, but when you think about it, it’s true. Without Padar and me to tend the camels and Tommy to find the water would the English have survived 2,500 miles of waterless desert? Even with their instruments?
When I saw the Indian Ocean at Fremantle, Afghanistan and my brother Jamil seemed so far away. But I was surprised I didn’t mind as much as I thought I would. In a way I was like Tommy: we both would never return to our roots, but at least I had Padar and the knowledge deep within me of my mother’s love.
For seven months I saw no rivers or tall gum trees, just mulga or spinifex, sand and gibber plain, but I marched most of the length of this country and I called it home.
It was Beltana I thought of then, Beltana and Emmeline.
Ernest Giles took the expedition back to Beltana two months later on 13th January 1876. He went by way of the Gibson Desert to try again to find Alf Gibson’s remains. Mr Tietkens travelled back to Adelaide by mail steamer to study to become a surveyor so he could lead his own expeditions.
Jess Young was not invited to join Ernest Giles on the return trip so he travelled east with William Tietkens. Although Jess Young gave the highest praise for Mr Giles and his leadership in his speeches, he said privately that they should have done more surveying and exploring rather than racing across the desert just because they had camels and were able to do so.
Ernest Giles said that an explorer does not make the country. He must take it as he finds it. No doubt if there was water, they could have done more surveying as Jess Young wished.
Alec Ross saw his dream fulfilled: he was made second-in-command. On the return trip, there were more troubles with lack of water, Ernest Giles almost became blind, Mr Tietkens’ riding bull died from eating poisonous plants, and Alec’s camel Buzoe died from old age, but despite this, the expedition reached Beltana in late August, 1876, fifteen months after they set out.
Imperial measurements are used in Taj and the Great Camel Trek. Here are some conversion tables to show how long a mile is or how cold 32 degrees Fahrenheit is.
Imperial Metric
Length
1 inch=25.4 millimetres
1 foot=.3048 metres
1 yard=.9144 metres
200 yards=183 metres
1 mile=1.609 kilometres
2,500 miles=4,000 kilometres
Capacity
1 gallon=4.5461 litres
4 gallons=18 litres
50 gallons=227 litres
300 gallons=1364 litres
Weight
1 pound=.4536 kilograms
30 pounds=13.6 kilograms
550 pounds=250 kilograms
Temperature
100F=37.7C
32F=0C
In Taj and the Great Camel Trek, many events, conversations, and even some of the camels’ names, are based on real life from the writings of the men who took part in the expedition from Beltana to Perth in 1875, and in particular, from the journals of Mr Ernest Giles. Although the members of the expedition were real people, and facts about them are included, this story is creative and the men’s personalities and relationships with each other are seen through the eyes of Taj Saleh who is a fictitious character.
I apologise for the use of the words ‘native’ and ‘black boy’ in the dialogue but these words were used in 1875.
For the purposes of fiction the following facts are changed in the story:
• Mustara was a fully grown bull.
Tommy joined the expedition in Port Augusta. Some of the waterholes Tommy found were found by Jimmy his relative, who was part of the expedition until Fowler’s Bay.
Alec and Reechy joined the expedition on the way to Port Augusta.
It was Jess Young who fell from his camel into a spinifex bush.
Ramadan (or Ramazan as Taj calls it) began on Friday 1st October 1875 (Islamic year 1292) not the 1st of September.
Tommy was not taken.
Thank you to Asialink and ARTSA for the Asialink Fellowship in Pakistan where I collected folktales for this novel. Many thanks to Gary Hawke, Jacinta di Mase and Jenny Darling who all thought this idea would make a great story. Thanks to Robert Ingpen for his paintings of Mustara, Taj and Emmeline which helped inspire me. Thanks to Mr Hampel of Kapunda camel farm for helpful advice on camels. Special thanks to Fran Knight who read an early draft. Thank you to Kristina and Christina and the team at UQP who also believed in the story. Thank you to the Kapunda Library staff for tirelessly chasing the resources I needed for research, and to the State Library of SA for sending books to Kapunda for me. I am indebted to Flinders Ranges Research at www.southaustralianhistory.com.au
Ernest Giles’ poems are taken from his journal, Australia Twice Traversed.
Taj’s poem was written by Hafiz and can be read in full at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19987329/A-Selection-of-Hafiz
The following books were helpful in writing Taj and the Great Camel Trek.
Ahmad and Boase 2003, Pashtun Tales from the Pakistan—Afghan Frontier, Saqi Books, London.
Anderson, R.J. 1988, Solid Town – The History of Port Augusta, R.J. Anderson, Port Augusta.
Barker, H.M. 1995, Camels and the Outback, Hesperian Press, Victoria Park, SA.
Brian, J. 2005, Hoosh! Camels in Australia, ABC Books, Sydney.
Cigler, M. 1989, Afghans in Australia, Ethnic Heritage Series, AE Press, Melbourne.
Dutton, G. 1974, Australia’s Last Explorer: Ernest Giles, Rigby, Adelaide.
Giles, E. (1889) 1981, Australia Twice Traversed, Doubleday, NSW.
Giles, E. 2000, Ernest Giles Explorations, 1872–76: South Australian Parliamentary Papers 1872–1876, Introduction by Valmai Hankel, Friends of the State Library, Adelaide.
Guppy, S. 2008, The Secret of Laughter, Magical Tales from Classical Persia, Tauris Parke, London.
Hercus, L.A. 1999, A Grammar of the Wirangu Language from the West Coast of SA, Pacific Linguistics, Canberra.
Jones, P. & Kenny, A. 2007, Australia’s Muslim Cameleers, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, SA.
Ross, A. 1928, ‘Reminiscences’, The Register, South Australia, 31/7/28–4/9/28.
Shah, A. 2008, Tales from the Bazaars of Arabia, Tauris Parke, London.
Sheardon, B. 2008, Afghan: Camel Strings and the Australian Outback, Meni, Cranbourne, Victoria.
Stevens, C. 1989, Tin Mosques and Ghan Towns, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Tietkens, W.H. 1877, An Account of the latest exploring expedition across Australia, a paper delivered at Plymouth Geographical Society.
Young, J. 1978, Recent Journey of Exploration across the Continent of Australia, Gaston Renard, Melbourne. (Photocopy from American Geographical Society, Bulletin, No.2, 1878.)
First published 2011 University of Queensland Press
PO Box 6042, St Lucia, Queensland 4067 Australia
www.uqp.com.au
© Rosanne Hawke 2011
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