Marree Mosque

{{Short description|Former mosque in Marree, South Australia, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Marree Mosque | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = The mosque at Marree SLSA B-15341.jpeg | image_upright = 1.4 | alt = | caption = The Mosque at Hergott Springs. The pool in the foreground was used by worshippers for washing their feet before entering the Mosque. | map_type = South Australia | map_size = 250 | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location in South Australia | coordinates = {{coord|29.651346|S|138.063082|E|format=dms|display=title,inline|type:landmark_region:AU-SA}} | coordinates_footnotes = | religious_affiliation = Islam (former) | locale = | location = {{SAcity|Marree}}, South Australia, Australia | deity = | rite = | sect = | tradition = | festival =  | cercle = | sector = | municipality = | district = | territory = | prefecture = | state = | province = | region = | country = | administration = | consecration_year = | organisational_status =  | status = Mosque (former) | functional_status = '''Abandoned''' | heritage_designation = | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | religious_features_label = | religious_features = | architect = | architecture_type = | architecture_style = | founded_by = Abdul Kadir | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = | groundbreaking = | year_completed = {{circa|1882}} | construction_cost = | date_demolished =  | facade_direction = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | interior_area = | height_max = | dome_quantity = | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = | minaret_height = | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | site_area = | temple_quantity = | monument_quantity = | shrine_quantity = | inscriptions = | materials = | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | footnotes = | website = }} The '''Marree Mosque''' is a former mosque located in {{SAcity|Marree}}, South Australia, Australia.

== History == The mosque was completed in {{circa|1882}} (some sources indicate as early as 1861<ref name="Senate">{{cite book|author=Australia. Parliament. Senate|title=Parliamentary debates (Hansard).: Senate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8NDAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=9 September 2012|publisher=Commomwealth Govt. Printer}}</ref>), by members of the South Australian Afghan community.<ref name="AdlerGielen2003">{{cite book|author1=Adler, Leonore Loeb |author2=Gielen, Uwe P. |title=Migration: Immigration and Emigration in International Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yw-_K6ek5IUC&pg=PA278|accessdate=9 September 2012|year=2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-97666-8|pages=278–}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Migration: Immigration and Emigration in International Perspective">{{cite book|author1=Adler, Leonore Loeb |author2=Gielen, Uwe P. |name-list-style=amp |title=Migration: Immigration and Emigration in International Perspective|year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yw-_K6ek5IUC|accessdate=15 March 2015|publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group.|isbn=9780275976668 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="AdlerGielen2003"/><ref name="Migration: Immigration and Emigration in International Perspective"/>

The mosque was constructed by camel breeder Abdul Kadir, owner of Wangamanna Station.<ref name="Wilson2006">{{cite book|author=Wilson, Pip |title=Faces in the Street|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcO7t8G-yQ8C&pg=PA546|accessdate=9 September 2012|date=30 October 2006|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-4303-0021-2|pages=546–}}</ref> 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.<ref name="JonesKenny2010">{{cite book|author1=Jones, Philip |author2=Kenny, Anna|title=Australia's Muslim Cameleers: Pioneers of the Inland, 1860s-1930s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6p-V7d-eLE0C&pg=PA124|accessdate=9 September 2012|date=1 February 2010|publisher=Wakefield Press|isbn=978-1-86254-872-5|pages=124–}}</ref> Another report indicates that a mosque was deliberately demolished in 1956 by its elderly caretaker, Syed Goolamdeen, who could no longer maintain it.<ref name="Museum1995">{{cite book|author=Migration Museum|title=From many places: the history and cultural traditions of South Australian people|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T__WAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=9 September 2012|date=22 May 1995|publisher=Wakefield Press|isbn=978-1-86254-347-8}}</ref>

As of 2003, it was reported in one source that the descendants of the Afghans in Marree have rebuilt the mosque.<ref name="AdlerGielen2003"/> 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.<ref>{{Citation | last1=Leader-Elliott |first1=Lyn | last2=Iwanicki |first2=Iris | title=Heritage of the Birdsville and Strzelecki Tracks : part of the Far North & Far West Region (Region 13) | url= https://data.environment.sa.gov.au/Content/heritage-surveys/2-Birdsville-and-Strzelecki-Tracks-Heritage-Survey-2002.pdf |publication-date=2002 | publisher=South Australian Dept. for Environment and Heritage | isbn=978-0-646-42140-7 |pages=263–272 & 534 }}</ref>{{rp|263, 267 & 534}} 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 which passed through the town.<ref name="Map">{{cite web |title=Marree, the corrugated iron town (map) |url=http://www.marree.com.au/Where/Marree%20Map%202018%202048.jpg |website=Welcome to Marree |accessdate=21 June 2019 |archive-date=9 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200409224617/http://www.marree.com.au/Where/Marree%20Map%202018%202048.jpg |url-status=dead }}</ref>    

== See also == {{stack|{{Portal|South Australia|Islam}}}} {{Islam in Australia}} * History of Islam in Australia * List of mosques in Australia * List of first mosques by country

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *[https://ardentobservations.blogspot.com/2007/11/australias-first-muslims.html ''Australia's First Muslims''] at ArdernObservations blogspot

Category:Far North (South Australia) Category:Religious organizations established in 1882 Category:1882 establishments in Australia Category:Former mosques in Australia Category:Mosques completed in the 1880s Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1882 Category:19th-century mosques in Australia