Blackbirding: Difference between revisions

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 earlycommand 1860sof Captain Greuber.<ref name="EVS">{{Citationcite neededweb|date last = E. V. Stevens | first = |title= A brief history of the South Sea Islands Labour Traffic and the vessels engaged in it. (Paper read at the meeting of the Historical Society of Queensland, Inc.)|publisher= The University of Queensland|page=|year = 23 March 1950|url= https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:212739/s18378366_1950_4_3_361.pdf | accessdate=19 March 20212024}}</ref>

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 7367 [[South Sea Islanders]] to the port of [[Brisbane]] inon 17 August 1863.<ref name="EVS"/><ref>{{cite news |url= https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28620819 |title=Brisbane: arrival Don Juan from South Sea Islands |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=22 August 1863 |access-date=12 May 2019 |page=6 |via=Trove |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224003104/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/28620819 |url-status=live }}</ref> Towns specifically wanted adolescent males. Recruitment and kidnapping were reportedly employed in obtaining these boys.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3165212 |title=The slave trade in Queensland |newspaper=[[The Courier (Brisbane)|The Courier]] |date=22 August 1863 |access-date=12 May 2019 |page=4 |via=Trove |archive-date=22 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222032034/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3165212 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | author1=Towns, Robert | title=South Sea Island immigration for cotton culture : a letter to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary of Queensland | date=1863 | url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-497822142 | access-date=17 May 2019 | archive-date=24 December 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224003111/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-497822142/view | url-status=live }}</ref> Over the following two years, Towns imported around 400 more [[Melanesians]] to Townsvale on one to three year terms of labour. They came on ''Uncle Tom'' (Captain Archer Smith) and ''Black Dog'' (Captain Linklater). In 1865, Towns obtained large land leases in [[Far North Queensland]] and funded the establishment of the port of [[Townsville]]. He organised the first importation of South Sea Islander labour to that port in 1866. They came aboard ''Blue Bell'' under Captain Edwards.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1271899 |title=Cleveland bay |newspaper=[[The Brisbane Courier]] |date=28 July 1866 |access-date=12 May 2019 |page=7 |via=Trove |archive-date=22 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222025630/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1271899 |url-status=live }}</ref> Towns paid his [[Kanaka (Pacific Island worker)|Kanaka]] labourers in trinkets instead of cash at the end of their working terms. His agent claimed that blackbirded labourers were "savages who did not know the use of money" and therefore did not deserve cash wages.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1300671 |title=A fair thing for the Polynesians |newspaper=[[The Brisbane Courier]] |date=20 March 1871 |access-date=1 June 2019 |page=7 |via=Trove}}</ref> Apart from a small amount of Melanesian labour imported for the [[sea cucumber|beche-de-mer]] trade around [[Bowen, Queensland|Bowen]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1275424 |title=Bowen |newspaper=[[The Brisbane Courier]] |date=13 October 1866 |access-date=12 May 2019 |page=6 |via=Trove |archive-date=24 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224003110/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1275424 |url-status=live }}</ref> Robert Towns was the primary exploiter of blackbirded labour up until 1867.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}