1915 Picnic Train Attack and White Rocks Reserve is a heritage-listed former tramway and now visitor attraction at Hynes Street, Broken Hill, City of Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. It was the site of the only attack during World War I that occurred on Australian soil (The Battle of Broken Hill). The property is owned by NSW Department of Industry - Lands (State Government) and Silverlea Services (Community Group). It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 29 June 2018. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
History Broken Hill is in the country of the Wilyakali people, who spoke a dialect of the Barkandji language. In 1915 most Aboriginal people in the region were living on stations that were known to be safe refuges such as Poolamacca, 60 kilometres north of Broken Hill.
The Wiljakali people who occupied the area when Charles Sturt arrived in 1845 (and first referred to it as 'broken hill') faced less immediate settler aggression than tribal groups who lived on the rivers, including the Darling River.
In 1883, when boundary rider Charles Rasp formed a small syndicate to mine a great ironstone outcrop in the far west of New South Wales, they thought they would find tin. Instead, they ended up having leases over some of the world's richest silver, lead and zinc deposits. Unlike gold, these metals were not simply there for the taking. BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd.), formed in 1885, faced technical and logistical challenges in mining and processing the ore bodies.Spearitt, 2018, 73
Broken Hill grew quickly. A population of 17,000 in 1889 had more than doubled to 35,000 in 1914, putting it on the map as the then third-largest city in New South wales. It was also Australia's most multicultural city of the time.
Trade unions quickly formed around the mine and extraction processing industries. The Trades Hall, built between 1891 and 1905, became the first building in Australia owned by unions, who also purchased the local newspaper "The Barrier Times" in 1908. This strong union tradition permeated all aspects of life in Broken Hill. The city's unionists won a 35-hour week in 1920, the first to do so in Australia.Spearitt, 2018, 74
The city is full of surprises, including the Broken Hill mosque, founded by Afghan cameleers in the early 1890s, and a synagogue built in 1910. The cameleers flourished in the later decades of the 19th century, transporting wool as well as construction materials for the Overland Telegraph line from Darwin to Port Augusta. The Jewish population mainly came from Eastern Europe. While the Broken Hill synagogue closed in 1962, the mosque is still used for worship. BHP ceased operations in Broken Hill in the late 1930s, by which time other mining companies had formed, leaving behind an open-cut mine that writer George Farwell described in 1948 as:"forlorn as a dead planet. It has the air of a crater on the moon... Massive boulders and abandoned machinery sprawl down its flanks as though flung down the sheer sides of a mountain gorge. Upon the crest old iron lies everywhere".
Mullah Abdullah (1855-1915) Mullah Abdullah was born in 1854-5 possibly in Afghanistan or in a nearby region of Pakistan. It is said that he came from a family of mullahs and that he was a mullah in Broken Hill. However, despite being widely reported, there is no substantial evidence he did, or could have, acted in that role.
Abdullah arrived in South Australia in around 1890 and started working in Broken Hill from 1899. It is unclear what he had been doing in Australia leading up to his move to Broken Hill but most likely he had spent time working as a cameleer. During his time working in Broken Hill it is suggested that he worked as a cameleer and it is documented that he worked as Mullah to the "Afghans at the local Ghantown" where he led the daily prayers, officiated at funerals and was also a halal butcher, killing animals according to the principles of halal for Muslim consumption. According to newspaper reports the halal butchery is part of the reason for Abdullah's role in the picnic train attack.Barrier Miner, Thursday 7 January 1915The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 January 1915 Leading up to the day of the attack Abdullah had been prosecuted twice by Cornelius Brosnan the Sanitary Inspector for killing meat in an unsanitary environment.Solomon 1988Australian Railway History, Vol 66, Jan 2015
Gool Badasha Mahomed Gool Badasha Mahomed was born in 1875 near the North-West Frontier of India in the Tirah region of Afghanistan, an area that operated under local tribal law. Gool was an Afridi tribesman who spoke Pushtu came to Australia in his youth to most likely work as a cameleer before returning home to enlist in the Turkish Army. Gool fought in four campaigns before he returned to Australia in 1912 to continue as a cameleer until the decline of the camel transport business. He then worked in the silver mines of Broken Hill until he was retrenched and became self-employed pushing a cart around selling ice creams to the locals. The beginning of World War I sparked spiritual and patriotic feelings in Gool, and with the anger Abdullah felt towards Cornelius Brosnan the pair discussed their grievances and planned their attack on the train.The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 January 1915
The attack
The only documented World War I assault to take place in Australia happened in Broken Hill on New Year's Day 1915. The Silverton Tramway Company lent its service to the Manchester Unity Order of Oddfellows to transport them out to Silverton for their annual celebration of 1 January. The 1200 members of men, women and children were seated in forty one open ore carriages that had been modified with temporary bench seating.
