Journeys to Sugaropolis

The Australian South Sea Islander Story of the Gold Coast Region Contents

Introduction 5

The demand orf labour 6

Recruitment 10

Arrival 16

The home islands 18

Sugaropolis 22

Indentured life 30

Time expired 38

Closing the door 42

A shift to the Tweed 48

Families 50

Activism and recognition – Australian South Sea Islanders 58

Endnotes 61

Disclaimer 62

Acknowledgements 63

Front cover Sketch of the Benowa Sugar Plantation homestead and cane fields, Benowa, c. 1886 C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD859-IMG0011 South Sea Islander labour schooner called the Fearless John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 182213 On 14 August 1863 the schooner, Don Juan, arrived in Moreton Bay. Aboard were 67 indentured

labourers from the islands of Melanesia in the western part of the South Pacific. They had been engaged

by Captain Robert Towns, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and businessman,

to work on his 4,000 acre (1618 hectare) cotton plantation, Townsvale, at present-day Veresdale on

the Logan River near Beaudesert. The landing of these workers began an important, controversial and

at times tragic chapter in the history of Queensland. Between 1863 and 1904 an estimated 55,000

to 62,500 South Sea Islanders were recruited to work in Queensland, mostly as rural labourers, and

the Gold Coast was an important early centre of work and settlement for them. 1 They faced harsh

conditions and treatment in an alien land, yet they adapted and were vital to the success of various

industries. Ultimately the government excluded most of these people from Australian society and

forced them to return home. A few managed to stay.

This book looks at the lives and contributions of Australian South Sea Islanders – those early indentured labourers and their descendents – to the Gold Coast and nearby areas.

4 Journeys to Sugaropolis 5 In 1868 The Argus stated: The immigration of South Sea Islanders into Queensland will The demand for labour facilitate the cultivation of tropical produce, which it would be hopeless to attempt to raise by the labour of Europeans; since the latter could not pursue out-of-doors occupations under a torrid sun in the height of summer. 2 When Queensland became a separate colony from The labour shortage was made worse when gold discoveries lured many New South Wales in 1859, its small population faced people off the land and in search of their fortune on the goldfields. Part the daunting task of opening up a vast expanse of the solution was to import indentured workers: workers who were In the village of Sa’a, Malaita, contracted to their employer for a fixed period in exchange for a wage, goods of undeveloped land. With the ending of convict Solomon Group 1906 State Library of Victoria, image H92.350/879 and rations. A large number came from the scattered islands of Melanesia. transportation from Great Britain some years earlier, finding cheap and reliable labour to do this work These people were commonly referred to as South Sea Islanders, Pacific Islanders or Kanakas. Kanaka comes from a Hawaiian word for ‘man’. Today became difficult.E uropean workers were scarce and there are some members of the Australian South Sea Islander community expensive, and it was also widely believed that they who regard that particular term as offensive and demeaning.O thers view it as part of their heritage and identity. were unsuited to fieldwork in hot climates.

South Sea Islanders were also called Polynesians. This was because in the

19th century all of the islands of the South Pacific were known as Polynesia,

whereas today it is divided into four regions, of which Melanesia is one.

South Sea Islanders cutting sugarcane in Queensland John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 16964 Journeys to Sugaropolis 7 The Nind family of South Sea Islander Yawalpah Plantation workers and their in their garden with supervisior, Gold South Sea Islander Coast Region, 1872 servant, 1872 John Oxley Library (State John Oxley Library (State Library Library of Queensland), of Queensland), negative 53939 negative 20182

One of the earliest commercial crops in Southeast Queensland The cotton experiment was cut short because of poor seasons Captain Louis Hope at Ormiston Plantation, near Cleveland, While the bulk of South Sea Islanders were engaged in cotton,

was cotton, and it relied heavily on Melanesian labour. This and the end of the American Civil War. By the late 1860s many was the first person to grow sugarcane commercially, and then sugar, growing in coastal districts, they were also

crop attracted local investors during the American Civil War investors went bankrupt but others were determined to keep and between the 1860s and 1880s, planters and investors employed in other occupations. Some were employed as sailors

