Mail*Link(r) SMTP               RE>Afghan Camel Drivers
 
On Monday 21 Apr 1997 Sharyn Woodcock wrote:
 
I am at present, researching the use of Afghan Camel teams in the
copper mining industry in North West Queensland towards the end of last
century. I was wondering if anyone else had come across them being used in
a similar way elsewhere. eg. carrying the ores to the nearest railhead.
 
There are many examples of camels and 'Afghan' cameleers being used in Central
Australia from the 1850s onwards. They transported everything from mining
equipment, wool bales, the mail, household goods and stores. I cannot think of
a  specific example of transporting ore, but possibilities include the
Arltunga (1890s) and Tanami (1930s) goldfields in the NT and several mine
sites along the Birdsville Track where the railway never ventured and camels
remained the standard transport untill well into the twentieth century.
 
Most would be covered in:
 
Christine Stevens
Tin Mosques and ....(I cannot remember the rest of the tile)
Oxford University Press
about 1992
 
if you have not already seen it.
 
Andrew Wilson
Central Australia Archaeology Project
University of Sydney