{"id":2362,"date":"2020-05-14T08:39:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T22:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=2362"},"modified":"2020-05-14T13:44:55","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T03:44:55","slug":"blackbirding-australias-history-of-luring-tricking-and-kidnapping-pacific-islanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=2362","title":{"rendered":"Blackbirding: Australia’s history of luring, tricking and kidnapping Pacific Islanders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recent debate in the United States over the legacy of slavery has reignited discussions about Australia’s own dark past.<\/p>\n

Starting from the 1860s, tens of thousands of Pacific Islanders were taken to Australia to work on plantations in Queensland, often by force or trickery.<\/p>\n

Unmarked mass graves full of labourers who died on those plantations are still being uncovered today.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now their descendants, the Australian South Sea Islander community, are calling for their history to be properly recognised<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What was ‘blackbirding’?<\/h2>\n

While there is evidence that some of the 62,000 people sent to Australia came willingly, and signed contracts to work on the plantations, many others were lured or taken forcibly onto the boats.<\/p>\n

This practice is what’s known as blackbirding.<\/p>\n

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\"Ship<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Many workers did not know what they were signing up for.(State Library Of Queensland)<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The majority of the labourers were men, but women and children were also taken.<\/p>\n

Most were originally from Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, however workers were also “recruited” from the Loyalty Islands (part of New Caledonia), Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Fiji.<\/p>\n

The first of Queensland’s blackbirded men arrived in Moreton Bay on the ship Don Juan in 1863, and worked on a cotton plantation.<\/p>\n

While some of those contracted may not have understood what they were signing up for the first time they came to Australia, many returned multiple times by choice.<\/p>\n

Emelda Davis, president of the organisation Australian South Sea Islanders Port Jackson, said her grandfather was kidnapped from the island of Tanna in Vanuatu as a 12-year-old boy.<\/p>\n

“He was put on a boat with no say ? couldn’t say goodbye to his family ? and sent to Australia to work on the Queensland sugar farms,” she said.<\/p>\n