(1861-65) when the American cotton supply to British textile their plantations going. They turned to sugarcane. Like cotton, established sugar plantations on the floodplains and valleys on many of Queensland’s ships, including the labour vessels

factories was disrupted. Robert Towns’ estate, Townsvale, was sugarcane was labour intensive to produce, but it generally of the Brisbane, Nerang, Coomera, Pimpama, Logan and visiting Melanesia. They also oundf work as domestic servants;

one of the earliest commercial cotton plantations, but other grew well in the sub-tropical climate of the region and at the Albert Rivers, at Cleveland and Caboolture, in northern New in the houses of the wealthy in Brisbane and the towns of the

growers soon followed. Cotton production was labour intensive, time, with high world sugar prices, was very lucrative. As South Wales, and as far west as Rosewood near Ipswich. The sugar districts, islander men could be seen as house servants

and in order to meet their needs some enterprises imported it had similar cultivation requirements to cotton, sugarcane southern Moreton Bay islands of Lamb, Macleay, Karragarra and coachmen, while women were valued as maids and

factory workers and their families from the depressed British was ideal for sustaining the plantation system - and the and Russell also had sugar plantations. South Sea Islanders nannies. Out west, South Sea Islanders worked as shepherds

cotton manufactories. This proved to be a dramatic failure as employment of South Sea Islanders – with minimal changes were indentured on most of these estates. and stockmen on pastoral stations.

these urban workers were totally unsuited to plantation life. to existing infrastructure.

Robert Towns was the first to import South SeaI slanders, and

this turned out to be much more successful. Large plantations

using Melanesian labour spread across the region.

8 Journeys to Sugaropolis 9 Re ob rt Towns’ first recruits came from Vanuatu and the Loyalty

Islands in New Caledonia. He had experience of employing islanders, having

engaged some as sailors on his trading vessels and considered them to be Recruitment excellent workers. In 1863 he arranged for the sandalwood trader, Henry Ross Lewin, to recruit islanders for his cotton venture in Queensland. Lewin

had been in the Royal Navy and was a suspected slaver to Peru. Although

reputedly instructed by Towns not to use force, it would seem that coercion

was one of the methods Lewin used to obtain workers. Lewin eventually The majority of the South Sea Islanders employed came to a violent end, being shot dead on Tanna Island in 1874. in Queensland came from New Caledonia, the New The other major employers of South Sea Islanders at this time were Hebrides (now called Vanuatu), the Solomon Islands South Sea Islander labour George Raff,L ouis Hope, Claudius Whish and Gordon Sandeman. These schooner called the Fearless and Papua New Guinea, with smaller numbers from John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 182213 men founded the plantation system in Queensland and were key political Tuvalu and Kirribati. Of these, most were young men supporters of the South Sea Islander labour trade. between 16 and 35 years of age. Six per cent were As supplies of suitable labourers dwindled on the islands visited in the women while 19 per cent were under-aged youths as 1860s, the labour vessels moved on to unexploited areas. The annexation of Pacific territory by the imperial governments ofG reat Britain, France and young as nine. Germany affected where recruiters could work. Some islands were avoided

because the inhabitants had a reputation for being extremely warlike or not

well suited for plantation work. The Queensland Government also banned

recruitment on islands where there was a threat of depopulation occurring.

However the trade in South Sea Islanders became a thriving business and at

its peak there were up to 40 ships visiting the islands with more than 800

voyages made.

South sea islander labour schooner, called meg merrilLes c. 1880’s C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0068 Journeys to Sugaropolis 11 During its first decade, this trade was poorly regulated and the abuses overcrowding). Only healthy men and women over 16 years of age were

begun by Henry Lewin became widespread. Some people were recruited by allowed to be recruited. Employers had to arrange for the return of their

unscrupulous means, a practice that has become known as ‘blackbirding’. workers to their home islands after their indenture ended or, if they did not

They were abducted by force or lured aboard vessels by promises of trade wish to leave immediately, pay money into a fund to help cover the cost of

goods or a fun trip to another land. Some people signed up without fully their eventual return. From the 1870s government agents were appointed to

understanding what their indenture entailed. be present on labour vessels.

