Camel train duo earned namesake at dune suburb

Mahomets wasn’t always a desirable beach-side suburb.

It was once a desolate area of dunes and flatlands, covered in wattle and with a few small ponds of brackish water.

Perfect for the tannery established in 1879 by German immigrant Carl Berringer, near today’s intersection of Olive Street and Brand Highway.

Wattle bark provided the tannin that was needed, and the dodgy water was fine for tanning, but Berringer died in 1894 and his three sons had all chosen to become carpenters, so the tannery was closed.

Next were two more immigrants, brothers who rode a brief wave of success on the backs of camels.

Faiz and Tagh Mahomet had arrived in 1892, among many Afghan and Indian cameliers who came to drive their “ships of the desert” through WA’s rugged interior.

An enterprising duo, the Mahomet brothers established an office in Fitzgerald Street and began carting goods to the Murchison goldfields.

Business was brisk and they opened branch offices at Coolgardie, Cue and in South Australia.

Their herd grew to 500 animals and the brothers pastured them on the flats, but the arrival of rail was the death knell for their business, which closed in 1897.

Abandoned, the dunes became home to impoverished pensioners living in rough shacks, a council rubbish tip and a playground for generations of Geraldton kids.

That was until 1968, when Geraldton Town Council voted to develop the area for housing.

Berringer the tanner was long forgotten, yet the name of two brothers who used the property for perhaps two years had etched itself into local history.

Local councillors and developers agreed and Mahomet’s Flats was finally made official, with a big sign to prove it.