On 1 January 1915 at Broken Hill, two men, Mullah Abdullah (c.1855-1915), a camel-driver and Islamic priest in the company of Gool Badsha Mahomed (c.1875-1915), camel-driver, soldier and labourer decided upon a suicide mission with the intent of killing as many people as possible until they too died.
The first victims of this spree were killed or wounded in the town itself. Then the two men set themselves up in a position to fire upon a 40 wagon picnic train filled with 1200 passengers that was slowly passing by. This resulted in more casualties. Finally the two men were engaged and shot dead. At the end of the day, 4 people were killed and 7 wounded.
This album consists of a collection of various photographs obtained from newspapers and other sources with the aim of placing these disparate items in one place.
It reads:
I am a poor sinner in the sight of the Almighty, and I supplicate His mercy. I am a poor resident of this country. I gave another name for my own purpose. One day the inspector accused me. On another occasion I begged and prayed, but he would not listen to me. I was sitting brooding in anger. Just then the man Gool Badsha Mahomed came to me, and we made our grievances known to each other. I rejoiced and gladly fell in with his plans, and asked God that I might die an easy death for my faith, otherwise neither of us had any enmity against anybody. For my faith, and in obedience to the order of the Sultan and the order of the Koran; but owing to my grudge against the inspector it was my intention to kill him first. Beyond this there is no enmity against anybody, and we informed nobody. I swear this by God and on the Koran. (Signed) Mullah Abdullah.