Once on board the recruits often found themselves locked below decks. The Over time, illegal labour recruiting stopped, although it was still noted in

voyage to Queensland was hazardous and recruits could be kept in crowded some parts of New Guinea and adjacent islands as late as 1885. Partly the

holds for weeks or months while the ships visited different islands to fill practice faded away due to government pressure, but another factor was

their quotas. In the early years they were given poor food, no sanitation the growing willingness of the islanders themselves to sign on to work.

and subject to harsh discipline. Under such conditions, deaths, fights, and When the first recruits returned home with desirable trade goods, young

attempted escapes occurred. Pyol nesian Labourers Act of 1868 people were encouraged to seek adventure in Queensland. Some people left

to escape difficulties they faced in their communities, such as punishment

Among the strongest critics of the labour trade were the missionaries for breaking a law or, in the case of some women, poor treatment by their

working in Melanesia, some of whom arranged protection for the husbands or kin. Most left with the consent of their elders and saw their

communities. Growing outcries over the illegal labour trade forced the period of indenture as a chance to improve their social standing in their

Queensland Government to pass the Polynesian Labourers Act in 1868. home community.

This and later legislation aimed to improve control of the labour trade

and provide some protection to South Sea Islander labourers. It became

mandatory for labour ship captains to be licensed and pay a bond as an

assurance that they would not engage in illegal recruiting. The labour ships

had to provide adequate care and conditions for South Sea Islanders, and South Sea Islander labourers were only permitted to carry a specified number of passengers (to avoid on a recruiting vessel John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 103470.

12 Journeys to Sugaropolis 13 The South Sea Islands and recruitment vessel routes South Sea Islander and European sugar workers, Gold Coast Region, 1872 John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 20242

14 Journeys to Sugaropolis 15 How the islanders got to Townsvale plantation is not clear. One view

is that they were shipped to Redbank where Robert Towns had a coal

mine, boiling down works and wharf.5 There they stayed a couple of days, Arrival arousing the curiosity of the locals. Items were exchanged, such as bows and arrows for boots and hats, and eating habits and other aspects of life were

compared. Afterwards the islanders were taken by wagon or on foot to the

estate. Another view is that the workers were sent up the Logan River to

Logan Village, where Robert Towns also had a wharf, and from there moved When Robert Towns’ first shipment of 67 islanders to Townsvale.6 arrived in Moreton Bay on the Don Juan on 14

Advertisements for labour ships After the labour trade became well established, recruits destined for South August 1863, passengers and crew had to remain The Brisbane Courier 13 June 1871 East Queensland usually disembarked first at Brisbane.O btaining reliable aboard a few days until being cleared by the labour was one of the chief concerns of the plantation owners, and in the government Health Officer.3 The appearance of the early years when a labour vessel was about to arrive in port, an advice notice was published in the local newspaper. Plantation managers or the owners generated a considerable public outcry and Don Juan themselves would go to Brisbane to select their employees. Other planters, concerns were raised about the start of an evil slave as well as big companies such as the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) and Burns Philp Ltd financed their wno labour ships. After 1877, trade in Queensland. Medical inspection generally employers had to apply formally through government channels to bring in determined that the recruits were in good health, labourers and were not permitted to introduce any unless they had made although one had died of exhaustion from sea sickness arrangements before the vessels left the islands. On landing, the islanders travelled by road or boat to plantations that had engaged them. a few days earlier and was buried on Mud Island.4

Portrait of Captain Robert Towns. John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 19455

Journeys to Sugaropolis 17 The home islands

Melanesia is one of the four main culture areas of Oceania, the others being Australia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Melanesia is a distinct cultural region which includes New Guinea, the Bismarck Canoes at Pileni, Reef Group 1906 Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz, State Library of Victoria, image H92.350/883

Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia. Human colonisation of New Guinea began at least 40,000 years ago, while the more distant islands were reached around 10,000 years ago. When

Europeans arrived in Melanesia, they discovered a bewildering diversity of

languages and cultures. Traditional life was supported by hunting, fishing,

pig rearing and the cultivation of garden plots. Warfare was endemic, and

despite the scattered nature of the islands, there was extensive movement of

people between islands, encouraged by wars, feuds and kinship ties.

