The Marree Mosque is a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

located in ,

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, 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 o ...

, Australia.

History

The mosque was completed in (some sources indicate as early as 1861), by members of the South Australian

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pash ...

community. These "Afghans" were generally Muslims from then-British India, although some came from Afghanistan and the Middle East. They worked as cameldrivers and breeders in the region. Figures indicate an approximation that 3,000 "Ghans" were involved in this type of work until it was overtaken by the car and train in the 1930s. The mosque was constructed by camel breeder Abdul Kadir, owner of Wangamanna Station. Another cameleer, Mullah Assim Khan, became imam of the Marree mosque in the early 20th century. The town had two mosques for some time, before the northern one was abandoned around 1910. Another report indicates that a mosque was deliberately demolished in 1956 by its elderly caretaker, Syed Goolamdeen, who could no longer maintain it. As of 2003, it was reported in one source that the descendants of the Afghans in Marree have rebuilt the mosque. However, a heritage survey funded by the Australian and South Australian governments and which was conducted from April 2001 to June 2002 reveals that the mosque no longer exists apart from an area of prepared ground and post stubs, and the nearby remains of an enclosure for camels. The report of the heritage survey which was published in 2002 reports that a "replica mosque" had been built within the Marree township. A tourist map published in 2018 shows a mosque within a park called the "Afghan Camellier Park" (sic) located within the alignment of the former

Central Australia Railway The former Central Australia Railway, which was built between 1878 and 1929 and closed in 1980, was a 1067 mm narrow gauge railway between Port Augusta and Alice Springs. A standard gauge line duplicated the southern section from Port Aug ...

which passed through the town.

History

See also

References

Further reading