H. M. Barker

Australian history is interesting and still recent enough in its European aspects to be encountered in daily life when I know I am treading the same path that the old explorers did. The author also gives much valuable information on the Indigenous inhabitants of the land traversed by camels, and their interaction with them and adaptation to the changing fortunes of their traditional lands. I learned many new things, the most interesting being that the Afghan cameleers were not Afghans at all but came from a certain area of India. Camels still roam the outback though are not used for transport as they were in the past. Another interesting link for me is the fact that some of my ancestors were the early settlers in outback areas of New South Wales, and had links with the camel teams and drivers.… (more)