Both of the men were known to some of the passengers, especially Gool Mahomed as he made a living pushing an ice-cream cart has become a representation of the attack as this is where they had mounted the Ottoman flag and is how the two men were able to transport their rifles and ammunition to the site without being noticed.
The first shots fired were aimed at the engine of the train missing the crew in the cabin. One bullet landed hitting the sand beside the track and a second bullet hit the bottom of the brake van.
It was at this stop that injured passengers were removed from the train to wait for medical assistance to arrive; Mary Kavanhagh shot in the head, George Stokes shot in shoulder and chest, Lucy Shaw shot in elbow and Rose Crabb shot through the shoulder. There is no found record to say that any of these people had succumbed to their injuries so it is assumed that they survived.
Mullah Abdullah and Gool Mahomed had fled the scene on foot heading in a north east direction where they knocked on the door of a house near the Allendale Hotel on the corner of Jones and Morgan Streets to seek refuge. Some words were exchanged between the two men and the resident, 70 year old Thomas Campbell, which resulted in one of the men firing a shot at Campbell with the bullet passing through the side of his abdomen (Campbell survived). By this time the police had arrived and Abdullah and Mahomed ran off heading in the direction of their cameleer's camp and as they neared the Cable Hotel the two men came under fire from mounted Constable Robert Mills. Shots were exchanged between both parties and Constable Mills was injured, taking two bullets, one to the thigh and one in his groin. The police were forced to pull back and continue their pursuit from a distance enabling the two men time to take cover at a rocky outcrop of white quartz (White Rocks). Military men from the local base along with men from the rifle club joined in the combat. Police Inspector James Miller and Lieutenant Richard Resch were now present and gave instructions, an unrelenting tirade of bullets were fired at the two men who were hiding behind the rocks with both men returning fire. Civilian James Craig who was in his backyard at the time quickly became a victim during the conflict when a "stray" bullet hit him in his abdomen from 500 yards away. Mr Craig was treated by a doctor on site and was later transported to the local hospital where he died hours later as a result of his wound.
Reinforcements arrived rushing toward the white rocks and the bombardment continued with the legion unwavering, not allowing the attackers to get away. About 1.00pm Abdullah and Mahomed were found lying on the ground, both men with multiple gunshot wounds. Mullah Abdullah had died some time during the fight and Gool Mahomed was still alive and was taken to the hospital but died a few hours after.
A suicide note that had been signed by Gool Badsha Mahomed was later found and translated to read:"In the name of God, all Merciful, and of Mahommed His prophet. This poor sinner is a subject of the Sultan. My name is Good Badsha Mahomed, Afghan Afridi. In the reign of Abdul Hamid Sultan, I have visited his kingdom four times for the purpose of fighting. I hold the Sultan's order, duly signed and sealed by him. It is in my waistbelt now, and if it is not destroyed by cannon shot or rifle bullets, you will find it on me. I must kill your men and give my life for my faith by order of the Sultan. I have no enmity against anyone; nor have I consulted with anyone, nor informed anyone. We bid all the faithful farewell. Signed by Gool Badsha Mahomed, Afridi."It is documented that three notes were found after the attack, one note was a letter from Gool written to the Minister of War in Istanbul offering to re-enlist. The other two notes were suicide notes from Mullah Abdulla and Gool Mahomed, however only the suicide note from Good Mahomed was found during research.Kearns 1975 It is claimed that in days leading up to the attack a cameleer by the name of Khan Bahader attended the Broken Hill north police station to report that Gool Mahomed and Mullah Abdulla were planning an attack. However, because Khan was unable to give accurate details of the intended ambush the report was not investigated by police.
The German Club The union of Germany with the Ottoman Empire during World War I raised suspicions within the people of Broken Hill. People began to believe that the German community had been politically motivated and therefore conspired with Abdulla and Mahomed to attack the picnic train. They became a target for the already angry mob when at approximately 8pm a crowd gathered in Argent Street where accusations of the German involvement had been spat out in anger before the crowd made their way down to the German Club. Gathering at the front of the club the mob threw stones at the building and set it alight. When the fire brigade arrived to put out the fire the angry mob cut their hoses rendering them inoperable, leaving the club to burn to the ground. The outraged assemblage of citizens then moved on to Ghan Town, where many camel drivers lived, on the edge of town with the intention of attacking the innocent residents. Luckily the police and military were aware of their intentions and were able to stop the mob before any confrontation could occur.
The punishment of German citizens did not end with their social establishment being destroyed. When the German men arrived for work the next day they were all fired from the mines of Broken Hill. This was in response to the Australian Government passing the War Precautions Act 1914 (in August of that year). This gave the Australian Government a power outside of the realms of the Australian Constitution. During war time and up to six months after war the government could utilise this Act allowing them to make decisions on matters that could influence Australia's position in the war. One of the controls this endorsed was the detention of people either born in or associated to an enemy country without having to stand trial for an offence.