At Port and at Sea: Early Muslim Presence along the Australian Coastline, 1880–1939

This article surveys contact between Muslims and Anglo-Australian settlers from 1880 to 1939 as observed and reported in English-language press by anonymous writers unfamiliar with Islam. The approach is text-based and discursive, and uses previously unresearched archival material to illustrate how Muslims were engaged with and ‘othered’ on the basis of both their races and religion. Content is organized according to state geography – Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia – rather than chronologically, to better distinguish between Muslim experiences in distinct coastal colonies. Muslim communities clustered around major Australian ports. Ports are boundaries between regions, separated by seas and straits. Their intermediate nature facilitates encounters between persons and groups that are unfamiliar with one another and foreign to each other, who would otherwise not have ongoing contact. Australia may be geographically remote but it is nevertheless a significant theatre for historical encounters between Christians and Muslims.