Oorsprong miljoen rondzwervende dromedarissen ('camels') in Centraal Australië ligt begin 20e eeuw in Afghanistan....- Veel dieren bezorgen overlast

Million camels on march

04-12-2009 Mervyn Bradley, The Gisborne Herald, New Zealand
Mervyn Bradley story-teller and former school-teacher


When one thinks of the animals of Australia, one immediately thinks of kangaroos and koalas — but camels? Feral camels? Yes wild camels. There are nearly a million of them in Central Australia and they are increasing by nearly 80,000 a year!

Hard to believe?
So here is a story which I think should be told.

You see they are running short of water and they are causing mayhem in the scattered settlements and farms in central Australia.

They are in such numbers that they have threatened rare plants which the Aborigines use for food and medicines.
They have trashed water holes, broken fences and brought down windmills.

They have now invaded the little township of Docker River in their search for food and water. Docker River is about 500 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs.

The Northern Territory government has just voted $A19 million to conduct a big cull of the animals.

But this news item made me think of a place like Kalgoorlie and the story of the camels in Australia.

It is well worth re-telling.

It’s a story I have told to many people in Gisborne as I have spoken to groups with my “Travels with a History Book” talks.
Gold was discovered in 1893 in Kalgoorlie and soon every man and his dog headed that way in a frenzied gold rush on the fringe of the Great Central Desert.

However, there was a huge problem . . . the poor quality of available water.
In those days horses were the main beasts of burden but they soon became very sick because of the water.
So they used bullocks to pull the wagons, but they, too, became sick. What was to be done?

Perhaps the answer lay in camels.
Now camels are not native to Australia, they are, of course, native to the Middle East and have cast-iron constitutions when it comes to water.

So hundreds were imported from, of all places, Afghanistan, and they were put to work.

There was no problem with water, but there was a big drawback, camels have trouble with backing.
Their long legs get tangled up, so when the wagons had to turn, the camels had to move in a wide circle to turn.

That was the first thing I noticed when I visited Kalgoorlie in 2000.
The main street was so wide . . . as wide as a city motorway is today.
But the camels had their day in Kalgoorlie and with the march of
progress, they became one of the victims of change.

With fresh water being piped from Perth in the early 1900s, the horse became supreme until we had motor cars, trucks and buses.

The camels simply disappeared into the desert and scrub.

But they prospered (a bit too well it seems) and are only regarded as nuisances today.

P.S. It is interesting to note that the train that travels from Adelaide north to Darwin is called “The Ghan” in honour of the camels who came from Afghanistan and were used in camel trains.

(Bron: http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/)
(Bron foto's old: http://www.camelphotos.com/camels_australia.html / Bron foto camel: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/10/2442312.htm)