By Kamil Shalala, KUNA
Sydney : Australia’s public library is currently holding the first photo exhibition for Muslim camel riders who had discovered the nation a long time ago, in a major cultural event due to last till February 17.
About 2,000 camel riders and 15,000 camels came from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Australia in the middle of the 19th century, before man switched to engines for transports.
These vanguard camel riders contributed in uraveling the Australian deserts’ secrets and established communication among Australian cities, mines and colonies.
Australian officials said the such exhibition was being held in order to shed light on the vanguard Muslim residents of the continent, whose role in disovering and exploring the Australian land has been forgotten for a long period of time.
The exhibition Director, Philip Jones, told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that those camel riders contributed in the most important exploratory campaigns in Australian virgin territories, along with the exploration Burke and Wills’s campaigns in 1860, noting the Muslims’ major role in the early development of the Australian economy and civilization.
Jones confirmed that documents did not praise their heroic exploration sufficiently, despite their accomplishments, which place them among the great explorers’ lists.
He added that the exhibition is a great opportunity to enlighten people about the historic relations between Australia and the Asian countries in light of the explorers’ great role in the history of this nation before the industrual revolution that replaced motor cars for camels and horses as transport means.