In the village of Sa’a, Malaita, Solomon Group 1906 State Library of Victoria, image H92.350/879. Journeys to Sugaropolis 19 W omen on the Torres Islands, Vanuatu, carrying yams State Library of Victoria, image H92.350/873

Prior to the arrival of the recruiting vessels, the islands friends and relatives were being taken away to be killed. MEN OF BULALAH, MALAITA, SOLOMON ISLANDS of Melanesia had been visited by whalers, naval vessels, Suspicions and vendettas towards the recruiters, especially State Library of Victoria, Image H92.350/884 sandalwood getters and missionaries. Melanesians also proved among those groups who had lost loved ones in Queensland,

themselves to be capable sailors and were often used as crew led to violence. On occasions labour ships were attacked by

for trading ships working in the region. As well, Melanesia canoes or shot at.

was a place of great interest for European anthropologists also accelerated cultural and political change. When people The introduction of new ways coupled with new materials and

and explorers. The effects of this contact included the spread By the 1880s labour ships and plantation work had become an returned home after their time away, they brought stories weapons saw the loss of some island traditions and culture.

of Christianity and the introduction of syphilis and other accepted part of everyday island life. Islanders not only went of far away lands and different ways of life. They had goods The impact of the ongoing introduction of foreign diseases

foreign diseases. to Queensland to work but also to plantations in Fiji and other such as tobacco, metal tools and guns. Firearms in particular was also detrimental to island life. In one instance, in 1893,

Pacific islands. The labour trade affected island communities had a major influence, changing both warfare and hunting it was reported that one fourth of the population of the

When the indentured labour trade began, outside contact in many ways. With the temporary loss of many young practices. Some Islanders positioned themselves as middlemen island of Fortuna (Futuna) died after a labour vessel landed a

intensified. The inhabitants of islands that had little previous men, there was greater pressure on women and children for the recruiters, supplying the ships with labourers, and they sick returnee.7

experience of the European recruiters were fearful that their to grow food and sustain the community. The labour trade became very wealthy and powerful within their communities.

20 Journeys to Sugaropolis 21 I n the 1860s government regulations permitted sugar blocks of between

320 and 1280 acres (129 and 518 hectares) to be located within 10 kilometres

of the sea or a navigable river. They attracted retired military officers, well- Sugaropolis educated sons of British gentry, planters with experience in the West Indies or Southern United States, and businessmen who had acquired wealth

during the Australian gold rushes.

It was quickly confirmed that sugar was a viable crop for Queensland South Sea Islander and European sugar conditions and in the southeast numerous sugar plantations and farms H elensvale, Benowa, Bundall - these are names of workers, Gold Coast Region, 1872. John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 838 Gold Coast suburbs today, but did you know that appeared, causing the district to be dubbed ‘Sugaropolis’. Early technological improvements in milling and growing were tested here and the results originally they were sugar plantations? Few people subsequently encouraged the expansion of the industry in both northern are aware that the Australian sugar industry actually Queensland and New South Wales. began in South East Queensland. And it could not have Although there were many smaller farms also growing sugarcane, the large happened without South Sea Islanders. plantations accounted for the bulk of sugar production. They were mainly located along the region’s five navigable rivers: theL ogan, Albert, Pimpama,

Coomera and Nerang. The rivers acted as highways allowing vessels to take

sugar to Brisbane and bring in supplies.

