ScarlettFlannaga at 06:40, 15 December 2025

2025-12-15T06:40:59Z

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{{Short description|(1898-1963) hawker, battery-operator and entrepreneur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2025}}
[[File:Fazal_1.jpg|thumb|Fazal Deen in 1922]]
'''Fazal Deen''' (19 June 1898 - 29 December 1963) was a Pakistani-Australian man who came to Australia initially as a migrant from [[British India]] when a young man. He spent much of his life in the [[Northern Territory]] where he worked as a hawker, battery-operator and entrepreneur and, later, moved to [[Brisbane]] where he ran and invested in numerous businesses.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Church |first=Judith |title=Fazal Deen (1898–1963) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/deen-fazal-9941 |access-date=2025-10-21 |place=Canberra |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Church |first=Judith |url=https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/492231 |title=Northern Territory Dictionary of Biography |publisher=Charles Darwin University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780980457810 |edition=Rev |location=Darwin |pages=140–141 |chapter=Fazal Deen (1898-1963)}}</ref>

In the 1940s, while visiting India, he was caught up in violence following the [[Partition of India]], in which his family lost much of their land and wealth. Following his return to Australia, he became a vocal advocate for Pakistan.<ref name=":0" />

== Early life ==
Deen was born at in the village of Mehron in the [[Moga district]] of the [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] in [[India]] to Foth Deen and Umri (Umrbebe) Bebe from a [[Rajput clans|Rajput clan]]. His family were [[Muslims|Muslim]] and this faith would be important to him throughout his life.<ref name=":0" />

At 16 or 17 Deen married Burkit Bebe and the pair would have six children together; two daughters and four sons.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":02" />

In 1922 Deen left his wife and their family to immigrate to Australia where he initially based himself [[Blackall, Queensland]] which is where his father was already living. Together he and his father worked as hawkers, travelling salesmen, who sold a variety of goods, including jewellery sourced from India, throughout Central Queensland. They sold their goods from a [[Bedford truck]] which had been fitted with external shelves and drawers to best display them.<ref name=":0" />

== Life in the Northern Territory ==
In 1922 Deen and his father moved to [[Tennant Creek]], in the [[Northern Territory]], initially still as hawkers with their truck. However, soon after, Deen established a general store catering primarily to the gold miners who were flooding the region who he offered extended credit to often in return for a portion of their profits (this was referred to as 'grubstaking').<ref name=":02" /> The following year, in 1923, he built a battery, known as 'Fasal Deens Battery' nearby to treat gold and, because of its success, was able to enlarge it over the following years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Timothy |title=Pegging the Northern Territory : the history of mining in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1873-1946 |publisher=Northern Territory Government |year=1987 |isbn=0724507566 |pages=199 |language=en}}</ref> Between 1935 and 1936 the plant processed {{Convert|54|kg|oz}} of gold from {{Convert|3630|t|lb}} or ore for a total value of £13,375. At the battery Deen attracted criticism from the people working for him for paying a portion of their wages as credits only for goods at his store.<ref name=":0" /> Because of this the resignation rate at the battery was high.<ref name=":02" />

In the 1930s, in addition to also getting involved in various mining ventures directly himself, Deen also leased a bore near to the battery and would charge passing drovers and pastoralists for watering their stock there.<ref>{{cite news |date=18 July 1935 |title=Scarcity of water denied |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128415804 |accessdate=22 October 2025 |newspaper=[[The News (Adelaide)]] |location=South Australia |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=XXV |issue=3,741}}</ref> On the same land he also ran over 500 goats as well as smaller numbers of cattle and horses and used [[Halal]] butchering practices.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":02" /><ref>{{cite news |date=31 May 1938 |title=Indian Hawker's Success on Tennant's Creek Field |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34971291 |accessdate=22 October 2025 |newspaper=[[Western Argus]] |location=Western Australia |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=34 |issue=2497}}</ref>

In 1936 four of Deens sons - Jagir, Wazir, Noor and Nasib (Tom), joined him in Tennant Creek and they lived together in a large house where Deen was known for entertaining and cooking for many guests.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":02" /> Jagir would return to India in 1938 and Wazir married Eunice, who was employed as the battery's bookkeeper.<ref name=":02" />

Shortly after the onset of [[World War II]], in around 1939, the battery was shut down and its engines removed for the war effort.<ref name=":0" />

== Later life ==
In 1944, suffering ill health following being diagnosed with [[diabetes]], Deen moved to [[Brisbane]] in [[Queensland]] where he bought and managed cafes.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":02" />

In 1948 Deen made a return journey to [[India]] alongside Nasib (Tom) who was to get married there.<ref name=":02" /> Here, because of violence caused by the impacts of the [[Partition of India]] and because his presence as a Muslim man in a Hindu village, he was forced to hide in a cellar to remain safe. He hid there for a month before he was able to be taken to a refugee camp and, later, to [[Pakistan]] where many of his family, including his wife now were.<ref name=":0" /> Because of this conflict many of Deen's extended family lost much of their wealth, including ancestral land, although they did receive some monetary compensation.<ref name=":02" />

In 1949 he was able to return to Australia, now with his wife, and they lived together in [[Wynnum, Queensland|Wynnum]]. There Deen continued to operate various businesses and invest in property while also becoming a sought after interpreter for the government and an unofficial representative of Pakistan.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |date=11 October 1950 |title=Pakistan's high Commissioner heartily welcomed to South Coast |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article225630630 |accessdate=22 October 2025 |newspaper=[[South Coast Bulletin]] |location=Queensland, Australia |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia |volume= |issue=1164}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=10 February 1933 |title=Pataudi at Mohammedan banquet |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197922476 |accessdate=22 October 2025 |newspaper=[[The Telegraph (Brisbane)]] |location=Queensland, Australia |page=1 (LATE CITY) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

He died on 29 December 1963.<ref name=":0" />
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deen, Fazal}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1963 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian Muslims]]
[[Category:Australian people of Pakistani descent]]
[[Category:Emigrants from British India to Australia]]
[[Category:People from the Northern Territory]]

Fazal Deen - Revision history

ScarlettFlannaga at 06:40, 15 December 2025