Letter of eligibility for Saiyid Mahomet Shah Banuri for Certificate of Exemption 1904, from the Correspondence of the Collector of Customs relating to Immigration Restriction and Passports) Source: National Archives of Australia SP42/1, C1905/3746 Page 28 of 29

It was Harmony Day last week, which aims to celebrate Australia’s cultural diversity. The focus on Muslims in the media in recent years has often centred on the development of Islamic extremism. Yet Muslims have long been a part of our history and a culturally diverse part of this city's demographic makeup, as Garry Wotherspoon notes in the Dictionary of Sydney. I spoke about the history of the Islamic community in Sydney with Mitch on 2SER Breakfast this morning. Some of Australia’s earliest visitors were Muslim fisherman from Macassar in the Indonesian Archipelago, and sailed to the country in search of sea slugs from about the early 1700s. There is evidence of Muslim crewmen on board colonial ships, such as John Hassan who was in Sydney in 1795. The Islamic day of mourning and commemoration for the death of Imam Hussein, Ashura, has taken place in Sydney since the earliest years of colonial settlement. The city’s earliest newspaper, Sydney Gazette, described the ‘Eastern splendor and magnificence’ of the week-long festival in March 1806. In the 1870s, Muslim traders set up their place of worship in Haymarket. However, the emergence of more culturally diverse communities in the city caused tensions and culminated in the development of the ‘White Australia Policy’ which officially passed in 1901. By 1921, there were almost 3,000 Muslims living in Australia and very few in Sydney, the numbers falling from 393 in 1901 to 147 in 1921. As immigration restrictions and obstacles were dismantled, the city saw an increase in its Muslim population. During the 1970s, refugees from the Middle East arrived following civil war in Lebanon. The city’s Muslim population comprised a range of ethnic groups, with the largest groups being Lebanese and Turkish. Support groups and organisations formed, such as the Islamic Council of NSW, which was established in 1976 and was open to all Muslims, regardless of ethnicity or race. Mosques and community organisations played, and continue to do so, an important role in the life of Muslims in Sydney. Today there are around 120 mosques in Sydney, such as the Gallipoli Mosque in Auburn which draws the city’s Turkish Muslim community, and the Smithfield Mosque, which draws the city’s Bosnian Muslims.

Photograph of school librarian at Malek Fahd Islamic School, Greenacre 2004, by John Immig. Source: National Library of Australia nla.pic-vn3256002

Today, Muslims comprise about 3.4% of Sydney’s population. Muslims in Sydney are ethnically, linguistically and culturally diverse, and have come from more than 120 countries. Just like many others who have come to this city from across the globe and faced the challenges of thriving in a new environment, Muslims have made a vital contribution to this city’s vibrant multicultural life.

Listen now

If you missed today’s segment, you can catch up here via the 2SER website. Tune in 2SER Breakfast with Mitch Byatt on 107.3 every Wedensday morning at 8:20 am.