Monga Khan facts for kids

Monga Khan (born around 1870, died 1930) was a Muslim man from British India (which is now Pakistan). He came to Australia and worked as a hawker, selling goods in Victoria. He traveled to Australia to find work, but he was different from many other men from South Asia who were brought to Australia to work in the late 1800s. Those workers are sometimes called "the Afghans".

A famous picture of Monga Khan from 1916 became very well-known in 2016. An Australian artist named Peter Drew used it for a poster campaign called "Real Aussies Say Welcome". The poster showed Khan's picture with the word "Aussie" underneath it. Peter Drew said he wanted the artwork to make people think about Australia's rules for people coming into the country. He also wanted to show different ideas about what it means to be Australian. After the posters, a fictional book called The Legend of Monga Khan: An Aussie Folk Hero was released. It had stories and poems inspired by Khan's life.

Monga Khan arrived in Australia before a law called the Immigration Act 1901 was introduced. This law is also known as the White Australia policy. Because he was already living in Australia before this law, he could get a special pass called a Certificate of Exemption to the Dictation Test (C.E.D.T.). This pass proved he had lived in Australia for a long time. It allowed him to leave Australia and come back, which was very hard for many immigrants who arrived after 1901.

Early Life

Monga Khan was born around 1870 into a Muslim family in what was then British India. He came from a village called Bathroi, in the Mirpur District of what is now Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. For a while, people thought he was from a different village near the city of Ambala. But later, it was confirmed that he was from Bathroi, Mirpur, Kashmir.

Life in Australia

Khan arrived in Victoria, Australia, in 1895. He worked as a hawker in and around cities like Melbourne, Ballarat, Beaufort, and Ararat. He was known for helping other hawkers with their work. Like other hawkers, he often stayed at a farm in Trawalla. He camped there with Vosile Khan, Ludda Khan, and Zaan Khan, who were thought to be his relatives. The men would pick up their goods from the Trawalla railway station and carry them to the farm. They also smoked hookah and prepared their meat in their traditional way.

In 1908, Khan became sick and went back to British India on a ship called the SS Omrah. He went to see his wife and family. In 1914, he had some financial trouble. In 1916, he was sick again and planned to go home. Because of this, he applied for a Certificate of Exemption to the Dictation Test (C.E.D.T.). This pass showed he had lived in Australia before the Immigration Act 1901 (the White Australia policy) started. With this C.E.D.T., he was sure he could come back to Australia.

Death

Monga Khan became ill and died in 1930 at Ararat Hospital. He passed away from a serious illness affecting his brain. He was buried on October 27 at the Ararat Cemetery.

See also

• Mirpuri diaspora
• "Afghan" cameleers in Australia
• Dervish Bejah
• Dost Mahomet
• Hassan Musa Khan