Monga Khan

Monga Khan 1916 Photograph taken for his Certificate of Exemption to the Dictation Test.

·© Len Kenna & Crystal Jordan May 27, 2015

Monga Khan was from Bathroi, Mirpur, Kashmir, was one of the British Subjects in Australia before the National Citizenship Act 1948. He arrived in Australia in 1895 and worked as a hawker, an itinerant worker, whose intention was to make money to send back to his family in Kashmir and eventually to return to Kashmir himself. He based himself at a boarding house at 1 Providence Place, Melbourne where he had the company of other Indians and there was a Muslim Prayer Room nearby. He did return to his village in Kashmir to visit his family a couple of times and made plans to travel again in 1916 when this photograph was taken for his Certificate of Exemption to the Dictation Test (C.E.D.T.) however he became ill and did not make the journey. He was often ill and while hawking in Ararat in 1930 he was became ill again and died in the Ararat Hospital. He was buried in the Ararat Cemetery.

WHAT IS THE CERTIFICATE OF EXEMPTION TO THE DICTATION TEST?

The Certificate of Exemption for the Dictation Test (CEDT). The CEDT test was used to keep non-white people out of Australia by asking newly arrived people to sit for an examination which could be applied in any language, the Examining Officer would give the test in a language that was unfamiliar to the person taking the test. However, if a non-white person was living in Australia before 1901, they were exempt from the test if they wanted to re-enter Australia. However, they had to apply for the exemption before they left Australia. In 1923 the Act was altered to allow members of the families of non-white people living in Australia to enter Australia provided they had adequate accommodation for them ,and that they could be supported, by the person sponsoring them.

Monga Khan's Statutory Declaration for his application for a C.E.D.T