Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Fatte Allie Khan (1114), aged 45 years was born in India. He had served for three years in the Lancers in the Afghan War. For the past 27 years he had been a resident of Launceston, Tasmania, and lived with his wife Jane, working as a hawker. In the past, Fatte Al-lie Khan appeared in a number Australian newspapers criticising the Immigration Re-striction Act, also stressing that ‘all other Khans are true British subjects…’ Being an ex-soldier, fighting was already ‘in his blood’. When the war broke out, Fatte offered his ser-vices with the Australian forces and was accepted. He enlisted in Claremont, Tasmania, on 12 October 1915, and served in the 1st Australian Remount Unit, holding the rank of Private. Newspapers also wrote of him as a ‘patriotic Indian from Tasmania’; and one article de-scribes him in these terms, ‘The Indian wag dressed in the khaki uniform of a member of the Australian Expeditionary Forces. Fattee Khan proudly said he is a ‘Mahommedan and a native of Northern India’. He is also ‘proud of the fact that he has a son now serving with the Australian forces abroad’. Evidently, his service and the service of his son in the AIF is an instance where both father and son were involved in war service.

Although he was not of military age, at age 45 and 2 months, Fatte was willingly posted to the 32nd Battalion and embarked on the HMAT Orsova from Melbourne, Victoria. His age didn’t prevent him from carrying out military operations, and as a loyal and fearless infantryman he was determined to do his bit. He got as far as Lemnos in Greece, which was the main staging area for supporting allied troops throughout the Great War in Gallipoli. After one year of his service, due to recontracted muscular rheumatism, he was ordered back home. Fatte returned to Australia via the H.T. Argyllshire on 3 March 1916, to the Launces-ton hospital in Tasmania where his ‘actual age’ of 49 was recorded. Upon recovery he again volunteered for service, but was told he had done his bit, and was kept in Tasmania for home duties. He was discharged on 8 August 1916. He was issued with the 1914/1915 Star, the British War Service Medial and the Victory Medial.

From the book:

Dzavid Haveric, 'A History of Muslims in the Australian Military from 1885 to 1945: Loyalty, Patriotism, Contribution’, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, 2024