Shamroze Khan
| Town/City | Broken Hill |
|---|---|
| First name | Shamroze |
| Last name | Khan |
| Country of Origin | Pathan, Afhganistan |
| Date of Birth | 1877 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1894 |
| Submitted by | Christine Adams |
Story
Shamroze Khan migrated to Australia in about 1894 at the age of seventeen and landed at Port Pirie where he was employed by Broken Hill Proprietary Limited. He arrived in Broken Hill in 1905 and stayed two years before moving to a place called Taraville in Victoria where he worked as a hawker and then worked on the railways in South Australia and Victoria for several years. He returned to Broken Hill in 1928. He married Miriam Beckham in Broken Hill in 1932; the ceremony took place at the Afghan Mosque.
Shamroze Khan started working on the mines in 1935, at the age of fifty-seven. He finished on the mines in 1946 and found work shovelling coal for the Silverton Tramway Company.. He worked there until 1952. He was getting ten shillings a truck load. One day he unloaded twelve of those coal trucks. He worked right up until the day he died at the age of seventy three.
Shamroze Khan died on the 9th June, 1952, Abdul Ziadulla Fazulla, his father-in-law arranged the traditional burial. The coffin was made of polished wood and jarrah timber was laid over the top of the coffin, because traditionally, there was no dirt to go on the top of the coffin. Members of the Muslim faith filled the grave in. After the burial everybody that attended the burial was given a piece of fruit as is the Muslim custom.
In the evening everyone went back to Abdul Ziadulla Fazulla\’ house and had a big feast, which included a curry. There was a a big long kitchen about twenty-five feet long in the house. There were fourteen children in the Fazulla family so they had a big long table and stools; no chairs, just stools pulled up along side the table. The girls served the food and they celebrated the life of Shamroze Khan.