Hassan Musa Khan
Muhammad Hassan Musa Khan (b. 30 May 1863, Karachi) was an Australian businessman and one of the early Muslim cameleers in the country. Born in the Tareen tribe of Pashtun origin in Sindh, he was a nephew of Morad Khan, who was an early supplier of Karachi camels to Australia.
Khan attended the Karachi and Bombay universities during the 1880s. He was a schoolteacher in India in 1890, and arrived in Australia in 1896. He is most notable for being appointed as an arbitrator in a complex 1899 court case, involving camel importation to Western Australia (West Australian 22 Apr 1899, p.3). Khan may have brought his wife to Australia from India, according to a birth notice for his daughter, born at 'Nurse Baseby's, King St in Coolgardie (West Australian 1 June 1899, p.4). He was fluent in several languages including English, Pushto, Urdu, Persian, Sindhi, as well as some Arabic.
For some time, he was a bookseller in Perth between 1904-1906. In 1904, he also founded the Perth Mosque and later served as its treasurer in 1906 as well as secretary of the mosque. Khan was a representative of the 'camel men' at various official events. He also wrote against racism and was author of the book The History of Islamism in Australia from 1863-1932 (Musakhan 1932; Schinasi 1980, p. 23; Rajkowski 1987, p. 86; Loois 1988; Stevens 1989). His books were donated to the Battye Library, Perth.[1] He is known to have resided in Kalgoorlie in 1921 and in Adelaide in 1932. He travelled to Delhi, India between 1911-1914.
Publications
- The History of Islamism in Australia from 1863-1932 (Note: here "Islamism" is not the modern connotation of the politicization of the Islamic faith)