Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Cassim ‘Cass’ Mahomet (also Kassim Mahomet) (7036), who signed up at the age of 21 years 3 months, was born in Wee Waa, New South Wales. His occupation was listed as vau-deville artist. His Indian parents, father Abdul and mother Ashibibi (‘Harsharby’) were from Madras, India. He took his place in a family of circus performers who had migrated to Aus-tralia in the 1890s. Cass was described as ‘a most interesting personality’ and known as a popular artist of that time, a tenor singer, songwriter, acrobat, raconteur, seer/illusionist, fire-eater, author, troupe proprietor, producer, entrepreneur and administrator. Although best known around Australia as the ‘Indian Digger’, he was also called ‘Mahomet the Seer’, the ‘Rajah of Entertainers’, and the ‘Son of India’. To his fellow Australians, the artistic work of Cass had an even greater appeal due to the fact that he was one of the original 10th Battalion, AIF., which took part in the Gallipoli landing. Thereafter, he was also destined to serve on the Western Front where he was also part of the 3rd Brigade Concert Party.

Cass enlisted in Adelaide on 27 October 1916 and served in the 10th Battalion AIF, holding ranks of Private and Sergeant Major. The date of his embarkation from Australia was 16 October 1916, and the date of his return was 7 February 1920. Cass left behind his memoirs with a number of stories that he wrote about his struggle to enlist in the AIF. Once he joined the army, his first challenge occurred in the military camp. Before having his first meal in camp he explained his dietary requirements, informing the cooks that he was a Muslim and so did not eat pork – ‘so, that was all right, as I always managed to get some-thing else’, he wrote. Cass was not going to eat pork. It was against his will. However, things would change on the same day he embarked from Adelaide on the Berrima. Because the meals for breakfast and dinner had pieces of pork, he tells, that he had to live off ginger bis-cuits that he bought from the canteen, although he says, ‘I eventually became as weak as French beer.’ When he appealed to the chaplains, he was told, ‘Well, it’s war’. Cass tells us that he resorted to beer on an empty stomach so that eventually he ‘forgot’ what was served on the plate.

The Berrima voyaged around Africa with stopovers in Durban and Sierra Leone heading to England. These stops introduced Australian soldiers to exotic places and people which they judged according to their Australian experiences. At Durban, Cass was made a Corporal of the Guard for duty on the rotunda at Durban Park. There he met the native Africans who misperceived him as an Australian soldier. From men and women of his own colour he en-dured abuse and spit. For them, a man of colour in the AIF was unthinkable and ‘their abuse ended suddenly when I thumped one of my tormentors under the ear’. At Sierra Leone, the local people in their sea vessels came over to the Australian ship’s side with supplies of fruit. In contrast to a previous experience, this time he met other Africans and experienced pleasant encounters. One of the locals picked him out and Cass tells us he was happy to be the seller’s agent: ‘I hauled up the fruit for the lads and sent the money down in the basket. I finished the day with my kit bag full of fruit. Every time the native sent up a dozen fruit, he would add four – ‘two for me and two for King George’. This act of kindness by the Afri-cans brought an unexpected joy to Cass and his comrades.

While in England, Cass and his troops were sent to Lark Hill Camp, Salisbury Plain, where for the church parade on first Sunday, all the Diggers were busy sorting themselves out ac-cording to their particular denominations. Cass stood aside and suddenly all eyes were on him as the military commander [RSM] came over to him and asked: ‘What’s up with you?’ Cass, did not hide his faith, and replied that to go to the nearest Woking Mosque in London would require two days leave for travel. He maintained his stand and did not attend a church. Whether he went or not to the mosque, it was such a rare request by a ‘lonely’ Muslim to expect such leave to be approved by the officer.

In France, the RSM picked him and two Aboriginals out to give them the task of becoming snipers. Cass asked the instructing Corporal why he had been chosen for this task, to then be told that ‘All you aborigine boys have a great sense of seeing, hearing and smelling’. His reflection on this event, tells us how he confronted the contradictory ambiguities of his standing. First they knock a man back at enlistment ‘because they reckon he is a native’; and when he joined the army ‘they shove him out in front of all the others’. The thought of being a sniper didn’t appeal to him; he was out for promotion. While still in France, in Strazeele, Cass was given a job to be an escort for two prisoners, and tells a story that demonstrated his compassion and goodwill, especially when it came to matters related to his dark skin colour: ‘On the way one of them started to cry, while the other had the wind up properly’. Being a black among a lot of white comrades, the prisoners thought that he was to be their executioner. ‘I was very insulted in doing further as an escort, so ‘I let them find their own way back to our cage’.

