Saleh "Charlie" Sadadeen, sometimes spelt Sadadene, (c.1870 – 19 July 1933) was an Afghan cameleer and bushman who lived in

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

of Australia.

Cameleer

Sadadeen was born in Baloochistan around 1870. By 1880 he was working as a camel man for Lord Roberts on the march from

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, 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 ...

as a part of the British Army. He would frequently repeat stories from this time later in his life and often wear treasured old pieces of the uniform. It is thought he immigrated to Australia after obtaining work near

Oodnadatta Oodnadatta is a small, remote outback town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia, located north-north-west of the state capital of Adelaide by road or direct, at an altitude of . The unsealed Oodnadatta Track, an outback road ...

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at the time the railway line was completed in 1890. He was working with camel teams by 1902 for the Wallis Brothers, carting goods from Oodnadatta to Stuart, now

and to

Arltunga Arltunga is a deserted gold rush town located in the Northern Territory of Australia in the locality of Hart about east of Alice Springs. It is of major historical significance as the first major European settlement in Central Australia. Earl ...

. By 1914 he managed a strong of 120–130 camels, half belonging to him, the other half to Wallis and Co. Legendary bushman

Walter Smith Walter Ferguson Smith (24 February 1948 – 26 October 2021) was a Scottish association football player, manager and director, primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Glasgow club Rangers. A defender, Smith's playing car ...

worked for Sadadeen for about 15 years. He described him as a hard man but deeply respected his skills and practices. Smith suffered from migraines and describes Sadadeen leaving him under a tree with a billy of water, expecting him to catch up to the camel train upon recovery. In 1921 he purchased a block of land in Alice Springs, on Todd Street, where he established a flowers and vegetable garden (sometimes obtaining

opium poppies Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

) and planted date trees; this block was immediately south of Ah Hong's two blocks. He was the first Afghan Cameleer to do so. As a devout Muslim, he was a leader for the Afghan community and also built a small wooden mosque on this land and obtained licenses to slaughter stock for the Islamic community; ensuring they had access to halal meat. He also kept camels and grew vegetables at a place called Sadadeen Swamp about 30 kilometres south of Alice Springs. Sadadeen married Annie Markham, but the relationship ended. They had no children. Sadadeen died in Alice Springs in 1933. He is buried in the 'Mahommedan' section of the Alice Springs Memorial Cemetery with his grave facing mecca.

Legacy

The site of Sadadeen's market garden is now the location of Alice Springs Town Council and two date palms planted in this garden can still be seen. There is
monument
and park dedicated to Sadadeen and his fellow cameleers within this block and it was named Nishan-e-Afghan (Centre of Afghans) Park in 2000. The Alice Springs suburb of Sadadeen is named after him, as is Sadadeen Primary School. Sadadeen Range on the east of Alice Springs also takes his name, which was where he kept his camels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadadeen, Charlie Australian businesspeople 1870s births 1933 deaths People from Alice Springs Emigrants from British India to Australia