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[Afghan Camel Teams, Wilcannia, NSW]

c1880s. Two printing-out paper photographs, cabinet card format, studio line on backing left or right, 9.5 x 14.4cm (approx. each). Scuffing, indentations, laid down on original backing.

Studio line reads “Stevens & Co., Wilcannia and Silverton.” One image depicts a camel team in front of “Frew, Wright & Co. Wine, Spirit & General Merchants” store on Reid Street, Wilcannia.

Afghan cameleers and camel teams arrived in Australia in 1860 for the Burke and Wills expedition. Camels became “the primary means of bulk transport in the Outback, where the climate was too harsh for horses and other beasts of burden,” and provided “vital support to exploration and settlement of the arid interior of the country…The Afghans, or Ghans as they became known, were well established by the time of Broken Hill’s discovery in 1883 and in succeeding years, camel teams and Afghans were a familiar sight in Broken Hill and the West Darling District of NSW.” Ref: Wiki; NSW Govt Gazette, 24.4.1883.

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Item #CL195-7

Price (AUD): $2,250.00  other currencies