Hi Elizabeth, the Afghan may have been one of the men imported along with camels when the telegraph pole routes and signaling equipment was installed in Australia. No doubt they weren't required to be repatriated when the project was completed as maintenance crews would have been necessary to keep it in working order.  Many men who were not required on the maintenance crews took up the trade of traveling salesmen and purveyed various hard to get items to customers living well off the beaten track. I recall my mother telling me when she was a young girl living in Candelo, NSW, she was sent to the shop and came upon a group of youths intimidating an Afghan trader. A fight ensued and the Afghan deftly unwound his turban swung through the air like a whip and used it to throttle one of the youths. The youth survived strangulation and didn't bother him again. My mother had an umbrella with her and was so overcome with what she had seen she inadvertently put the tortoise shell handle in her mouth and it became struck in her throat and she was in danger of choking to death. It had to be cut in half by the local blacksmith to enable it to be extracted . Her mother was upset the umbrella had been ruined but glad her daughter had not been assaulted. regards Max Bancroft ________________________________ From: Elizabeth Walker <lizrose@tpg.com.au> To: "aus-pt-jackson-convicts@rootsweb.com" <aus-pt-jackson-convicts@rootsweb.com>; "AUS-NSW-HILLS-HAWKESBURY-HUNTER-VALLEY-L@rootsweb.com" <AUS-NSW-HILLS-HAWKESBURY-HUNTER-VALLEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, 16 August 2013 12:11 PM Subject: [PJ] Afghan person Good afternoon all, My paternal grandmother, Adeline Hogan nee Newstead, was born at Brown's Creek near Blayney, the 9th child in a family of 11 children, 5 boys and 6 girls. According to her daughter, my Aunt Frances,  Adeline's father Ben Newstead and her mother Mary Ann nee Marshall could not decide on a name for her, and during this time an Afghan salesman came by, and he was the one who selected the name Adeline. My Aunt was named after her paternal grandmother, Frances Marjoram nee Crowe from Bredfield, near Ufford in Suffolk - the wife of Robert Marjoram and mother of William Marjoram, two of my three convicts.  Denis Hogan from Tipperary, was the third convict. I imagine this salesman was just one of a number of Afghans who came with camels sometime in the 1800s, brought here by someone to help travellers and explorers open up the vast interior of Australia. Lovely sunny day, but very nippy! Liz. Lake Macquarie. ---------------------- To send a message to the Port Jackson Convicts List, send an email to  AUS-PT-JACKSON-CONVICTS@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to AUS-PT-JACKSON-CONVICTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi, Just for general information, the descendants of a number of the original Afghan cameleers still live in Alice Springs, Central Australia. So if you have a family name, you may be able to find out more. Their stories have been written in a number of publications. Sandra -----Original Message----- From: aus-pt-jackson-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-pt-jackson-convicts-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Max Bancroft Sent: Friday, 16 August 2013 1:32 PM To: lizrose@tpg.com.au; aus-pt-jackson-convicts@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PJ] Afghan person