In 1860, the Victorian Exploration Committee set out to accomplish what no European had done before: cross Australia from south to north. Recognizing that horses would inevitably collapse in the arid desert, organizers commissioned the import of 24 camels from India, accompanied by skilled Muslim handlers known collectively as Afghan Cameleers. While tens of thousands of camels would eventually be imported to Australia over the following decades, this initial shipment laid the absurd and chaotic groundwork for long-distance maritime livestock transport.
Shipping massive, stubborn, 1,000-pound ungulates across thousands of miles of rough ocean on 19th-century wooden sailing vessels was a logistical nightmare. Camels were hoisted onto ships using canvas slings, suspended in mid-air while spitting and thrashing wildly. Once aboard, custom padded stalls had to be constructed to prevent the animals from snapping their fragile legs during rolling sea swells.
Seasickness plagued both crew and beasts, and keeping the humped giants hydrated with limited freshwater reserves required meticulous rationing. When the vessel finally docked in Melbourne, the camels were paraded through city streets to central acclaim before setting off on the infamous Burke and Wills expedition. Although that specific expedition ended in catastrophe due to human misjudgment, the camels themselves performed brilliantly.
Over the next 50 years, roughly 20,000 more camels were shipped to Australia using these harrowing ocean routes, eventually creating the world's largest wild dromedary population today.