Mosque in Marree, South Australia, c. 1947
(Photograph courtesy National Archives: M914, SOUTH AUSTRALIA 3506)

Early Australian Muslims felt an overwhelming need to build their own mosques. At first a special room set aside in someone's house served as a place of prayer. In the more remote areas like Maree (where many cameleers lived) and Coolgardie, simple mud and tin-roofed mosques were initially constructed.

Muslims were crucial to the development of the pearlshelling industry along Australia's northern coast. In the late 19th century, so-called 'Malays' from South-East Asia were brought to Australia to work as indentured labourers in the shell-rich waters around Thursday Island, Darwin and Broome.

Muslim fishermen and traders from Macassar in southern Sulawesi (Indonesia) had begun to visit Australia's shores by the 18th century. They sailed their praus from the eastern islands of modern Indonesia along the continent's north and north-west coast, fishing for trepang and trading for pearls and pearl shell with the local Aboriginal people. It was a relationship that lasted across many generations.

The first generation accompanied exploring expeditions across the outback. Their camel teams provided critical transport links, carrying mail and water at a time when railways were few and far between. The pioneering contribution of the cameleers helped to open up remote inland areas of Australia.