Monga Khan

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Monga Khan (c. 1870 – October 1930) was a Muslim immigrant from British India who lived in Victoria, Australia. He was born around 1870 in Bathroi, in what is now Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. He came to Australia to find work and arrived in Victoria in 1895. He worked as a hawker selling local and imported goods around Melbourne, Ballarat, Beaufort and Ararat. He was known for helping other hawkers and often stayed at a farm in Trawalla with friends and relatives, where they carried goods from the railway station, smoked hookah, and followed their traditional ways of preparing meat.

In 1908 he became ill and returned to British India aboard the SS Omrah to visit his wife and family. In 1914 he faced financial trouble and applied for insolvency in Ararat. In 1916 he was ill again and asked for a Certificate of Exemption to the Dictation Test so he could leave Australia and later be readmitted. Because he had arrived before 1901, he could prove he had lived in Australia before that year and was allowed to depart and return, unlike many later immigrants.

Khan fell ill and died of cerebral thrombosis in 1930 at Ararat Hospital and was buried on 27 October in Ararat Cemetery.

A photograph of Khan from 1916 exists in the National Archives of Australia. In 2016, Australian artist Peter Drew used that image in his "Aussie" poster series, with the word “Aussie” underneath. The artwork aimed to prompt discussion about immigration policies and Australian identity. The project inspired The Legend of Monga Khan: An Aussie Folk Hero, a book and ebook with illustrations, poems and short stories about his life.