Blackbirding

Blackbirding refers to the recruitment of people through trickery and kidnappings to work on plantations, particularly sugar cane plantations.

Related Topics:
Kidnapping - Sugar cane - Plantation

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Over a period of 40 years, from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, labour for the sugar cane fields of Queensland in Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, and the Samoa Islands included an element of coercive recruitment and indentured servitude. 62,000 South Sea Islanders were taken to Australia.

Related Topics:
19th century - 20th century - Queensland - Australia - Fiji - New Caledonia - Samoa - Island - Indentured servitude - South Sea Islanders

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These people were referred to as Kanakas 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.

Related Topics:
Kanaka - Western Pacific - Melanesia - Solomon Islands - Vanuatu - Polynesia - Micronesia - Samoa - Kiribati - Tuvalu - Loyalty Islands

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In the article on the history of Vanuatu, it states that:

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:During the 1860s, planters 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.

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

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

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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.

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The majority of the people in Australia were repatriated between 1906-08 under the provisions of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item.asp?sdID=86).

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