For general context see White Australia Policy. The Australian label South Sea Islanders refers to the Australian descendants of people from the more than 80 islands in the Western Pacific: The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of over 4. ... Brisbane (pronounced ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, as well as the third largest city in Australia, with a greater metropolitan population of just under two million. ... Australian English (AuE) is the form of the English language used in Australia. ... Carolinian is an Austronesian language spoken in the Northern Mariana Islands, where it is an official language along with English and Chamorro. ... Māori (or Maori) is a language spoken by the native peoples of New Zealand and the Cook Islands. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... A Pacific Islander or Pacific Person (plural: Pacific People, also called Oceanic[s]), is a term used in several places, such as New Zealand and the United States, to describe the inhabitants of Oceania. ... This badge from 1906 shows the use of the expression White Australia at that time The White Australia policy is a generic term used to describe a collection of historical legislation and policies, intended to restrict non-white immigration to Australia, and to promote white immigration, from 1830 to 1973. ...

• 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 the sugar cane fields of Queensland, Australia from the 1860s over a period of 40 years. As stated in the article on the history of Vanuatu 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. ... 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. ... 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 (End of September 2006)  - Population  4,070,400 (3rd)  - Density  2. ... // The First Transcontinental Railroad in the USA is built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869. ... The history of Vanuatu begins obscurely. ...

During the 1860s, planters in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and the Samoa Islands, in need of laborers, encouraged a long-term indentured labor trade called blackbirding. At the height of the labor trade, more than one-half the adult male population of several of the Islands worked abroad.

These people were generally referred to as Kanakas, although many Islander descendants today regard the term as pejorative and an insulting reminder of their ancestors' exploitation at the hands of white planters. 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. ... A word or phrase is pejorative if it implies contempt or disapproval. ...

With time, owing to intermarriage, many Australian South Sea Islanders also claim a mixed ancestry including Aboriginals, Torres Strait Islanders and immigrants from the South Pacific Islands. Aboriginal Flag Australian Aborigines is a name used to collectively describe most of the indigenous peoples of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. ... Torres Strait Islanders are the indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, part of Queensland, Australia. ... The Pacific Ocean has an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 islands; the exact number has not been precisely determined. ...

Of the 62,000 South Sea Islanders recruited the majority were repatriated by the Australian Government in the period between 1906-08 under the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 ([1]), legislation related to the White Australia Policy. Those exempted from repatriation, and a number of others who escaped the deportations remained in Australia to form the basis of what is today Australia's largest non-Indigenous black ethnic group. 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. ... This badge from 1906 shows the use of the expression White Australia at that time The White Australia policy is a generic term used to describe a collection of historical legislation and policies, intended to restrict non-white immigration to Australia, and to promote white immigration, from 1830 to 1973. ...

The question of how many Islanders were blackbirded is unknown and remains controversial. The question:

Were Islanders legally recruited, persuaded, deceived, coerced or forced to leave their homes and travel by ship to Queensland?

is difficult. 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.

In recent generations, facing many similar forms of discrimination in Australia as Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, Australian South Sea Islanders have been prominent figures in civil rights and politics. Faith Bandler, Evelyn Scott and Bonita Mabo (widow of Eddie Mabo) are prominent Indigenous activists who are also descendants of Pacific Island plantation workers. Another area Australian South Sea Islanders have excelled in is sport, especially the game of rugby league. State of Origin and Australian representatives Mal Meninga, Sam Backo, Gorden Tallis and Wendell Sailor (Former Australian Rugby Union representative) are all members of the Australian South Sea Islander community. Faith Bandler (1918 – ), an Australian civil rights activist of South Sea Islander heritage, is a campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Australians and South Sea Islanders. ... Evelyn Scott (1893 - 1963) was a novelist and playwright. ... Eddie Koiki Mabo (c. ... Rugby league football is a full-contact team sport played by two teams of thirteen on a rectangular grass field. ... The Rugby League State of Origin is an annual series of three interstate rugby league matches between the Maroons, representing the state of Queensland and the Blues, representing the state of the New South Wales. ... Mal Meninga (July 8, 1960) was a legendary Australian rugby league centre. ... Gorden Tallis (born July 27, 1973) was an exceptional rugby league player who played from 1992 to 2004. ... Wendell Jermaine Sailor (born 16 July 1974 in Sarina, Queensland) is a former Australian representative rugby footballer who represented his country in both rugby union and rugby league- a dual code international. ... A rugby union scrum. ...

See also

• White Australia Policy

This badge from 1906 shows the use of the expression White Australia at that time The White Australia policy is a generic term used to describe a collection of historical legislation and policies, intended to restrict non-white immigration to Australia, and to promote white immigration, from 1830 to 1973. ...

External links

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