Dervish Bejah

Dervish Bejah Jakhrani Baloch (c.1862 – 1957), also known as Bejah Dervish, or simply Dervish, was an "Afghan" camel driver who played a significant role in the exploration and development of outback Australia, before settling in Marree, South Australia and growing date palms.

Life

Darvish Bejah was born in Baluchistan, then part of British India (since 1947 part of Pakistan). He served with British forces at Kandahar and Karachi under Lord Roberts, where he attained the rank of sergeant.[1]

He moved to Australia in about 1890, arriving by sailing ship at the port of Fremantle.[1] At that time, communities of so-called Afghan (in fact hailing from a number of countries and ethnicities) cameleers were already established in Australia and involved in exploration and transport, having helped to construct the Overland Telegraph Line and open up the Western Australian Goldfields, amongst other accomplishments.[2]

In 1896 Bejah was engaged by Lawrence Wells to manage the camels used for transport on the ill-fated Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition to the Great Sandy Desert of north-central Western Australia.[1]

In 1902 he settled in Marree, South Australia, where he bought land and from where he operated his camel transport business. On 15 December 1909 he married a widow, Amelia Jane Shaw, with whom he had a son, Abdul Jubbar (Jack). In 1930 he retired from camel driving to grow date palms.

In 1954 Bejah was featured in the award-winning documentary film The Back of Beyond, directed by John Heyer. On 6 May 1957 he died in hospital at Port Augusta and was buried in the local cemetery.[1]

Bejah is commemorated by a plaque on the Jubilee 150 Walkway in Adelaide as someone who made a major contribution to the development of South Australia.

He is lauded in the poem "Afghan" by Douglas Stewart.[3][1]

See also

References
  1. Hankel, Valmai A., 'Bejah, Dervish (1862–1957)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bejah-dervish-5187/text8721, accessed 26 May 2012. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, (MUP), 1979.
  2. "The Afghan camelmen". South Australian History: Flinders Ranges Research. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  3. "5: Afghan". Australian Poetry Library. Retrieved 16 June 2019.

Further reading
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