Boyd’ s horse powered sugar crushing mill with worker, Ormeau The plantation was located on the northern side of the Pimpama River and to the east of the Pacific Motorway at Ormeau. John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 94204

Sketch of the Benowa Sugar Plantation homestead and cane fields, Benowa, c. 1886 C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD859-IMG0011. Journeys to Sugaropolis 23 These estates were run as self-contained villages, which could include a Plantation employed 69 South Sea Islanders and 30 Europeans. Much bigger

manager’s residence, stables, blacksmith, workers’ barracks, carpenter’s Melanesian workforces of up to 500 people were used on the plantations

house, stores and buildings which housed the mill, and perhaps a distillery. of north Queensland, where far larger areas of sugarcane were able to be

The mill-house and bagging store were generally located near a wharf.M uch cultivated. South Sea Islander women usually found employment as house

of the land was enclosed with post and rail fence and then subdivided into servants – for instance at Koorooroo Plantation on the Albert River a South

cultivation and grazing paddocks with a killing yard for the plantation’s Sea Islander woman worked as a children’s nurse and domestic. However

meat supply. A sawmill often adjoined the sugar mill, cutting wood for the many also laboured beside the men in the fields. By the early 1880s it was

Brisbane market. Large plantations generally maintained a river steamer, reported that all the sugar manufacturing in the Gold Coast region was

cutter or a small fleet of punts for transport. being done by islanders under the supervision of European managers.

When the Queensland Census was taken in 1881, there were 454 South

South Sea Islanders did much of the heavy manual labour involved in Sea Islanders in the Gold Coast and Logan regions, representing 11 per cent

clearing the land, fencing, building drains and roads, and harvesting the of the total population.10 This figure included 25 women, 15 working as

sugarcane. They also helped with the milling operations, and at W.K. domestic servants and 10 engaged as agricultural labourers.

Witty’s plantations of Yatala and Yellowwood were noted as skilful drivers

of the punts that brought the cane to the mill.8 A small number worked as

sugar boilers. AUSTRALIAN SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS IN TRADITIONAL DRESS AT BENOWA, 1890 Captain Louis Hope C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library The plantations of the Gold Coast usually employed gangs of up to 60- Hope established a large sugar plantation at image LS-LSP-CD791-IMG0002 Boykambil Island, later Hope Island, where he grew 70 people in their fields.9 For instance, Arthur Robinson’s 1280 acre cane that was shipped to his mill at Ormiston John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 66902 (518 hectare) Helensvale Plantation on the Coomera River employed 58

South Sea Islanders and 16 Europeans in 1885. In the same year David

Fullerton’s 1196 acre (484 hectare) Bundall Plantation at the mouth of the

Nerang River employed 60 South Sea Islanders and 15 Europeans. Further

upstream from Bundall, Robert Muir’s 1100 acre (445 hectare) Benowa

Benowa Plantation near Nerang which was owned by Robert Muir, c. 1882 C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD906-IMG0007

24 Journeys to Sugaropolis 25 Smaller gangs of South Sea Islanders were also widely employed on the Ageston Plantation and Mill

sugar farms of the region. Near Muir’s estate was the farm of Edward

Cooper at Carrara.11 Called Birribon, this was a holding of around 120 acres Ageston Plantation was established on the Logan River by John (48 hectares). It didn’t have its own mill and sent cane to Muir’s mill for Stevens in 1866.12 It started as 320 acres (129 hectares) of forest and swamp crushing. It was run as a family enterprise, with Edward being assisted by which had to be cleared. Fifty acres of cotton was first grown, but Stevens his wife Lena and brothers Rolland and Herbert. Apart from sugarcane, the soon turned to sugarcane. A comfortable house set within gardens and estate also grew corn, potatoes, bananas and other crops. While one or two South Sea Islander and European sugar orchards was built upon a hill that was the highest point on the estate. European workers were employed, the rest of the workforce consisted of mill workers at Yahwalpah Plantation, Pimpama, 1871 In 1868 the plantation depended wholly on the labour of eight South Sea South Sea Islanders who lived in a hut which the brothers thatched with C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD054-IMG0032 Islanders who managed two bullock teams and four horses. The plantation cane tops. Edward Cooper’s surviving diaries from the early 1880s provide a also raised pigs, rabbits and poultry, and the South Sea Islanders introduced rare glimpse into life on a sugar farm, and show a more casual relationship taro, yams and coconuts. between the islander workers and their European employers than what was

