South Sea Islander Labour and the Sugar Industry

The sugar industry that boomed in 1859 was dependent on indentured Melanesian labour (Slocomb, 2014, p. 81).Slocomb, (2014) claims that this began earlier in the pastoral industry and states that Benjamin Boyd chairman of the Royal Bank of Australia had the problem of attracting and keeping workers on remote stations while paying them the cheapest rate of wages possible. “At the beginning of 1847 he sent his ship, the Velocity, to recruit and import Pacific Islanders to employ them as shepherds in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains” (Slocomb, 2014.). Sixty –five Melanesians followed and between April and October 1847 he imported 190 islanders, including seven women (Slocomb, 2014). These indentured labourers were paid 26 shillings a year, some clothing and weekly rations of ten pounds of meat (Slocomb, 2014).

South Sea Islanders on Bingera Plantation, Bundaberg, Queensland SLQ negative number: 53944

Solomon Islander men who had just been recruited for labour on plantations, SLQ negative number: 608396

“In 1863 to eve of First World War one hundred thousand islanders drawn from a number of island colonies in South Pacific especially from the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands, went as indentured labourers to Queensland , Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia to work on sugar and copra plantations, in the mines and on the colonies’ sheep and cattle stations"(Slocomb, 2014, p.84).

Tony Matthews wrote about Maryborough and Districts in his book River of Dreams, published by Maryborough City Council. Matthews (1995) claims The “Kanakas” as they were locally known, worked mainly in all the sugar districts including Maryborough and the Wide Bay. Legislation limited their hire to tropical and subtropical agriculture (Matthews (1995, p.84). 11 387 males and 686 females arrived on 140 labour vessels during the period they were used on the plantations (Matthews, 1995, p.258).

Two Australian South Sea Islander women on a plantation in Queensland, 1901 SLQ negative number: 607824

Matthews (1995, p.182) details “ Maryborough did not require vast quantities of labourers until a drastic labour shortage occurred following the Gympie gold-strike, in October 1867, and the first shipment of recruits to arrive at the port was on the 9th of November, 1867 aboard a ninety-nine ton Schooner Mary Smith." The 87 labourers were apparently volunteers and were to work in Queensland for twelve months" ( Matthews 1995, p. 182). After their time had expired and they demanded to return home.  Matthews (1995, p.182) states “Tinana Sugar Company quickly refused the demand, claiming that the period of contract was three years”

Information about this incident can be found here  and here

This labour system was controversial from the start with anti-slavery concerns and abuse allegations combined with the idea that the islanders were arrogating labour.
The islanders were also impacted by diseases such as influenza, T.B, dysentery, cholera, measles, pneumonia and lack of medical attentions which led to “ a death toll twice as high as the normal number of deaths among the aged white population..[yet] most of them were in their twenties or thirties" Matthews (1995, p.197).  The South Sea Islander unmarked grave records from the Maryborough cemetery  found in the Moonaboola Unit in Maryborough Library suggest life was not easy for these labourers. 

Matthews (1995, p.198) claims that "despite this Maryborough was actually regarded by many of the islanders as the best place to go if they were recruited." This was because the climate was agreeable and "many plantation owners treated their islanders with great kindness" (Matthews 1995, p.198).

Male South Sea Islanders smoking pipes in Queensland, ca 1885 SLQ negative number: 16951

Legislation which aligned with the White Australia policy resulted in the deportation of many South Sea Islanders between 1902 and 1906. For various reasons some did not want to return home. Some had married Aboriginal women and established life in the district Matthews (1995). Matthews (1995, p.255) claims  “exemption certificates were issued to a small percentage of the seven thousand or so islanders who were to be deported.”  Some stayed and Matthews (1995, p.258) claims they were not well looked after in their old age. This was despite the pleas for a more liberal pension that the Secretary of the Kanaka Relief Committee asked for in a letter to the editor of the Maryborough Chronicle in Saturday March 5 1938 found here

He stated “governments have ignored their moral obligation to the South Sea Islanders who trusted their lives to their nations integrity”

What do you think?

Other resources:

Queensland State Archives resources:

An index available on their website: http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/Indexes/Other/Pages/SouthSeaIslanders.aspx

There is a pull up banner exhibition: http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Researchers/Exhibitions/Immigration/Pages/SouthSeaIslanders.aspx

And information on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register: http://www.amw.org.au/content/queensland-south-sea-island-indentured-labourer-records-1863-1908

State Library of Queensland has a number of resources:

A showcase:http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/showcase/ASSI

And a blog: http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/ (co to the AS tab on the left side of the screen).

References

Home (State Library of Queensland). (2016). Slq.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 28 April 2016, from http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/

Matthews, T. (1995). River of Dreams- A history of Maryborough and District. Maryborough, Qld: Maryborough City Council.

Newspapers Home - Trove. (2016). Trove. Retrieved 28 April 2016, from http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?q=

Queensland State Archives | Home. (2016). Archives.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 28 April 2016, from http://www.archives.qld.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Slocomb, M. (2014). Among Australia's pioneers. Bloomingdale: Balboa Press

Tags: #southseaislanders #Maryborough #frasercoastlibraries #sugarindustry