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Australia

Abdul Samat Bin Amjah was born at Malacca (Malaya), and had British nationality. His occupation was a seaman. Before he served in the Australian MN, he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on a British minesweeper. In 1942, he signed on to the steamer Gorgon, which was carrying supplies to the New Guinea battlefields. He was wounded in New Guinea when Gorgon was hit by the Japanese in a bombing attack, suffering in the bombing raid, spending two and a half hours in the water before being picked up by Australian sailors. He was taken to an American field hospital and operated on for shrapnel wounds to his left arm. Later he spent three months at the 2/1 Australian Army Hospital at Milne Bay, New Guinea and in the Brisbane General Hospital recovering from malaria also contracted in New Guinea. Amjah was discharged in Brisbane in September, 1943.

In 1943, this 29-year-old man married an Australian woman in Sydney in the Presbyterian Church and with her he had three children, the eldest Omar, all born in Australia. In 1948, after failing to pass a dictation test in French, he received a letter from the Department of Immigration, stating that he was a prohibited immigrant and ordering him to leave Australia for Singapore. When he left Australia, Amhaj received a letter from his wife in Australia saying she was ill, the elder child, Omar, was also ill and she was starving. He returned to Sydney and fought a charge of being a prohibited migrant. The judge said that his entry to Australia in 1943 occurred at the time when a ‘limit for a dictation test has expired’ and ‘if Amhaj is deported an Australian home will be shattered and unnecessary hardship inflicted’. Local newspapers broadly reported the ‘Malay seaman wins appeal against deportation’, highlighting: ‘Amhaj was wounded in defence of Australia; he worked in factories and mills in Sydney, and was accepted into the community. His language, his education in an English school in Malaya, his sentiment, marriage, children, and his loyalty and contribution made him ‘part of the Australian community’. He also accepted membership of community groups, such as the RSL and trade unions, that emphasised his inclusion in the community.



From the book:

Dzavid Haveric, 'A History of Muslims in the Australian Military from 1885 to 1945: Loyalty, Patriotism, Contribution', Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, 2025.