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Blackbirding

As some of you may already know that I identify as a descendant of the Australian South Sea Islander peoples who were ‘Blackbirded’ from 1863 to 1904 from the islands of the New Hebrides (Vanuatu), Solomons and other islands in the South Pacific and shipped to Queensland primarily to work in the sugar industry which had only just started. The link below will take you to the history of ‘Blackbirding’. My names are my traditional South Sea Island names and ‘NAGIE’ was my great-grandfather’s name who was ‘Blackbirded’ in 1868 from the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides, shipped to Bundaberg then transported up to Proserpine where my grandfather and my mum were born.

*South Sea Islanders were brought to Australia from the mid 1800s, to work predominantly in the cane fields in northern NSW and Queensland.*

The link below will take you to an article by my good friend Jeff McMullen which he sent to me just before the 21st Anniversary of recognition of South Sea Islander Community as a distinct cultural group by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie in 2000. Australia’s Slave Past: The Bitter Truth About Our Sugar Trade