Islam in Australia 1788-1901

            Early migration of the Islamic tradition is in fact dated earlier than the European settlement. The first recorded migration of Islam's to Australia was Indonesian. They were from Makassar, which is situated towards the southeastern end of the large archipelago of Indonesia. The reason for their travel was for fishing. They were searching for sea lions (trepang) in the Northern area of Australia to bring back home and sell theChinese market as they were considered a delicacy by the Chinese and were sold for a lot of money. Fishing became the reason for many people from Makassar to be visiting the Northern shores of Western Australia .
             By the 1820's a large number of Indonesian fishers were reported to be coming to Australia quite frequently. Although there is no actual recorded evidence of their arrival, Aboriginals of this area in their cave paintings have drawn ships with the traditional Makassar style and there are strong similarities in the languages of these Aboriginals and the Makassarian language.
             This information is due to recent research that has been carried out. Muslims were not recorded in the 200years of historical European writings of Australia. It is known that a few Muslims lived amongst the Aboriginals, as there are numerous Makassarian style gravesites in Northern Australia. When the scope of the large land of Australia was known, a need for some for of transportation was introduced; this is where the Afghan cameleers came from They came to Australia during the late 1830's. They were apart of creating service links and the discovery of new mining areas in the desert regions of Australia. They introduced the suitable use of the camel and its appendage in the harsh Australian desert conditions. These Afghans were an important part to the Burke and Wills debacle into the arid conditions of central desert areas and the crossing of the Simpson Desert. Other projects, which the use of the camels and the expertise of the Muslim Afghans are associated with, is the "Ghan" Train which runs between Alice Springs and Port Augusta.