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South Sea Islander men and children under a tree in
Cairns c1906
Departure of the first shipment of deported Polynesians from Cairns under
the Commonwealth Act: the muster at the Court House for medical
examinations. (Description supplied with photograph). A large group of
South Sea Islanders queueing for medical examinations prior to deportation
from Cairns, 1906.
An 1886 cartoon depicting a
slave trader using coconuts as a lure to entice buyers for his "niggers".
The caption reads: “South Sea Island Trader: ‘Now gentlemen, give me a
start. What shall we say for this ‘ere cocoanut – and the nigger thrown
in? Five pounds only bid for this cocoanut. Five pounds; five o’ny; five –
did I hear six? No advance; going at five; gone. Next nigger; I mean next
cocoanut.’ ”
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The industry of the Douglas Shire |
Visit
Port Douglas Court House Museum. Wharf Street, Port Douglas.
Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 1pm.
Admission by gold coin donation. This museum is staffed by volunteer
attendants.
Much of the information found on this
site is under copyright
please click
here
for more info.
Read about 'Port's People
here
Oral History on tape
here
Group of South Sea Islander men, women and children,
1908 North Queensland
Group of South Sea Islanders dressed in European fashion - pants, vests,
jackets and ties (men) and ruffled blouses and hats decorated with ribbons
and bows (women).
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland
The Japanese
In the 1880s, the sugar industry was booming and
there weren't enough "Kanakas" (South Sea Islanders) to do the work. Sugar
plantation owners turned to Asians to fill the gap. Chinese workers were
already in the country, and many worked for the sugar cane industry,
especially doing the hard work of clearing the land. The planters also
brought in Javanese (now in Indonesia), Singhalese from Ceylon (modern Sri
Lanka), and especially Japanese, who came in from the late 1880s.
The Japanese had a strong government looking after their
interests, so they were well treated. They had Japanese officials
inspecting the plantations where they were employed. Japanese workers
insisted on being fed Japanese food, getting paid £20 and keep, and having
hot baths. A Consulate was established in Townsville to supervise the
labourers.
Japanese workers were between 18-24 years old and were
hired for 3 to 4 years. They were considered reliable, intelligent,
skilful and sober. Unlike other cultures, Japanese were allowed into the
country after the White Australia policy was put into practice in 1901,
though in smaller numbers. They continued to work in the sugar industry
until the 1930s. They were also used as labourers in the sugar mills as
they were considered more capable than other non-white peoples. This was
in keeping with the ideas about race of the day.
By 1939 there were fewer than 300 Japanese employed in
the sugar industry, and they were interned (imprisoned) during World War
II. Most were deported to Japan after the war. Today, few people remember
their contribution to the sugar industry of Queensland.
(Cairns museum)
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Gold Fever
This vibrant small town was founded in 1877
as the port town for the Hodgkinson River
Goldfields. After a series of names such as as Terrigal,
Island Point, Port Owen and Salisbury it was settled with the name Port
Douglas. Named in honour of former Queensland premier John Douglas.
Gold fever bought the population to 12000.
The industry grew. Thriving on tin, silver, sugarcane and logging for
cedar trees. During this time a total of 27 hotels were established.
After the gold dwindled and the completion
of the Cairns/Mareeba railway in 1893, this once booming town started to
loose its people. The bad luck continued through to 1911, when a severe
cyclone devastated much of the town. The industry became not much more
than a fishing village and a gateway to ship sugar from the Mossman
Central Mill until 1958. By 1960 this once booming town ended up with a
population of about 100 people.
Sugar Cane History
Sugar cane was introduced to Australia by the First Fleet in 1788.
However, early attempts to grow sugar cane around Sydney Cove, Port
Macquarie and Norfolk Island were unsuccessful. It wasn't until the 1860s
that a viable sugar cane plantation and raw sugar mill was established at
Ormiston, near Brisbane, by Captain Louis Hope.
By the 1880s, cane lands were being developed further along Queensland's
tropical coast and along the northern coast of New South Wales. However,
the high cost of wages for Australian workers made it difficult for the
industry to compete successfully with overseas sugar producers such as
Fiji, Java (Indonesia) and South Africa. To overcome this problem, cheap
"contract" labour was brought in from the South Pacific islands. Between
1863 and 1904, more than 60,000 Kanakas (as they were called) were brought
to Queensland to work on sugar plantations, some illegally through a
process known as "blackbirding". This involved Europeans luring islanders
onto ships by pretending they wanted to trade with them. Instead, they
would kidnap the Kanakas and ship them to Australia where they were forced
to work on the sugar cane plantations and live under very poor conditions.
In the late 1880s regulations were introduced to control the recruitment
of Kanakas and by 1908 many of the Kanakas had been returned to their
homelands although some stayed in Australia.
However, the need for labour on the cane fields continued and in the early
1900s a new type of canecutter entered the industry. These were young
European migrants who came to Australia to "make their fortune" on the
cane fields. Italians in particular contributed to the growth of the
Australian sugar industry with large numbers being brought to Australia as
canecutters in the mid-1950s.
During the 1950s, the sugar industry boomed and dramatic changes were
taking place within Queensland. In 1954, bulk handling of raw sugar was
introduced into Australia replacing bagged sugar and mechanical cane
harvesters gradually began to replace manual labour in the fields. By the
late 1960s, more than 85% of Australian sugar crops were mechanically
harvested. In 1979, Australia achieved 100% conversion to mechanical cane
harvesting.
Today, the Australian sugar industry is internationally regarded as one of
the most efficient sugar producers in the world and a leader in mechanical
cane harvesting and bulk handling of raw sugar.
Visit this interesting link:
Queensland Sugar
The Timber Getters
More to
follow soon........... |