the norm on larger estates. Although the South Sea Islanders employed at Stevens died in 1871 and the estate was sold to William Couldery, a mining Birribon undertook heavy manual labour such as scrub clearing, weeding magnate who had made a fortune on the Gympie Goldfields.L ike many and cutting cane, the three Cooper brothers also worked alongside them plantation owners, Couldery did not live on the estate, but had a manager, in the fields, doing the same arduous duties as well as the ploughing and Birribon homestead, Carrara, c. 1910 firstW illiam Mune, and later W. Hickson. By the early 1880s the plantation forming of drains. This is where theC arrara Sports Stadium is now located. City of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD500-IMG0002 boasted a modern sugar mill with the latest vacuum pan technology, a sawmill, brickworks, cooperage, bond store and the only legal distillery in

the district. Cane was transported from the fields to the mill by a wooden

tramway. An extensive system of drains and embankments were built to Edward’s entry for Friday 9 March 1883, for instance, says: O n Monday 4 June, it was reported that: turn low-lying swamp into canefields. Up to 40 South Sea Islanders were Location of Ageston I ploughing in Carrara and Bertie dropping potatoes. We falling scrub all day. Islanders brushing scrub, employed at this time. A dapted from Queensland State Archives, Islanders cutting down weeds for potatoes. Rolie cutting fine weather. Frost in morning. Bertie went to post. Item ID533089 potatoes and brushing in afternoon. I went to township in morning to get plough share done. Bertie went to post in evening. Fine weather rather warm.

26 Journeys to Sugaropolis 27 In the late 1880s Couldery and his family had moved onto Ageston. By this By the late 1880s the plantation system was in decline on them in the fields, and so they began hiring South Sea Islander

time the profitability of sugar was declining.F or this reason Couldery was the Gold Coast. Sugarcane rusts, droughts, frosts and a farmhands to fill the labour gap.13

a strong advocate for the use of South Sea Islander labour, but by the 1890s devastating flood in 1887 took their toll on many growers.

had stopped sugar growing in favour of cattle and horse breeding. The family Poor management, the extravagant lifestyles of some owners, By 1890 mills at Birribi, Benowa and Bundall had ceased

moved to another of their properties, Cedar Grove, near Veresdale. William and reliance on primitive milling technology were also to operation.14 A government funded central mill (the Nerang

Couldery died in 1919 and the plantation was subdivided from 1925. blame. Furthermore, there was a growing shortage of South Central Mill) near the site of the old Benowa Mill struggled

Sea Islanders due to the demand for them in the northern along through a series of bad years and a lack of confidence

Recent archaeological investigations at the former plantation have revealed sugar districts, and later, government restrictions on their in sugar growing, until its closure in 1918. Further north,

an extensive and impressive landscape of old fields, drains and tramway entry and employment in Queensland. Helensvale Plantation was subdivided into small dairy farms

cuttings, as well as the remains of the mill and residence. Although owned and around Pimpama and Coomera, farmers turned to

and controlled by Europeans, this is a shared historic landscape, as it also As the local sugar industry dwindled, what was left was arrowroot growing. The sugar industry was not to be revived

represents the toil and lives of South Sea Islanders. Here they had huts and increasingly controlled by German settlers who had been until the 1960s through the introduction of new drainage

gardens, went to work each day in the fields, and, perhaps, rested at midday arriving in the region since the 1860s. They took up farms, schemes and mechanisation.

under trees, looking out at the sweep of the river entering the bay and particularly around Alberton and Pimpama Island, and unlike

thinking of home and family. At the mill they moved cane from the wharf their British counterparts, they tended to avoid employing With the decline of the plantations, the need for South Sea

to the crushers, and helped clean and tend the machinery. Up at the big South Sea Islanders. Partly this stance was due to their Islander labour also ended. When the Queensland Census was

house they were set to work by the mistress tending her beautiful garden strong Protestant ideals, which promoted hard work and self conducted in 1886, the number of South Sea Islanders in the

of flowers and fruit. sufficiency. However it was also practical, as few could afford region had decreased to 344, which was down 24 per cent

to hire labour. Instead, the Germans worked their farms as from 1881.15 The 1891 census recorded a population of 94,

cooperatives, drawing on the free labour of their families. and in 1901 the number had fallen to 37.16 This dwindling

