Australia camels fuel milk, beer and outback races

Hundreds of thousands of camels roam outback Australia, where they are used for milk, racing, export and even beer.

The animals were imported by British colonists in the 19th century for transport and later set free after cars made them less useful. Estimates of Australia's camel population range from 300,000 to up to one million.

Many are feral. Authorities say they compete with livestock for food, damage fences, foul waterholes and harm Indigenous cultural sites.

Domesticated camels also support a modest market. Australian farmers sell camel milk and sometimes export the animals whole, with 68 sent so far in 2026 to Malaysia and Indonesia. Camel meat exports totalled more than $3.9 million in 2024, according to trade data.

At the Humpalicious farm in Robe, South Australia, owner Warwick Hill sells camel milk for Aus$20, or $14, a litre. Hill says the market is limited by the price, labour costs and the animals' relatively low milk output.

Robe Town Brewery has found another use. Camels from Hill's farm eat grain left over from brewing, and their dung is used to smoke malt for a porter called “Holy Smokes.” Brewer Maris Biezaitis said the beer tastes more like peat-smoked malt than dung.

Further north in Marree, about 600 kilometres north of Adelaide, camels race each year in the Marree Camel Cup. This year's winner was Young Gun, ridden by Patrick Dennis.

Muslim cameleers, many from Afghanistan and other parts of Central and South Asia, were brought to Australia in the 1860s to use camels for transport in the arid interior. Some of their descendants remain in Marree.