Jack Dale

These are the Afghan camel drivers praying. Jack called them “the bums in the air people – Muslims”. The Afghans made a valuable contribution towards opening up inland Australia. Very few of the Afghans ventured into the Kimberley as business suited them better around the goldfields further south. Jack’s memories of these prayer men on camels are quite vivid and he speaks very kindly of these early pioneers. This painting features in the Jack Dale Mengenen monograph page 49.