Muslim Australians - Religion Cultural Diversity Resource Manual

MUSLIMS IN AUSTRALIA
Origins of Islam in Australia
Origins of Islam in Australia
Long before European
settlement, Muslims had
contact with Australia and
her peoples. Fishing for sea-slugs, the
Macassans (an ethnic group from
eastern Indonesia) began visiting the
northern shores of Australia in the
seventeenth century. Evidence of their
presence is found in cave drawings
of the distinctive Macassan boats
and in artefacts found in Aboriginal
settlements in the north.
Some Muslim sailors and prisoners
came to Australia on the convict ships
but very little is known about them
as they left no traces in the history
books, except for a few scattered
references to their names.
During the 1870s Muslim Malay
divers were recruited through an
agreement with the Dutch to work
on West Australian and Northern
Territory pearling grounds. By 1875
there were 1800 Malay divers working
in Western Australia. Most returned
to their home countries.
Afghan cameleers settled in
Australia from the 1860s onwards.
Camels were imported and used by
European explorers to help open
up the dry interior and transport
goods and services to different
parts of the country. Due to the
Afghans’ knowledge and expertise
with camels, they were credited with
saving the lives of numerous early
European explorers and were vital for
exploration.
A Muslim settler
Saib Sultan was a Muslim who came to Australia after sailing on the
Endeavour. He had eleven and a half acres on Norfolk Island but in 1809 he
and his wife sailed as third-class passengers to Tasmania (or Van Dieman’s
Land as it was known back then) on the Lady Nelson. His name was changed
to Jacob and records show that by 1819 he had twenty-eight acres of pasture
and two acres of wheat. 1
In the early twentieth century,
Muslims of non-European
background must have found it very
difficult to come to Australia because
of a government policy which limited
immigration on the basis of race.
Known as the White Australia Policy
it was used by the government of the
day put in place strict tests designed
to keep out people who had dark skin
or who were from non-European
backgrounds. But some Muslims
still managed to come to Australia.
In the 1920s and 1930s Albanian
Muslims were accepted due to their
lighter European complexion, which
was more compatible with the White
Australia Policy.
The need for population growth and
economic development in Australia
led to the broadening of Australia’s
immigration policy in the post-World
War II period. This allowed for the
acceptance of a number of displaced
Muslims who began to arrive from
Europe. Moreover, between 1967
and 1971, approximately 10,000
Turks settled in Australia under an
agreement between Australia and
Turkey. Almost all of these people
went to Melbourne and Sydney.
From the 1970s onwards, there was a
significant shift in the government’s
attitude towards immigration.
Instead of trying to make new
Australians ‘assimilate’ and forgo
their unique cultural identities,
the government became more
accommodating and tolerant of
differences by adopting a policy of
‘multiculturalism’. By the beginning
of the twenty-first century, Muslims
from more than sixty countries had
settled in Australia. While a very large
number of them come from Turkey
and Lebanon, there are Muslims
from Indonesia, Bosnia, Iran, Fiji,
Albania, Sudan, Egypt, Palestine,
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India,
among others.
Despite the occasional outspoken
politician who criticises
multiculturalism, broad sections
of Australians have acknowledged
and welcomed the contributions
made by recent immigrants. Muslim
immigrants have become a part
of developing Australia’s culture,
economy and religious knowledge.
1
Bilal Cleland, “The History of Muslims in Australia” in Abdullah Saeed and Shahram Akbarzadeh (eds),
Muslim Communities in Australia, Sydney, NSW: UNSW Press, 2001, 14.
Muslim Australians:THEIR BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS 7