It is an unusual place in Australia for one of the first ‘battles’ of World War I to take place. Broken Hill is a long way from the Australian coastline and a very long way away from Europe. Nonetheless anyone visiting Broken Hill is quickly informed of how on New Year’s Day 1915, war occurred, and how the mass shooting shocked the locals and made headlines around Australia: Dreadful affair; Two foreigners run amok; War in Broken Hill, War in Australia; Holy War at Broken Hill.
On New Year’s Day 1915 some 1,200 men, women and children from the ‘Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows’ climbed into 40 open ore wagons. The picnic in Silverton 26 kilometres away was a highly anticipated annual event and as the locomotive pulled away from Broken Hill station the passengers, dressed in their best attire, were excited. The frivolity lasted just three kilometres.
The annual New Year’s Day picnic. (Broken Hill Museum)
Nothing was thought unusual when Gool Mahomed’s ice-cream cart was seen at the side of the track, nor the Ottoman (Turkish) flag flying prominently, nor even the gunfire; perhaps all part of the celebratory start of 1915! Only when the bright red blood of the injured spread as they slumped in the carriages did panic break out.
In late October 1914, the Ottoman Empire united with Germany in war against the Allied powers. The following month, Ürgüplü Mustafa Hayri Efendi, the Ottoman Sheikh al-Islam, spiritual advisor to the Turkish Sultan, declared a holy Islamic war. Mulla Abdullah and Gool Mahomed lived on the northern camel camp outskirts of Broken Hill. Both men had been born in Afghanistan. In late December train, Abdullah, aged about 60 years, a former camel-driver and ‘halal’ butcher was convicted in the Police Court for slaughtering sheep on unlicensed premises. Mahomed aged about 40 years, also a former cameleer, was a local ice-cream vendor. Deep seated alienation ignited. Abdullah was armed with an Snider-Enfield rifle, a revolver and a knife. Gool Mahomed was armed with a Martini-Henry rifle. They spread blankets on the ground and waited. As the train passed, they fired between 20 and 30 shots at the completely exposed picnickers.
Alma Cowie, aged 17 years, was seated next to her boyfriend, Clarence O’Brien. When Clarence realized the two turbaned men were firing, he told Alma to crouch down but it was too late, and she was fatally wounded. William Shaw was seated next to his wife. He said to her I’m shot and died soon after. Their 15-year-old daughter was also wounded. Alfred Millard wasn’t even on the train, instead riding his bicycle close to the tracks on the way to his work shift when fatally shot. Four women and two men were wounded.
Removing the wounded (Broken Hill Museum)
A 70-year-old tinsmith, Thomas Campbell, was standing in the doorway of his house on the western edge of the township. Abdullah and Mahomed come around the side of his house carrying guns. Campbell asked if they were out rabbit shooting. They raised their rifles shot the tinsmith in the stomach. Campbell stepped back inside and closed the door, and another shot was fired through the door. The two assailants continued to skirt the township with police, military, and armed civilians in pursuit. They were seen ascending a hill with a rocky outcrop before exchanging fire with the approaching police vehicle. A constable was wounded twice. James Craig, a 69-year-old labourer, was cutting wood in his yard when the bullets started flying. He was killed by a stray bullet.
During the gun battle Walhanna Asson, a Punjabi-speaking camel-owner, whose brother was serving in the British army in India, rendered assistance to the wounded policeman, while he also was under fire. Late arrivals assumed he was the enemy and Walhanna was only saved by police intervention. Khan Bahadur, another camel-owner and driver was fired on by Abdullah before he hurriedly retreated into his residence. His home then offered police protection during the battle.
The battle lasted nearly two hours before police rushed the rocky outcrop from where the shooting had almost stopped. Abdullah was dead and Mahomed severely wounded. He died in hospital. Believing he would be killed, Gool Mahomed left a letter in his waist-belt which stated that he was a subject of the Ottoman Sultan and that, I must kill you and give my life for my faith, Allāhu Akbar. It is distressing that a similar cry would be heard centuries later.
The photo below from the Broken Hill Museum has the caption: The Broken Hill Riflemen returning after wiping the Turks out.
The horror of the killed and the wounded meant retribution was fundamental to the bubbling outrage. That night, a turbulent crowd, numbering hundreds assembled outside the German Club. After those inside were ushered out, their clubhouse was burnt to the ground. Next was the North Camel Camp the settlement of local Muslims. Camel-based transportation of merchandise was vital to surrounding stations and settlements. The most significant building was the small mosque. Police assembled to preserve order. The military were called and managed to discourage the agitated crowd. Because the police and military did not remove their boots when entering the mosque, it was then considered the mosque had been desecrated and the upset Muslim community added to the Broken Hill unrest.
On 4 January 1915, eleven alien enemies resident in Broken Hill were detained, six Austrians, four Germans and one Turk. They were then ordered to leave the town. The next day, Broken Hill mines fired all employees deemed enemy aliens under the 1914 Commonwealth War Precautions Act. Shortly afterwards, all ‘enemy aliens’ in Australia were interned for the duration of the war.