<P> Australia's first major inland expedition to use camels as a main form of transport was the Burke and Wills expedition in 1860 . The Victorian Government imported 24 camels for the expedition . The first Muslim cameleers arrived on 9 June 1860 at Port Melbourne from Kurrachee on the ship the Chinsurah, to participate in the Burke and Wills expedition . As described by the Victorian Exploration Expedition Committee, "the camels would be comparatively useless unless accompanied by their native drivers". The cameleers on the expedition included 45 - year - old Dost Mahomed, who was bitten by a bull camel losing permanent use of his right arm, and Esa (Hassam) Khan from Kalat, who fell ill near Swan Hill . They cared for the camels, loaded and unloaded equipment and provisions and located water on the expedition . </P> <P> From the 1860s onward small groups of cameleers were shipped in and out of Australia at three - year intervals, to service South Australia's inland pastoral industry . Carting goods and transporting wool bales by camel was a lucrative livelihood for them . As their knowledge of the Australian outback and economy increased, Muslim cameleers began their own businesses, importing and running camel trains . By 1890 the camel business was dominated by Muslim merchants and brokers, commonly referred to as "Afghans" or "Ghans", despite their origin often being British India (now Pakistan) as well as Afghanistan . They belonged to four main groups: Pashtan, Baluchi, Punjabi, and Sindhi . At least 15,000 camels with their handlers are estimated to have come to Australia between 1870 and 1900 . Most of these camels were dromedaries, especially from India, including the Bikaneri war camel from Rajasthan as a riding camel, and lowland Indian camels for heavy work . Other dromedaries included the Bishari riding camel of North Africa and Arabia . A bull camel could be expected to carry up to 600 kilograms (1,300 lb), and camel strings could cover more than 25 miles per day . </P> <P> Camel studs were set up in 1866, by Sir Thomas Elder and Samuel Stuckey, at Beltana and Umberatana Stations in South Australia . There was also a government stud camel farm at Londonderry, near Coolgardie in Western Australia, established in 1894 . These studs operated for about 50 years and provided high - class breeders for the Australian camel trade . </P> <P> Camels continued to be used for inland exploration by Peter Warburton in 1873, William Christie Gosse in 1873, Ernest Giles in 1875--76, David Lindsay in 1885--1886, Thomas Elder in 1891--1892, on the Calvert Expedition in 1896--97, and by Cecil Madigan in 1939 . They were also used in the construction of the Overland Telegraph Line, and carried pipe sections for the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme . </P>

Are there more camels in australia than the middle east