Mahomet Allum
Mohamet Allum | |
---|---|
Herbalist , former cameleer | |
Years active | 1890–1964 |
Known for | Herbal medicine, charitable works |
Mohamet Allum (c. 1858 – 21 March 1964), also known as Muhammad Alam Khan and nicknamed "The Wonder Man", was an Afghan
He arrived as one of the Afghan cameleers brought into Australia to work on the camel trains which were being used to explore the interior of the continent in the late 19th century, and worked around the country before settling in Adelaide in 1899.
Early life
Allum was a Pashtun born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, around 1858.[1]
He travelled through Asia selling
It is recorded that he took a French ship to Adelaide, arriving in Port Adelaide in 1899.[3]
He ran a drapery business in Lismore, New South Wales, where he lost a court action in 1910 regarding unlawful seizure of his property.[4] He experienced outright discrimination in at least one documented event, being charged 50% extra charged for his shipping passage from Burketown to Townsville "on account of not being a white person".[5][4]
During the early 1900s (chronology unknown) is recorded as having run a
He married an Annie Baker in Cloncurry, Queensland in the early 1920s.[1]
Life in Adelaide
The date of his (at least second) arrival in Adelaide is not known, but after starting a herbalist business at 181
Although he was occasionally extreme in his criticism of
Described as "a generous philanthropist, devout Muslim and stylish dresser", photos of Allum all show him wearing a turban, which is a significant Pashtun tribal identifier.[1][Note 2]
He attracted huge numbers of patients, with one newspaper reporting "there is not a medical practitioner in Australia today with such a huge army of patients...". He enjoyed an enviable reputation, being referred to as “Humanity’s Benefactor,” “Wonder Man” and Adelaide’s “Uncrowned King".
He frequently travelled to Afghanistan to find particular herbs which he used in his treatments, such as
Halimah (Effie?[1]) Schwerdt, Allum’s secretary, became the first European woman in Australia to publicly embrace Islam. She was engaged to Allum in 1935-37, but there is no record of a wedding.[4]
He married Jean Emsley in 1940, whom he had cured of severe dermatitis, and they had a daughter, Bebe Nora, born on 17 August 1941.[4] "Bebenora" was enrolled for school on 17 February 1947.[9]
Until the mid-40s, he enjoyed almost unanimous public support. However, after that point, he was criticised in some quarters, being described as “a foreigner, the most discussed man (except Hitler)” (The Bunyip, 1941) and “Australia’s most bizarre personality” (Smith's Weekly, 1946). It was around this time that his lifestyle changed somewhat from its previous simplicity; from having no car, he owned an expensive Daimler, and he possessed expensive jewellery.[4]
During the worst years of the
After selling their Sturt Street property on 14 April 1953,
Death and legacy
Allum continued his practice at Everard Park, but saw fewer patients as he aged, although did not suffer from serious illness. He had become estranged from his daughter Bebe,[4] who possibly blamed him for her mother's death.[10]
Allum died on 21 March 1964,
In print
A devout
Respect and charitable works
A 1940 article in the
His estate, worth £11,218, was nearly all left to charities which cared for children.[2]
On Allum's 81st birthday, he bought 14 allotments at the Centennial Park Cemetery, in order to provide burial plots for other Muslims who could not afford a decent burial.[8]
Footnotes
- ^ Jones[3] says 1920s, but Affifudin (2018) shows the property transfer dates as 3 October 1938 to 14 April 1953.
- ^ As per Affifudin (2018) p.20, the way that the turban is wrapped shows which tribe the wearer belongs to, but such research has not yet been done on Allum.
- ^ Jones[3] appears to be wrong or misprinted, citing his date of death as "12 March 1964".
References
- ^ . Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- ^ ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, (MUP), 1979
- ^ (Over half available online - includes short biographies of a large number of cameleers.)
- ^ ISSN 2207-4414. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- ^ "Allum Annoyed". Truth. No. 686. Queensland, Australia. 6 April 1913. p. 6. Retrieved 1 December 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b Batchelor, Daud (22 September 2018). "Mahomet Allum, Australia's leading herbalist-benefactor". AMUST: Australasian Muslim Times. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- ^ a b c Painter, Alison. "21 March 1964 Mahomet Allum". SA Historians. On this day.
[From
Madeline Brunato, 'Mahomet Allum and "Blackjack"', South Australian Scrapbook, M. Brunato (ed), Rigby, 1979, pp. 21-24. - ^ a b c "Adelaide's "Wonder-Man"". Voice. Vol. 13, no. 10. Tasmania. 9 March 1940. p. 5. Retrieved 29 November 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Bebenora Allum: Australia, South Australia, School Admission Registers, 1873-1985". FamilySearch. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ Budimir, Vedrana; Manning, Catherine (29 July 2015). "Mahomet Allum". Adelaidia. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ Allum, Mahomet; Musakhan, Mohamed Hasan (1932), History of Islamism in Australia from 1863-1932, Mahomet Allum, retrieved 25 November 2019,
Reprinted as a gift to Islam by Mahomet Allum
Full text (98pp) online here. - ^ "Stories: Cameleers and hawkers". National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
Further reading
- Brunato, Madeleine (1972), Hanji Mahomet Allum : Afghan camel-driver, herbalist and healer in Australia, [Drawings by Nancy Gofton], Investigator, ISBN 978-0-85864-010-8
- Budimir, Vedrana (28 April 2015). "181 Sturt Street". SA History Hub.
- Cleland, Bilal. "Muslims in Australia: A Brief History (Excerpts)" (PDF). Islamic Council of Victoria.
- "Mahomet Allum "The Wonder Man"". The Mail (Adelaide). Vol. 20, no. 1, 015. South Australia. 7 November 1931. p. 1 (Sporting Section) – via National Library of Australia.
- Trove Stories: Discovering Mahomet Allum on YouTube
- Trove resources
- Trove Stories: Discovering Mahomet Allum