Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Glamallie Khan (Ghulam Ali Khan) (2019), originally from Gujerat, Punjab, also known as Ghulam Ali Khan, was the son of Mulla Azimullah and Roshenay Khan. He was a 29 years and six months old single man, who worked as a hawker in Nhill, Victoria. His was recorded as a ‘Mohammedan’ of ‘dark complexion’. He enlisted on 30 August 1915 among a group of several Indian Sikh enlistees from Adelaide in the AIF. Private Glamallie was an ex-soldier who served in the Native Light Horse in the Punjab. He was well received in the AIF and served in the 14th Reinforcement of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. His total ser-vice was 2 years and 32 days. He was regarded as a ‘lad of good character’.

On the 10 February 1916, Glamallie, as a Trooper, embarked from Adelaide with the Light Horse Regiment on the H.M.A.T. A69 Warilda. Upon landing in Egypt, he was at Heliopolis and Tell El Kebir, joining the 1st Light Horse Reserves Regiment. On 1. 8. 1916, at Alexan-dria, he embarked on the Lake Manitoba for England, where he was transferred to the Aus-tralian Artillery Training Depot, near Tidworth, a garrison town, and soon went to the Cod-ford Training Camp. On the 11 November 1916, he embarked on the Golden Eagle for Eta-ples, France, where he joined the 32nd Battalion in the field.

Glamallie Khan fought in the great Somme battle in France, making his contribution in the bitter trench warfare that sought to ensure that the aims of the German Emperor would be unachieved. However, he was wounded through the side of his face and by a bullet in the thigh by a machine gun. In December 1916, Glamallie was treated by the 6th Field Ambu-lance for abdominal pains and was admitted to a casualty clearing station on Christmas Day with myalgia. Soon he was brought to the 12th General Hospital at Rouen, France and trans-ferred to the Lahore Indian General Hospital located in Calais, France. After his return to England, he marched into a Convalescent Depot at Weymouth, and stayed there until 23 May 1917, when he embarked on the Ayrshire from England for Australia. He was dis-charged on 3 September 1917 as permanently unfit.

In the meantime, Glamallie’s friend, Hakim Khan, wrote a letter to him as he was concerned that he had not heard from him while he was in service overseas. The letter he sent to him was unclaimed and returned. Hakim wrote again, this time to the Minister of Defence in Australia in 1917, enquiring about Glamallie’s whereabouts and if he could have his new Regimental Number or contact details, and then he was informed that he had already re-turned to Australia.

On the 18 July 1917, Glamallie was among sixty soldiers who returned and were welcomed home. Under cheerless conditions this batch of men who had ‘done their bit’ at the front were taken by a train to the Mitcham Army Camp where they were welcomed by crowds of people with, ‘Home Sweet Home’ played by the Mitcham Camp Band. There was a Guard of Honour from the Camp, under Lieutenant Leake, and a number of distinguished guests attended such as, Captain d’Erlange, representing the Governor, the Minister of Education and Repatriation and the Mayor of Adelaide.

While Glamallie was accepted in the army as an equal by his white army comrades after-wards, being sick, he was treated in hospital ‘like a lord’ by the nursing staff. Glamallie was taken to Keswick Hospital in Adelaide where he was hospitalised for his condition which had deteriorated. After recovering, Glamallie said, ‘I was treated splendidly by the Australi-ans, receiving too many cigarettes and too much tucker… I could not smoke all the ciga-rettes, and the ladies were too kind’. The care extended to him by other Australians demon-strated their appreciation of his military contribution.

Glamallie Khan was issued the 1914/5 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was granted a war service pension of 15 shillings per fortnight. Soon, he would have to readjust to civilian life and continue to live at 124 Young Street, Fitzroy, Victoria in a boarding house and prayer rooms run by an Indian hawker, Noor Allum, who acted as a Mullah for the Muslim Community. He was buried at Coburg Pine Ridge Cemetery, Victoria.

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