Australia's oldest mosque from 1889 in Adelaide

Australia's first mosque (inset) at Hergotts Springs, Maree, in 1884. Main image: Australia's oldest surviving mosque from 1889 in Little Gilbert Street, Adelaide city.
Islam came to South Australia in 1865 with 31 “Afghan” (actually mostly from British-ruled India) camel handlers. They were recruited to manage 124 camels imported by Thomas Elder and Samuel Stuckey for carrying stores to and from Lake Hope and Beltana stations.

Despite cultural clashes, the devout Muslim camel handlers maintained their religious practices, even passing them on to Aboriginal wives and children.

The outback camel train handlers used desert springs as places of worship where they washed prior to prayer. This developed into Australia’s first mosque – of mud, corrugated iron and thatch – at Marree (Hergott Springs).

The mosque was constructed by camel breeder Abdul Kadir of Wangamanna Station. Another camelleer, Mullah Assim Khan, became imam of the Marree mosque in the early 20th Century. The town’s mosque was lost in the mid 20th Century but restored in 2003 by descendants of the cameleers.

A mosque from 1889 in Adelaide city’s southwestern Little Gilbert Street became Australia’s oldest survivor. The mosque was the idea of Hadji Mullah, a Tarin Afghan who retired to Adelaide after working with camel teams that had carried materials for the overland telegraph line project in 1872.

Hadji Mullah became the first caretaker of the mosque. He and his wife lived in the grounds. Other cottages accommodated aged cameleers and hawkers.

Four minarets were added to the mosque in 1903 but it fell into disrepair before migrants from Europe and Indonesia after World War II replenished the Muslim population. Bosnian migrants in 1952 found “ancient turbaned men”, the youngest 87 and oldest 117, still living in its decaying shelter.

The restored mosque has become a place of prayer for migrants from Lebanon, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and areas of the former Yugoslavia.

Source: https://adelaideaz.com/articles/austr...

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