Taj and the Great Camel Trek (19 page)
Read Taj and the Great Camel Trek Online
Authors: Rosanne Hawke
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction/People & Places Australia & Oceania
Ernest Giles took the expedition back to Beltana two months later on 13th January 1876. He went by way of the Gibson Desert to try again to find Alf Gibson's remains. Mr Tietkens travelled back to Adelaide by mail steamer to study to become a surveyor so he could lead his own expeditions.
Jess Young was not invited to join Ernest Giles on the return trip so he travelled east with William Tietkens. Although Jess Young gave the highest praise for Mr Giles and his leadership in his speeches, he said privately that they should have done more surveying and exploring rather than racing across the desert just because they had camels and were able to do so.
Ernest Giles said that an explorer does not make the country. He must take it as he finds it. No doubt if there was water, they could have done more surveying as Jess Young wished.
Alec Ross saw his dream fulfilled: he was made second-in-command. On the return trip, there were
more troubles with lack of water, Ernest Giles almost became blind, Mr Tietkens' riding bull died from eating poisonous plants, and Alec's camel Buzoe died from old age, but despite this, the expedition reached Beltana in late August, 1876, fifteen months after they set out.
Imperial measurements are used in
Taj and the Great Camel Trek.
Here are some conversion tables to show how long a mile is or how cold 32 degrees Fahrenheit is.
In
Taj and the Great Camel Trek,
many events, conversations, and even some of the camels' names, are based on real life from the writings of the men who took part in the expedition from Beltana to Perth in 1875, and in particular, from the journals of Mr Ernest Giles. Although the members of the expedition were real people, and facts about them are included, this story is creative and the men's personalities and relationships with each other are seen through the eyes of Taj Saleh who is a fictitious character.
I apologise for the use of the words ânative' and âblack boy' in the dialogue but these words were used in 1875.
For the purposes of fiction the following facts are changed in the story:
Mustara was a fully grown bull.
- Tommy joined the expedition in Port Augusta.
Some of the waterholes Tommy found were found by Jimmy his relative, who was part of the expedition until Fowler's Bay. - Alec and Reechy joined the expedition on the way to Port Augusta.
- It was Jess Young who fell from his camel into a spinifex bush.
- Ramadan (or Ramazan as Taj calls it) began on Friday 1st October 1875 (Islamic year 1292) not the 1st of September.
- Tommy was not taken.
Thank you to Asialink and ARTSA for the Asialink Fellowship in Pakistan where I collected folktales for this novel. Many thanks to Gary Hawke, Jacinta di Mase and Jenny Darling who all thought this idea would make a great story. Thanks to Robert Ingpen for his paintings of Mustara, Taj and Emmeline which helped inspire me. Thanks to Mr Hampel of Kapunda camel farm for helpful advice on camels. Special thanks to Fran Knight who read an early draft. Thank you to Kristina and Christina and the team at UQP who also believed in the story. Thank you to the Kapunda Library staff for tirelessly chasing the resources I needed for research, and to the State Library of SA for sending books to Kapunda for me. I am indebted to Flinders Ranges Research at
www.southaustralianhistory.com.au
Australia Twice Traversed.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19987329/A-Selection-of-Hafiz
Taj and the Great Camel Trek.
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