Indian Coolies on the Fraser Coast.

Image from page 254 of "The empire of India" (1913)

Before wide scale use of South Sea Islander labourer on the coastal sugar plantations, Indian Coolies (labourers) from Bengal were imported to work as sheperds and in other agricultural pursuits in the Wide Bay.
Slocomb states
On the cusp of the pastoral boom of the late 1840s, squatters in the Northern Districts of New South Wales dreamed of the reliable shepherd who could be bought for ten pounds per annum. In the remote Burnett and Wide Bay districts, this aim was realised by the importation of so-called Asiatic labourers, first from Bengal and then from China.

Later in the century a desire to secure large scale Indian Coolie labour was a divisive subject in Queensland including the Wide Bay. The following links highlight the extent of this divisiveness

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/214369964?searchTerm=Indian%20coolies%20in%20Maryborough&searchLimits=

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/163898864?searchTerm=Indian%20coolies%20in%20Maryborough&searchLimits=

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3413159?searchTerm=Indian%20coolies%20in%20Maryborough&searchLimits=

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146512464?searchTerm=Indian%20coolies%20maryborough&searchLimits=l-state=Queensland|||l-title=731

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146860493?searchTerm=labourers%20from%20Bengal&searchLimits=l-state=Queensland|||l-title=731

Griffiths (2017) claims "In the early 1880s, Queensland’s sugar planters persuaded the Conservative government to start negotiations with India to secure coolie labour as a replacement for Islanders".

In 1885 a conflict between the liberals view that indentured labour should cease and the planters and north Queensland capitalists view that labour needs of the sugar industry be met by cheap labour from India escalated. The North campaigned for separation from Queensland based on this need for labour to be supported. The industry expansion was occurring due to high prices and profits.

Griffths (2017) states
The Conservative Colonial Secretary, Sir Arthur Palmer, wrote to the Indian government in 1881 seeking Queensland’s re-inclusion on the list of approved places for indenture. It was to take another two years before they were able to finalise regulations that were acceptable to both governments. Compulsory repatriation was a core issue for Queensland, which reluctantly agreed to put the onus for ensuring this on employers.

The Indian government wanted many other conditions including a  a specific Protector of Immigrants who spoke Indian languages and would be paid for by Queensland and reasonable hours and days off.

In the end, all the schemes for large-scale recruitment of coolie labour were not successful and separation of the North did not go ahead.

References: 
Griffiths, Phil. "The Coolie Labour Crisis in Colonial Queensland." Labour History 113 (2017): 53-78. Web.
Labour History Journal retrieved from https://www.labourhistory.org.au/journal/contents-and-abstracts/labour-history-no-113/abstracts/ on 2nd May, 2019.
Slocomb, Margaret . "Preserving the Contract: The Experience of Indentured Labourers in the Wide Bay and Burnett Districts in the Nineteenth Century." Labour History 113 (2017): 103-32. Web.

Tags #coolies #indian #bengal #frasercoast #widebay #burnett #sugar #labour