Blackbirding refers to the recruitment of people through trickery and kidnappings to work on plantations, particularly the sugar cane plantations of Queensland (Australia) and Fiji^[1] , as well as in the early days of the pearling industry in Broome. Species Ref: ITIS 42058 as of 2004-05-05 Sugarcane is one of six species of a tall tropical southeast Asian grass (Family Poaceae) having stout fibrous jointed stalks whose sap at one time was the primary source of sugar. ... // This article is about crop plantations. ... Broome () is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley in the far north of Western Australia. ...

History

Queensland was a self-governing British colony in northeastern Australia until 1901 when it became a state of the Commonwealth of Australia. Over a period of 40 years, from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, native non-European labourers for the sugar cane fields of Queensland, were "recruited" from Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia.^[2] The "recruitment" process almost always included an element of coercive recruitment (not unlike the press-gangs once employed by the Royal Navy in England) and indentured servitude. Some 62,000 South Sea Islanders were taken to Australia. A United Kingdom overseas territory (formerly known as a dependent territory or earlier as a crown colony) is a territory that is under the sovereignty and formal control of the United Kingdom but is not part of the United Kingdom proper (Great Britain and Northern Ireland). ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999... Capital Brisbane Government Constitutional monarchy Governor Quentin Bryce Premier Peter Beattie (ALP) Federal representation  - House seats 28  - Senate seats 12 Gross State Product (2004-05)  - Product ($m)  $158,506 (3rd)  - Product per capita  $40,170/person (6th) Population (June Quarter Released Statistics 2006)  - Population  4,053,444 (3rd)  - Density  2. ... Press Gang was a British childrens television comedy-drama, which ran for forty-three episodes in five series from 1989 to 1993. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... An Indentured Servant (or in the U.S. bonded labourer) is a labourer under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount of time, usually seven to eight years, to pay off a passage to a new country or home. ... The Australian label South Sea Islanders refers to people from the more than 80 islands in the Western Pacific: Melanesia: mainly the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) Polynesia and Micronesia: the Loyalty Islands, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu) who were recruited (some by kidnapping or blackbirding) to labour in...

These people were referred to as Kanakas (the French equivalent Canaques still applies to the autochthonous Melanesians in New Caledonia) and came from the Western Pacific islands: from Melanesia, mainly the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, with a small number from the Polynesian and Micronesian islands such as Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu Loyalty Islands. Many of the workers were effectively slaves, but since the Slavery Abolition Act made slavery illegal, they were officially called "indentured labourers" or the like. Some Australian Aboriginal people, especially from Cape York Peninsula, were also kidnapped and transported south to work on the farms. The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, peaceful sea, bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan) is the largest body of water on Earth – at 165. ... Map showing Melanesia. ... Carving from the ridgepole of a Māori house, ca 1840 Polynesia (from Greek: πολύς many, νῆσος island) is a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. ... The Loyalty Islands. ... Categories: | | ... Australian Aborigines are the indigenous peoples of Australia. ... This article is about the peninsula located in the Australian state of Queensland; it should not be confused with either Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, or Cape York, Greenland. ...

The methods of blackbirding varied. Some labourers were willing to be taken to Australia to work, while others were tricked or even forced. In some cases blackbirding ships (which made huge profits) would entice entire villages by luring them on board for trade or a religious service, and then setting sail. Many died during the voyage due to unsanitary conditions,^{[citation needed]} and also in the fields due to the hard manual labour.^[3]

The question of how many Islanders were actually kidnapped or "blackbirded" is unknown and remains controversial. Official documents and accounts from the period often conflict with the oral tradition passed down to the descendants of workers. Stories of blatantly violent kidnapping tended to relate to the first 10–15 years of the trade. The majority of those abducted to Australia were repatriated between 1906-08 under the provisions of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 ([1]); but there are ~20,000 descendants of the blackbirded labourers living in Queensland coastal towns. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which was designed to facilitate the mass deportation of nearly all the Pacific Islanders working in Australia. ...

Descendants of Solomon Islanders living at Tamavua-i-Wai in Fiji received a High Court verdict in their favour on 1 February 2007. The court refused a claim by the Seventh-day Adventist Church to force the islanders to vacate the land on which they had been living for seventy years.^[4]. The High Court of Fiji is independent of the legislative and executive branches of the acting government. ... February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... Seventh-day Adventist Churchs logo The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Christian denomination distinguished by their doctrinal beliefs that the literal, visible second coming of Jesus Christ is imminent, and that the seventh-day Sabbath of the Ten Commandments (Saturday) is the authentic biblical day of rest and...

See also

• South Sea Islander
• Coolies
• Mal Meninga
• Kanakas

The Australian label South Sea Islanders refers to the Australian descendants of people from the more than 80 islands in the Western Pacific: Melanesia: mainly the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) Polynesia and Micronesia: the Loyalty Islands, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu) who were recruited (some by kidnapping or... Coolie refers to unskilled laborers from Asia of the 1800s to early 1900s who were sent to the United States, Australia, New Zealand, North Africa and the West Indies. ... Mal Meninga (July 8, 1960) was a legendary Australian rugby league centre. ... The Kanakas were workers brought from the Pacific Islands as indentured servants to cover serious labor shortages in various European colonies, such as Fiji, Australia and British Columbia, Canada. ...

Further reading

Docker, E. W., (1981), The blackbirders : a brutal story of the Kanaka slave-trade, London, Angus & Robertson ISBN 0207140693

External links

• Background and history of the South Sea Islanders Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet

References

1. ^ Willoughby, Emma. Our Federation Journey 1901 - 2001 (PDF). Museum Victoria. Retrieved on 2006-06-14.
2. ^ Griffiths, Phil (2002-07-04). Towards White Australia: The shadow of Mill and the spectre of slavery in the 1880s debates on Chinese immigration (RTF). 11th Biennial National Conference of the Australian Historical Association. Retrieved on 2006-06-14.
3. ^ http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/About_the_department/publications/multicultural/Australian_South_Sea_Islander_Training_Package/history/australia/death/ Queensland Government, Australian South Sea Islander Training Package]
4. ^ http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=56268/Solomon Islands descendants win land case]

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... June 14 is the 165th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (166th in leap years), with 200 days remaining. ...