Dervish Bejah Jakhrani Baloch (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 ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Eas ...

Life

Darvish Bejah was born in Baluchistan, then part of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(since 1947 part of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

). He served with British forces at

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

and

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

under Lord Roberts, where he attained the rank of sergeant. He moved to Australia in about 1890, arriving by sailing ship at the port of Fremantle.Hankel, Valmai A.,
Bejah, Dervish (1862–1957)
, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed 26 May 2012. This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, (MUP), 1979. 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 The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a telegraphy system to send messages over long distances using cables and electric signals. It spanned between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital o ...

and open up the

Western Australian Goldfields The Western Australian Goldfields is a term for areas in Western Australia that have had significant areas of gold mining occur. Range of goldfields There are goldfields across the state of Western Australia, from the Kimberley region to the so ...

, amongst other accomplishments. Dervish Bejah In 1896 - Group Portrait of Calvert Expedition to Western Australia by L Wells - 1896-1897(GN03109) (cropped)

Dervish Bejah In 1896 - Group Portrait of Calvert Expedition to Western Australia by L Wells - 1896-1897(GN03109) (cropped)

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 Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. In 1902 he settled in Marree, where he bought land and from where he operated his camel transport business. On 15 December 1909 he married a widow, Amelia Jane Shaw, and around 1930 he retired from camel driving to grow date palms. On 6 May 1957 he died in hospital at Port Augusta and was buried in the local cemetery.

Recognition

In 1954 Bejah was featured in the award-winning documentary film ''

The Back of Beyond ''The Back of Beyond'' (1954) is a feature-length award-winning Australian documentary film produced and directed by John Heyer for the Shell Film Unit. In terms of breadth of distribution, awards garnered, and critical response, it is Heyer's ...

'', directed by

John Heyer John Whitefoord Heyer (14 September 1916 – 19 June 2001) was an Australian documentary filmmaker, who is often described as the father of Australian documentary film.''Oxford companion to Australian film'' (1999) John Heyer spent the majo ...

. Bejah is commemorated by a plaque on the Jubilee 150 Walkway in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

as someone who made a major contribution to the development of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It reads "Dervish Bejah, c1862-1957, Camel-driver, explorer". He is lauded in the poem "Afghan" by Douglas Stewart, published in 1955

Descendants

In 1891 he had a son, Ben Murray, with an Aboriginal woman living in Marree, South Australia. He had a son with his wife Amelia, Abdul Jubbar (Jack). Abdul Bejah, son of Jack and grandson of Dervish, was on the Australian Outback Afghan Camelmen Descendants and Friends Memorial Committee that organised a memorial to the cameleers in

Whitmore Square Whitmore Square, also known as Iparrityi (formerly Ivaritji), is one of five public squares in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia. Occupying 2.4ha (24,000 m2), it is located at the junction of Sturt and Morphett Streets in the south-wes ...

, Adelaide, in 2007.

Life

Recognition

Descendants

See also

References

Further reading