South Sea Islanders

History

Under the Polynesian Labourers Act 1868 (Qld), recruited labour was indentured for three years in exchange for a small wage of £6 per year as well as rations, accommodation and clothing. Employers were required to deposit their employees’ wages into a Government Savings Bank account.

The majority were repatriated by the Australian Government in the period between 1906 and 1908 under the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901, a piece of legislation related to the White Australia policy. There was resistance to repatriation, and controversy regarding the manner in which it was done.

Those exempted from repatriation, along with a number of others who escaped deportation, remained in Australia to form the basis of what is today Australia's largest non-indigenous black ethnic group. Today, the descendants of those who remained are officially referred to as South Sea Islanders. A 1992 census of South Sea Islanders reported around 10,000 descendants living in Queensland. Fewer than 3,500 were reported in the 2001 Australian census.

The question of how many Islanders were "blackbirded" is unknown and remains controversial. The extent to which Islanders were recruited legally, persuaded, deceived, coerced or forced to leave their homes and travel to Queensland is difficult to evaluate and also 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 tend to relate to the first ten or so years of the trade.

With time, owing to intermarriage, many Australian South Sea Islanders also claim a mixed ancestry, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, along with immigrants from the South Pacific Islands and European Australians.

Terminology

Blackbirded and recruited islanders were generally referred to as Kanakas (from the Hawaiian word kānaka meaning "man"). However many Islander descendants now regard the term as pejorative and an insulting reminder of their ancestors' exploitation at the hands of the British and the white Australians, and it is now regarded in Australian English as an offensive term.

Prominent Australian South Sea Islanders

Activism and politics

In recent generations, facing many similar forms of discrimination in Australia as Aboriginal Australians 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 South Sea Island plantation workers.

Stephen Andrew, who represented Pauline Hanson's One Nation (PHON) and Katter's Australian Party (KAP) in the Queensland Parliament, was the first South Sea Islander to be elected to parliament, having won the seat of Mirani for One Nation in 2017 and 2020 before being defeated as a KAP member in 2024.

Federal Liberal National MP Terry Young, who has represented the seat of Longman since 2019, was of South Sea Islander descent through his grandfather.

Sport

Another area Australian South Sea Islanders have excelled in is sport, especially the game of rugby league. Australian international representatives Sam Backo, Mal Meninga, Gorden Tallis and Wendell Sailor are all members of the Australian South Sea Islander community.

Other people

Gail Mabo, daughter of Bonita and Eddie Mabo, is a prominent visual artist.

Recognition and documentation

For many years, Queensland's South Sea Islander communities sought acknowledgement for past treatment, and recognition as a distinct cultural group. After decades of community advocacy, the Commonwealth Government finally recognised that distinction on August 25, 1994. State Library of Queensland holds several collections pertaining to the history of Australian South Sea Islanders in Queensland, two significant collections pertain to their long fight for recognition.

The Australian South Sea Islanders United Council Records 1975–2008, 2021 (Acc. 28617) includes documents, research papers, photographs, recorded interviews and other material relating to the work of the Australian South Sea Islanders United Council (ASSIUC) from the mid 1970s. Formed by a group of first descendants at Tweed Heads in 1975, the ASSIUC was the first national body to represent Australian South Sea Islanders, advocating for national recognition and promoting cultural awareness. A second iteration of the ASSIUC was re-registered in Townsville in 1991 and grew to fourteen branches including two in New South Wales. This body was instrumental in bringing communities together and advocating for change.

The Australian South Sea Islanders 150 Commemoration and Festival 2013 Papers (Acc. 29744) also include documents such as meeting minutes and correspondence relating to the Australian South Sea Islanders Secretariat Inc., and photographs and interviews conducted by Nic Maclellan on 13 August 2013 at the Australian South Sea Islander 150th Anniversary event at Ormiston House, Brisbane.

References

References

1. "TableBuilder". [[Australian Bureau of Statistics]].
2. Quanchi, Max. (2 October 2025). "Say Our Name: Australian South Sea Islanders. Queensland Museum, Brisbane. October 2024–July 2025". Australian Historical Studies.
3. "Australian South Sea Islanders - A Short History, Chronology and Bibliography".
4. "Australian South Sea Islanders in Queensland, Census 2021". [[Queensland Government]] Statistical Office.
5. Ealing-Godblod, Christina. (19 August 2022). "From Across the Seas: Tracing Australian South Sea Islanders". [[State Library of Queensland]].
6. Griffith Asia Institute. (17 June 2021). "Meet the Mackay South Sea Islander Communities". [[Griffith University]].
7. Moore, Clive. "The South Sea Islanders of Mackay, Queensland, Australia". Multicultural Australia.
8. Marg Powell. (15 April 2021). "Sugar slaves".
9. "Documenting Democracy: Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (Cth)". Foundingdocs.gov.au.
10. (October 2014). "The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific". ANU Press.
11. (October 2014). "The Naturalist and his "Beautiful Islands": Charles Morris Woodford in the Western Pacific". ANU Press.
12. Stefanie Affeldt: ''Consuming Whiteness. Australian Racism and the ‘White Sugar’ Campaign''. Lit-Verlag, Münster 2014, pp. 152–188.
13. (23 June 1903). "KANAKA DEPORTATION.". National Library of Australia.
14. (18 December 1906). "KANAKA DEPORTATION.". National Library of Australia.
15. Tracey Flanagan, Meredith Wilkie, and Susanna Iuliano. [http://www.hreoc.gov.au/racial_discrimination/forum/Erace/south_sea.html "Australian South Sea Islanders: A Century of Race Discrimination under Australian Law"], Australian Human Rights Commission.
16. (28 September 2017). "Etymology, origin and meaning of kanaka by etymonline".
17. ''Macquarie Dictionary'' (Fourth Edition), 2005, p. 774
18. "Kanaka dictionary definition - Kanaka defined".
19. (9 September 2024). "One Nation reject Stephen Andrew joins Katter’s Australian Party". Madura McCormack.
20. "First speech". Parliament of Australia.
21. (12 May 2022). "Australian South Sea Islander collections".
22. "28617 Australian South Sea Islanders United Council Records 1975-2008, 2021".
23. "29744 Australian South Sea Islanders 150 Commemoration and Festival 2013 Papers 2013".