Despite their views, a few Germans actually did employ South community continued to work mainly in agriculture, but

Sea Islanders, and these included larger growers, such as Karl not just as labourers. Some people set up their own farms

Rehfeldt, who engaged small numbers of South Sea Islanders at and market gardens, or went into sawmilling, carting and

his mill at Alberton. It was also observed that as the German shellfish collecting.

Images from top to bottom courtesy City of Gold Coast farmers became more prosperous, they wanted to send their Hand dug drain and former cane field children to school to get a better education rather than keep Mill site showing machinery foundations, 2012 Excavating a possible blacksmith’s forge Remains of a kiln at the mill site Cornish boiler at the mill site

28 Journeys to Sugaropolis 29 The first few years of the labour trade were particularly repressive.

While workers in Queensland were offered some protection under the

Master and Servants Act 1861, only a small number of South Sea Islanders were Indentured life engaged on formal labour contracts under this legislation. In any case the Act favoured the rights of employers over those of employees, delivering

heavy punishments to any difficult servants.M any islanders had little legal

protection and employers were largely free to exploit them at will. Some

did not have any formal contract at all, or when they did, conditions varied Was the South Sea Islander labour trade a form of greatly. Often people found themselves pressed into harder duties or longer South Sea Islander labourers slavery? This question is still debated. Slavery had been clearing land c. 1895 periods of indenture than were originally agreed to. Although this image was taken at Farnborough, near officially abolished in all British colonies by 1843, and Yeppoon, it is typical of working conditions elsewhere John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 60914 When the Queensland Government passed the Polynesian Labourers Act unlike slavery, the Queensland indenture contract in 1868, the term of indenture was standardised to three years. The law was for a finite period and did not give the employer stipulated a small wage of £6 per year as well as the provision of food, accommodation and clothing. Ration day became a highlight of plantation absolute control of the worker. life. This was when the South SeaI slanders received their food, tobacco and Some members of today’s Australian South Sea clothing allowance from the storehouse. Islander community feel that government protection Other protective measures introduced included the appointment of health was never properly implemented and so the indenture officers to assess the condition of new arrivals. Some people were rejected situation was a form of slavery in all but name. What for work on the grounds they were ill or underage. Employers had to put their employees’ wages into a Government Savings Bank account, and is certain is that indentured South Sea Islanders had each islander was issued with a passbook. Within the sugar districts, an to endure harsh conditions and treatment. They were G roup of South Sea Islander Inspector of Polynesians was stationed whose job was to ensure fair dealings labourers outside their bark and treatment. generally contracted to undertake the heaviest manual hut dwellings, Queensland John Oxley Library (State Library of South Sea Islander Government Queensland), negative 64761 work, and usually did the minimum of a 10 hour day. Savings Bank passbook Queensland State Archives, item ID1353800 Insanity file for Antiview

Journeys to Sugaropolis 31 Stresses of life that had to be performed, and malnutrition and conditions such

as scurvy were common. TheE uropean-style diet also made

While some employers treated their labourers fairly, people sick, as it was unvaried, heavy on cheap carbohydrates

others continued to be unscrupulous and ignore government and did not include the wide variety of plants islanders were

regulations. Work on the plantations was highly regimented used to. Wherever they could, then, islanders supplemented

and controlled by European managers and overseers who often their diet by establishing gardens near their quarters where

overworked their employees and were slow to provide clean they grew yams, taro, bananas, mangoes and other familiar

drinking water and proper sanitation. Living quarters could foods. On their days off they went hunting and fishing.

