Page 15 - eMuse Vol.9 No.05_Classical

Did You Know? Grandma’s

Mephistopheles

In the story of “Red Jack” by Anthony Sayings
Hammell her horse was named “Mephis-
topheles”. If one knows the meaning it be-
comes an attractive name which appeals to Consequently creating the first real com-
the dark side of the imagination of many. munication between Australia and England. Like a bald
It’s a Germanic name for a devil in me- The Relay Station and the town were
dieval legend. Later literary and operatic named in honour Alice Todd, wife of man
works, tells how Faust, or Faustus, sells his Charles Todd the man behind the building
soul for knowledge and power. of the Overland Telegraph Line. winning
Another definition puts it as “a crafty,
powerful, sardonic person”. It is believed Camels a hair
the word’s origin traces back to classical Camels weren’t introduced to Central
Hebrew for a “destroyer or a liar.” Australia for the building of the Overland brush
Telegraph but they sure helped. The hon-
Mephisto our of introducing camels to our shores
“Mephisto” is another variation of the goes to the ill-fated Burke and Wills expe-
name which very familiar to Brisbane resi- dition.
dents who grew up in the 1950s. Many Previous attempts before then had
have fond memories of the old German failed badly. The powers that be in earlier
tank at the old museum. As kids, we times realised that people of European de-
climbed the fence and crawled over every scent had little to no knowledge of handling
inch of it — inside and out. camels. It took them something like twenty
We didn’t know the history of it other years for the “penny to drop”.
than Australian troops brought it home “Why not import the expertise of those
from World War One. Didn’t really matter. who come from countries where camel are
We had imagination to spare. We filled used for transport?” some suggested. And
in our own details which we made up as we so they did.
went along. The hole in the roof, made by Even though the Burke and Wills fiasco
explosives, fired our grizzly fantasies the failed badly, people began to see the camel
most. as good value for Australia’s desert regions.
This quote from Wikipedia is a lot closer Afghans and English
to the truth than we ever came: “Mephisto
is a World War I German tank, the only sur- In Will Ogilvie’s poem “The Riding Cam-
viving example of an A7V. In April 1918, dur- el” one notices the cameleers were called
ing a German attack at Villers-Bretonneux “Afghans” and white people were called
on the Western Front, it became stuck in a “English”.
shell-hole and was abandoned by its crew. In those days all cameleers were called
It was recovered by Allied troops about “Afghans” regardless of where they came
three months later and, after the war, taken from. They didn’t all come from Afghanistan.
to Australia as a trophy. Mephisto is housed Some actually came from India and Arabian
at the Queensland Museum, in Brisbane, in countries. But people of European descent
the Anzac Legacy Gallery. It is not in run- didn’t care. They called all of them “Afghans”.
ning order.” On the other hand these “Afghans”
Replica called everyone of European extraction
“English”, regardless of whether they were
A replica A7V named “Wotan” but mod- Australian born, come from England or any
elled substantially on “Mephisto” was built other part of Europe.
in Germany in 1988, and is on display at the Perhaps this was racism. Perhaps it was
German Tank Museum in Munster. not but it is a case of such attitudes seem to
The recovery of the mephisto tank is run both ways.
well documented and worth reading. It The Ghan
also well worth a trip to the Queensland Once modern transport replaced the
Museum to see it but I doubt you can climb need for camel-power most “Afghans” re-
on board these days. turned to their homelands. They left but
Alice Springs have not been forgotten.
Alice Springs Telegraph Station is the The great train journey from Adelaide
birth place of the township some 4 km to Darwin has been named “the
away. Established in 1871 to relay mes- Ghan” in their honour. The route it
sages between Darwin and Adelaide takes, in part, follows close to the
and also linking with an underwa- Oveland Telgraph Line.
ter cable network to London. Wally

May 2020 eMuse 15