New book tracks Pacific Islanders' exploitation in colonial Queensland
Ryan Butta's book examines the labour trade that brought Pacific Islanders to Queensland under forced conditions. Butta calls it slavery.
Blackbirding: A Reckoning with the Australian Slave Trade shows how Pacific Islanders supplied labour to Queensland's agriculture and pastoral industries. Author Ryan Butta traces the practice to 1847, when business owner Benjamin Boyd tried to bring Pacific Island workers to New South Wales.
Queensland later adopted this trade. Recruiters used tricks and force to get workers.
Queensland laws were meant to control the practice, but they protected traffickers instead. Journalists and officials exposed these abuses.
Butta argues that Queensland's wealth was built partly on what amounts to slavery. He examines resistance from island communities and Australian reformers against the trade.
- Ryan Butta
- Book author
- Benjamin Boyd in 1847
- First recruitment attempt
- New South Wales
- Boyd's destination
- California in 1849
- Boyd's departure
Why it mattersThe book reveals a shameful chapter of Australian colonial history. It shaped Queensland's economy and development.
AustraliaAustralians can now understand a suppressed aspect of Queensland's founding wealth and the ongoing legacy of exploitation in the nation's colonial past.
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