How one animal changed the course of history in Australia

 

 

 

Camels are a lot of animal all at once - they are cantankerous but have these cute little, hairy curls – they grow a huge mammoth size but tread oh so carefully with their unhooved flat pads – they are strong, double-jointed animals that can carry up to 400 kilo's of materials, yet their eyelashes would be the pride and joy of any beauty parlour. The adorable tiny swishing tail belies their, what appears to be, grumpy disposition. Massive groan-like yawns are uttered when they get up or don’t like what you are doing or maybe my understanding of camel is not up to scratch yet. Dentists would have a field day with these side to side grinding hillbillies, which munch on hay with reckless, but slightly comical abandon.

 

 

 

I was lucky enough to walk with Marcus the owner of the Pindan Camel farm as he took a small group of tourists around on a brilliant track inbetween the MacDonnell Ranges. These tourists were travelling up on the world famous luxury train - the Ghan - from Adelaide to Alice Springs. The Ghan stops in Alice long enough to enjoy a camel ride.

 

The Ghan rolling into Alice

Getting on one of these creatures is an experience in itself. Lifting your leg over a camel that is laying down is a tall order, but not really the issue. On the camel-man's cue the front legs come up to a kneeling position and you will then be thrown backwards - rodeo style. As you're hanging on for dear life to the reins, camel hump, partner, curly locks of hair or curly locks of your partners hair you wonder what you've signed for. But wait ...... now it’s time for the hind legs to stand up. Whiplashed forward you feel like you are about to be thrown over the hump, then while you are desperately leaning back you imagine the  topple and harsh contact with the back of the beasts curly head. One more slight adjustment from the front legs, a quick hail Mary and all of a sudden you are suspended, six foot above ground in relative comfort.

 

Up she comes

 

Five minutes later you have forgotten all about the wild embarkation, as the gentle sway of the camels have lulled you into a haze of peaceful serenity you will seldom experience anywhere else and on any other animal in the world. You ride, and you ride gracefully into the sunset feeling like Burke and Wills, exploring the vast Australian interior.

 

 

 

Marcus, who is known as the camel-man has a strong grasp of anything camel. During the walk, we chatted quietly about his years of research and training on how to handle camels. He told me he spent a lot of time learning his craft in the middle-east and Jaiselmer, India, before he went into the camel business. He asked me to take care and not get too close to the traveling caravan as I moved around them to take photos. I queried him about whether camels spat like Lamas do. “That’s bullshit” he replied. I had to agree with him - these camels just looked like the gentlest of giants.

In the end everything was silent - the camels moved quietly, trailing a small cloud of red dust in behind - nobody talked. The riders sat in a trance-like state on the gently rocking Camelus with the sun setting in behind. 

When everyone had dismounted and Marcus was releasing the camels of their saddles and blankets, I saw him sneak a kiss with Pixie the camel.

She had the lips for it!!!

 

C'mon. Pucker up

Grey Bits


Just in case you didn’t realise but ‘Ghan’ is short for Afghan as in Afghani or Afghanistan – a people and country with an undisputable connection with the red centre of Australia. The first three Afghanis arrived in Melbourne by ship in 1860 with 24 camels to assist the Burke and Wills expedition.

 

The signs on the side of the Ghan

 

Afghani cameleers were employed to transport supplies to central Australia, work on the telegraph line and help build the railway track from Adelaide to Darwin until 1930.

The following quote is pinned down on a board at the Pindan Camel Tracks lunch room.

“The way of life of an Australian Afghan was normally quiet, humble, inconspicuous and industrious. They spend long periods of time away from their home and they lived where their jobs took them.”

McKnight 1969

With the introduction of trucks and the train, camels became obsolete as a mode of transport. The government of that time encouraged the Afghani Cameleers to shoot their camels for a small sum of money. Many could not do such a thing to their animals they had come to see as family. Many were released into the centre of Australia.

By 2008 the estimated feral camel population had reached over one million in the red centre.

Information from Wikepedia

 Next time you see a camel in Australia know that you are most likely looking at an ancestor of a tough, hardened, working animal. For seventy years camels worked steadily to build a better Australia.




Marcus giving the pre-ride info

If you would like to go for a historic ride into the sunset, contact Pindan Camel Tracks at

http://www.cameltracks.com/