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=== New South Wales ===
The first major blackbirding operation in the Pacific was conducted out of [[Twofold Bay]] in [[New South Wales]]. A shipload of 65 [[Melanesians|Melanesian]] labourers arrived in [[Boydtown, New South Wales|Boyd Town]] on 16 April 1847 on board ''Velocity'', a vessel under the command of Captain Kirsopp and chartered by [[Benjamin Boyd]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31751641 |title=Exports |newspaper=[[Sydney Chronicle]] |date=21 April 1847 |access-date=1 May 2019 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224003138/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/31751641 |url-status=live }}</ref> Boyd was a Scottish colonist who wanted cheap labourers to work at his large pastoral leaseholds in the colony of [[New South Wales]]. He financed two more procurements of South Sea Islanders, 70 of which arrived in [[Sydney]] in September 1847, and another 57 in October of that same year.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226516651 |title=Sydney bews |newspaper=[[The Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser]] |date=1 October 1847 |access-date=1 May 2019 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224003105/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226516651 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37130286 |title=Shipping intelligence |newspaper=[[The Australian (1824 newspaper)|The Australian]] |date=22 October 1847 |access-date=1 May 2019 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224003106/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/37130286 |url-status=live }}</ref> Many of these Islanders soon absconded from their workplaces and were observed starving and destitute on the streets of Sydney.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48544997 |title=The "Phantom" from Sydney |newspaper=[[South Australian Register]] |date=11 December 1847 |access-date=1 May 2019 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224003105/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/48544997 |url-status=live }}</ref> Reports of violence, kidnap and murder used during the recruitment of these labourers surfaced in 1848 with a closed-door enquiry choosing not to take any action against Boyd or Kirsopp.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59765205 |title=The alleged murder at Rotumah |newspaper=[[Bell's Life in Sydney and Sporting Reviewer]] |date=1 July 1848 |access-date=1 May 2019 |page=2 |via=Trove |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224003108/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/59765205 |url-status=live }}</ref> The experiment of exploiting Melanesian labour was discontinued in Australia until [[Robert Towns]] recommenced the practice in [[Queensland]] when he fitted out the schooner ''Don Juan'' and, in August 1863, despatched her on a recruiting voyage under the
=== Queensland{{anchor|Australia}} ===
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==== Robert Towns and the first shipments ====
[[File:Robert Towns (c. 1794–1873).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Robert Towns]]]]
In 1863, [[Robert Towns]], a British [[sandalwood]] and [[whaling]] merchant residing in [[Sydney]], wanted to profit from the world-wide cotton shortage due to the [[American Civil War]]. He bought a property he named [[Veresdale, Queensland|Townsvale]] on the [[Logan River]] south of [[Brisbane]], and planted {{convert|400|acres|order=flip}} of [[cotton]].<ref name="EVS"/> Towns wanted cheap labour to harvest and prepare the cotton and decided to import Melanesian labour from the [[Loyalty Islands Province|Loyalty Islands]] and the [[Vanuatu|New Hebrides]]. Captain Grueber together with labour recruiter [[Henry Ross Lewin]] aboard ''Don Juan'', brought
==== Expansion and legislation ====
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