Buried Treasure

This photo was unearthed from the pre-demolition salvage operation Leigh and I made on the family barn. It was taken probably by my mother circa '82-'83. It could have been taken the same day as my own camel photo below, though the appearance of a camel in Alice Springs did not always mean the Camel Cup. Strange circumstances often create strange relationships. The discovery of gold and the construction of the Overland Telegraph in the unforgiving arid climate of Central Australia created the need for reliable desert transport. Camels came by their reputations as 'ships of the desert' honestly. Teams of camels were employed to transport supplies from the Southern regions of Australia to the interior and most of these trains were led by Muslim immigrants mostly from Pakistan though they were known collectively as 'Ghans'. To this day, their still resides a small Islamic population in Alice Springs and Australia now holds the worlds largest population of wild camels. So large, in fact, that Australia exports camels and camel meat back to the Middle East and Asia.