The Dark History Of Australia's Enslavement

Australia has a long history of slavery and forced labour, dating back to its early years of colonisation. While the British Empire abolished slavery in 1833, slavery and slavery-like conditions persisted in Australia well into the 20th century, with some Indigenous Australians remaining enslaved until the 1970s. Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were subjected to forced labour in various industries, including the pastoralist industry, pearling, and the cattle industry. They suffered cruel treatment, abuse, and control over their sexuality and wages. Additionally, around 62,000 Melanesian people were brought to Queensland and enslaved in sugar plantations between 1863 and 1904. This dark chapter of Australia's history has been the subject of debate and denial, but it is an important part of understanding the country's past and the ongoing struggles faced by Indigenous Australians.

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Convict labour

Between 1788 and 1868, Britain transported approximately 171,000 male and female convicted felons to Australia, establishing the foundation of the European population in the country. The convict system remains a significant theme in Australian historical and archaeological research, encompassing areas such as punishment, reform, colonialism, and social and cultural transformation.

The convict era has left an indelible mark on Australian culture, inspiring novels, films, and other works. Many Australians now consider it a source of pride to discover a convict in their lineage. The extent of its influence on Australia's national character has been explored by writers and historians.

There were two major convict colonies: New South Wales (1788-1840) and Van Diemen's Land, later renamed Tasmania (1803-1853). The premier site in convict Australia was Sydney, New South Wales, where the First Fleet arrived in 1788. A satellite colony was also established on Norfolk Island, serving strategic and agricultural purposes.

The convict system in Australia was marked by labour and punishment. Many convicts were stationed in remote areas, initially tasked with creating infrastructure for the convict system, including the construction of the Convict Establishment in Fremantle. The urban society that convicts and emancipists established was heavily influenced by the colonial government's ability to direct convict labour to rural areas. This resulted in the transformation of the physical landscape of the country and laid the foundation for modern Australia.

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Indigenous Australians in the pearling industry

Indigenous Australians have a long history of being used as forced labour in the pearling industry, dating back to the industry's beginnings in 1868. Pearling was a key industry in northern Australia, from the Torres Strait to Western Australia, and Indigenous Australians made up most of the labour force in the industry's first two decades.

The practice of collecting pearl shells existed well before British settlement, but after settlement, Aboriginal people were used as slave labour in the emerging commercial industry, a practice known as blackbirding. Reports of pearlers kidnapping Aboriginal people for this purpose are known as early as 1869. In the 1870s, laws were passed to regulate the use of Aboriginal labour, banning Aboriginal women divers and attempting to protect Aboriginal workers. However, this led to an increase in the number of 'Malay' (from the coastal regions and islands of Asia) divers being employed in the industry, and the importance of Aboriginal divers once again increased due to a high death rate among the Malay divers.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, pearling was a booming industry, with Broome becoming the largest pearling centre in the world by 1910 and supplying about 80% of the world's pearl shell by 1914. The industry drew many people in search of work, and Indigenous Australians continued to make up a significant portion of the workforce, alongside people of various other ethnicities. Despite the passage of laws like the Aborigines Act 1905 (Western Australia), the South Australian Aborigines Act 1911, and the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (Cth), which were meant to protect Aboriginal workers and require payment of wages, Indigenous Australians continued to suffer from slave-like conditions and denial of wages well into the 20th century.

The pearling industry in Australia has since shifted towards the cultivation of pearls, with the establishment of cultured pearl farms beginning in the 1950s. Today, the farming of cultured pearls remains an important part of the economy in certain regions, but it is unclear what role, if any, Indigenous Australians continue to play in the industry.

Indigenous Australians in the cattle industry

The Australian cattle industry has a long and complex history that involves the exploitation and enslavement of Indigenous Australians. From the early days of British colonisation in 1788, when cattle were first introduced to the continent, Indigenous people have played a crucial but often exploited role in the industry.

Initially, Aboriginal people resisted the intrusion of settlers and their livestock, leading to frontier warfare that sometimes lasted for over a decade. However, some groups eventually agreed to "come in" and work for the settlers, motivated by various factors, including a desire to end the conflict, ensure community survival, maintain access to their land, or acquire new products.

