What is the difference between blackbirding and slavery?

Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land.

Where did the kanakas come from?

Kanakas were workers (a mix of voluntary and involuntary) from various Pacific Islands employed in British colonies, such as British Columbia (Canada), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Queensland (Australia) in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Why did blackbirding happen in Australia?

What was ‘blackbirding’? While there is evidence that some of the 62,000 people sent to Australia came willingly, and signed contracts to work on the plantations, many others were lured or taken forcibly onto the boats. This practice is what’s known as blackbirding.

Did Aboriginal Australians have slavery?

Many Aboriginal Australians were also forced into various forms of slavery and unfree labour from colonisation. Some Indigenous Australians performed unpaid labour until the 1970s. Pacific Islanders were kidnapped or coerced to come to Australia and work, in a practice known as blackbirding.

Was there African slavery in Australia?

Some 62,000 Melanesian people were brought to Australia and enslaved to work in Queensland’s sugar plantations between 1863 and 1904. First Nations Australians had a more enduring experience of slavery, originally in the pearling industry in Western Australia and the Torres Strait and then in the cattle industry.

How were slaves treated in Australia?

There were restrictions on their freedom of choice and movement. There was cruel treatment and abuse, control of sexuality, and forced labour.

What is meant by the term blackbirding?

noun. (formerly) the act or practice of kidnapping people, especially Pacific Islanders, and selling them into slavery abroad, usually in Australia.

How did the Kanakas get to Australia?

The 67 aboard the Don Juan were the first of an estimated 50,000 South Sea Islanders, or Kanakas as they were called. They arrived on 807 voyages from 80 islands to work primarily on Queensland sugar development farms between 1863 and 1904.

Why were Kanakas brought to Australia?

Between 1863 and 1904, an estimated 55,000 to 62,500 Islanders were brought to Australia to labour on sugar-cane and cotton farms in Queensland and northern New South Wales. [1] These labourers were called ‘Kanakas’ (a Hawaiian word meaning ‘man’) and their recruitment often involved forced removal from their homes.

Does blackbirding still exist?

Blackbirding stopped in 1901 with the introduction of the White Australia Policy and subsequently the Pacific Labour Act, designed to facilitate the mass deportation of South Sea Islanders working in Queensland’s sugar industry.

When did Australian aborigines stop slavery?

While the forced labour of Aboriginal people by the Federal and state Governments formally began in the late 19th Century, the system didn’t end until up to the 1970s. This means that there are number of people in our community today who lived through this experience.