ABSTRACT
The presence of and interaction between Christianity and Islam has far deeper roots in East Asia than Australasia, but in the twenty-first century there are many parallel issues across the vast region. Some represent stories of successful engagement, although these are tempered by certain pressing challenges. Christianity reached China during the Tang Dynasty, brought by Persian Nestorian Christians, as suggested by the Nestorian Stele monument dated to 781 and carrying both Chinese and Syriac writing. Early traces of southeast Asian communities under Muslim authority appear in the northern tip of Sumatra and the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. Australia's first known mosque, in South Australia, was built in 1861. The Afghan Muslims came to work the camel trains that plied the Australian deserts, the 'Outback'. Each Australian state has Islamic societies of one sort or another, some of which are associated with the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC).
