The Lebanese Man Who Immigrated to the Wrong Country in 1854

Imagine sailing to the Americas with success and fortune in mind but you end up 15,000+ kilometers away from your destination…on the other side of the world. This is what happened to Massoud Fakhry, the Lebanese man who immigrated to the wrong country in 1854.

With large-scale globalization kicking off in the late 19th century, Fakhry who hailed from a modest town in the heart of Bcharre, wanted to move to the Americas for money, gold, and riches just like any Lebanese person with big dreams. At least that’s what he kept hearing from other successful people who traveled to the Americas.

So he decided to sail off in pursuit of the land of opportunity in 1854. First, he boarded a ship from Tripoli to Egypt…and that’s when everything went wrong. Instead of reaching America, Fakhry found himself over 15,000 kilometers away…in Australia.

The funny thing is, he had no idea they were in Australia. Fakhry hadn’t heard of Australia at the time, and he was probably the first Lebanese person to ever get there. A source claim that to a lot of ‘unsophisticated rural Lebanese’ (interesting choice of words…) believed anywhere in the West was America.

So you can imagine his shock when he EVENTUALLY found out he actually got off on Port Adelaide and NOT Al-Na-Yurk, New York. There isn’t any confirmation that he was, in fact, the first, but he was definitely among the first Lebanese people to ever immigrate to Australia. He’s considered to be the ‘Father of Lebanese Immigration’.

Anyway, he returned to Lebanon after two years and convinced seven of his young relatives to come back to Australia with him. They would later be known as “The Magnificent Seven”, the first known group of Lebanese people to migrate to Australia.

They worked hard and built their lives from the ground up. Starting off as hawkers, they became strong business owners, started their own families, and built a Lebanese community in Australia.

Some sources claim that it was the Fakhry brothers to first immigrate to Australia, not Massoud Fakhry alone. Though we can’t be exactly sure, this…misunderstanding eventually led to a large Lebanese community in the country down under. The more you know.

Did you enjoy the story of the Lebanese man who immigrated to the wrong country? Maybe you’ll enjoy the #Did You Know? section on our website.