On behalf of members of his battalion, Cass acted as a ‘correspondent’, writing to Sydney’s Referee newspaper. From the Western Front, he asked its editor, who published sporting re-sults, to send copies. Cass thought to drop a line to inform the editor that ‘quite a crowd of my battalion would be very thankful for a few copies.’ ‘The good Ref is enthusiastically looked for by all the boys; so, you can guess what The Referee would mean to us’, he wrote. Soon he received the requested copies, they were ‘eagerly scanned by all ranks’. He also informed The Referee that during the voyage his battalion had quite a number of boxing contests. Although they were thoroughly enjoyed by all and helped to break the monotony of the long trip – ‘we never unearthed any champions’.

Cass was a well-known character among the troops on the Western Front. By war’s end, he had risen to the rank of Sergeant Major, serving in the line with the unit right through to the Armistice. In time, between performing military duties, his artistic skills were recognised as valuable by his comrades. The life of soldiers in camp was one of never-ending hours of military routine, roll-call, drilling, walking a post or picket duty, and every day eating the same food. Cass with his artistic skills brought to his comrades a ‘creative break of monot-ony’. Having an opportunity to work in the army ensembles, such as the Marching Band or the Concert Band, Cass maintained a spirit of good humor and sang songs that never failed to inspire soldiers as they waited to take part in the next ‘push’. Right up until the end of fighting, he organised and participated in concert party entertainment in France, England and Belgium, often giving battalions a one-man concert. One of his concert parties featured ‘The Boomerangs’, which became popular on the Western Front. His mates also claimed Cass performed regularly closer to the front line.

This contribution made Cass a popular identity not only among Australian soldiers, but also among those in Allied ranks, allowing him to claim to have entertained over a million sol-diers while with the AIF. During the war, Cass had interesting encounters with the French and with Belgians, probably because he could tell them interesting stories, specially tailored for the people he was entertaining, such as his tale that he had come 14,000 miles ‘to fight for their particular village and intended to carry on till we win the war’. Some of his con-certs would also be held for the refugees in Belgium, France, and Flanders. After the Armi-stice, he was for five months in charge of brigade concerts in Belgium, also appearing indi-vidually at civilian theatres and cabarets. In England, he organised soldiers’ concerts for headquarters and camps including one performance that featured ‘The Gum Leaves’ and he stayed for seven months on this job. One of the last performances was given on the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Somerset.

Cass departed England for Australia on the SS Königin Luise in December 1919, with his record as a soldier of good renown and as a producer of a concert company and orchestra of thirty-three men, some of them sergeants and corporals. Arriving in Australia on the 31. 1. 1920, he remembered his sad homecoming, ‘My mother had died and my father was killed in an accident, and before I returned, the home had vanished’. On returning to civilian life in Australia, Cass always remembered his experiences with Australian soldiers in the AIF:

‘the finest chaps on God’s earth’, he said, adding that ‘colour or creed made no difference in the AIF’.

He was critical of the White Australia Policy; his war time experiences helped him make the case for a White Australia somewhat irrelevant. ‘Surely, the digger who is so hurt does not want to see another digger starve because he happens to be coloured’, said Cass. His colour had not prevented him from fighting in the trenches, or even mingling among white people in England, Scotland, Wales, Belgium, France, and also in Australia. He concluded, ‘Certainly, it should not bar me from earning an honest living in the land that I offered my life for.’

Cass was discharged on 2 May 1920. He was issued with the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. After serving in the army, Cass Mahomet toured the world and promoted Australia wherever he performed, often in uniform with his battalion’s col-ours on display – he entertained audiences in New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Belgium, South and West Africa, Egypt, Ceylon, Malaya, Java, Borneo, Philippines, Hong Kong and China. There were concerts, theatrical shows and also parties. He was the composer of about forty-five songs, many of which have become popular across Austral-ia, including Anywhere in Aussie and Australia for mine!, composed by W.E. Naunton in the 1920s. His repertoire of patriotic songs were a great success resulting in many en-cores. A few lines of his poems said:

Far away from home, I don’t rave about places,
But, I say, there is Australia my home
I am thinking of it every day and night,
Not another possie
like dear old Aussie...
Anywhere in Aussie for mine!

Travelling and performing his art to New Zealand he met a New Zealand woman of the Arawa Maori tribe, Ina Clayton, a dancer. They both became two of the most popular members of the sideshow fraternity at the Christchurch Show. They married in 1936 at St Barnabas Anglican Church in Sydney. From the mid-1930s up until a few years before his death, Cass contributed letters and articles to Reveille, a magazine published by the New South Wales branch of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia. He died, aged 61, on the 16. November 1955 and was given a soldier’s burial on the 21st November at Auckland, New Zealand.

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