In the 1800s, the cattle industry in Australia expanded rapidly as farmers took advantage of the vast grazing areas available. This expansion coincided with the gold rushes of the 1850s, which further increased the demand for beef and led to a significant increase in immigration. By 1886, around 55% of the pastoral workforce in Queensland was Indigenous, and their numbers continued to grow in the following decades. Despite their crucial contributions, Aboriginal workers were often exploited and subjected to slave-like conditions. Instead of proper wages, they were typically paid" with clothing, food, and occasional pocket money. The introduction of "protection" policies in the early 1900s by state governments was intended to protect Indigenous Australians from mistreatment. However, these policies gave the government control over various aspects of Aboriginal peoples' lives, including their wages, which were often kept in accounts that the workers could not access.

It wasn't until 1968 that the Australian government mandated equal pay for Aboriginal stock workers, following the Wave Hill walk-off strike by Gurindji workers in 1966. However, by then, many station owners had already reduced their reliance on Aboriginal workers, and some simply refused to employ them, leading to significant job and residence losses within Aboriginal communities. Despite the injustices and exploitation they faced, many older Aboriginal people look back with pride on their work in the cattle industry and sadness at the loss of this traditional way of life.

Indigenous Australians in the pastoral industry

Indigenous Australians were used as unpaid labour in the pastoral industry from the early stages of British colonisation of Australia until the 1960s. Aboriginal people were essential and effective workers in the pastoral industry, often working as servants, stockmen, shepherds, and cooks. They were also renowned for their horsemanship and ability to work and track stock.

In the 19th century, Aboriginal women were at least as successful as men in the pastoral industry. Women were often the preferred employees because they worked for almost nothing and were dependable. However, the wages of Aboriginal people were often kept in bank accounts that they could not access, with the money being redirected by government bureaucracies. In some cases, Aboriginal people were given no money at all, only inexpensive commodities such as tobacco, rum, clothing, flour, and offal.

In 1891, the British journal Anti-Slavery Reporter published a "Slave Map of Modern Australia". Anti-slavery campaigners had described the conditions of Aboriginal labour in northern Australia as slavery as early as the 1860s. From 1897, no person could employ Indigenous labour in Queensland without the permission of a Protector, who was usually a policeman or government official and had full control of the contract with the employer.

The Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 allowed the non-payment of wages and forced recruitment of labour in the Northern Territory. In the 1950s and 1960s, when wages started to be paid in cash, they were still much lower than those of white people doing similar work. It wasn't until 1968 that the government mandated equal pay. However, this coincided with the mechanisation of stations, leading to most Aboriginal workers being laid off.

Child trafficking

Australia has a long history of slavery and forced labour, dating back to its colonisation in 1788. While the British Empire abolished slavery in 1833, slavery in Australia persisted in various forms, with Aboriginal people and convicts serving as a source of forced labour for the colonists.

One form of child trafficking that has been documented in Australia is the prostitution of Australian children. There have been reports and allegations of children, particularly adolescents, being forced into sexual servitude and prostitution, sometimes as a result of trafficking through the country's inter-country adoption system. In some cases, children have been told that they owe a debt to their traffickers, which they must repay through sex work.

Another form of child trafficking that has been identified in Australia is forced marriage. The introduction of a new 'forced marriage' offence in 2013 led to an increase in investigations and reports of forced marriage, with five children being referred to the Support for Trafficked People Program in the 2014-15 financial year.

The Australian government has taken steps to address child trafficking and modern slavery, including increasing funding for victim support services, establishing a pilot survivor advisory council, and initiating a review of its visa framework to identify vulnerabilities related to trafficking. However, there have been criticisms that the government has not adequately screened vulnerable groups, such as domestic workers, international students, and migrant workers, for trafficking indicators, and has failed to convict perpetrators under anti-trafficking laws.

Overall, while the extent and nature of child trafficking in Australia may be difficult to ascertain due to definitional and evidential challenges, it is clear that children in Australia have been and continue to be vulnerable to various forms of exploitation and trafficking.

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