be overcrowded and filthy, a fire hazard and infested with The hard life of South SeaI slander labourers led to an

fleas.A mong the worst of fates, however, was to be sent out alarmingly high death rate. Between 1868 and 1904, on average

west. This happened to a group of twenty South Sea Islanders 5.1 per cent of the population died prematurely, with a peak of Three men, including a South Sea recruited to work on Collin Munro’s Fisherfield lantationP on Islander, outside their hut or 14 per cent occurring in 1884. In comparison the mortality rate workshop, Gold Coast region, 1872 17 the Albert River. Instead of being taken to the plantation for Anglo-Australians in tropical Queensland at the same time John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 64761 they were sent to an outback sheep station. This was isolated was 1.5-1.7 per cent. work, with terrible living conditions. It was considered the

worst kind of employment by the islanders, who frequently A major contributor to mortality among South Sea Islanders

deserted or went insane if made to work for pastoralists. was disease. They lacked immunity to many of the illnesses

Employers were expected to provide adequate housing for their workers. In common in European society, and were particularly susceptible On the plantations, meals for South Sea Islanders were often some instances employers put South Sea Islanders in purpose-built barracks, to lung infections and dysentery, which were often picked prepared in bulk by contractors who at times provided cheap but in other cases the islanders built their own huts out of locally available up during their voyage to Queensland. These conditions or rotting food. Arthur Dixon of Yatala Plantation, for example, materials following traditional designs. It was often reported that they were exacerbated by many plantations being in low-lying, was known to have fed his workers rancid meat.18 Even when preferred these small dwellings, where they could live with their own kin, swampy areas and plagued by mosquitoes and other disease fresh rations were available, the diet did not ensure adequate to barracks where people from other tribes also lived. Wherever possible carrying insects. nutrition or kilojoules to cope with the heavy manual labour people from the same island worked and lived together for mutual support. South Sea Islander cane workers with Robert Muir (right) and supervisor, Benowa Plantation, c. 1876 H olland, J., L. Cooper, J. Elliott and S. Derrick, 1993, Letters to Bundall 1872-1879 and Lena Cooper’s Manuscript

32 Journeys to Sugaropolis 33 South Sea Islanders also suffered from physical punishments seen as mentally ill, and a number of the South Sea Islanders Social life Conflict and Resistance

such as floggings by supervisors, deprivation and imprisonment, who spent time in Goodna were probably there because they

injury from fighting amongst themselves, and denial of medical were homeless and had no means of support. Most South Sea Despite the gruelling conditions of the labourers’ daily toil, South Sea Islanders did not readily accept poor conditions

treatment. With local manufacture of alcohol widespread in the Islanders admitted to the Goodna Asylum spent a relatively there were opportunities for recreation. Saturday afternoons or ill treatment. Those who had worked in Queensland for

sugar districts, heavy drinking became a part of life for some, short time there and were sent back to the islands after they and Sundays were free days. Christian South Sea Islanders a while became more independent and confident in dealing

despite it being illegal to sell alcohol to South Sea Islanders. were discharged. would hold their own services. Parties also occurred among with employers. An early form of unionism developed on the

Various local publicans in Beenleigh and other centres were workers who came from the same island, who would usually canefields that predated such action among European sugar

convicted for selling liquor to them. By 1885, working conditions within the Gold Coast region gather on an estate for singing and dancing. After 1877 workers and was very effective in bargaining for higher wages.

had improved. It was reported that there was relatively little islanders were paid their wages twice a year, and on those

When South Sea Islanders fell sick, they were often not sickness within the islander population when compared to occasions they would hold great feasts. Large quantities of At Coomera in 1885, for instance, it was reported that: allowed to be treated in most hospitals and medical care fell to northern Queensland. This was attributed to the milder climate alcohol were bought through the ‘sly grog’ trade that existed E mployers here are not so enthusiastic as formerly in in the towns and pubs near the plantations. the people themselves or plantation owners. In some districts, as well as a high proportion of workers who had completed praise of kanaka labour. The boys are apt to become but not on the Gold Coast, a special hospital was established their first indenture and, now experienced, re-engaged under rowdy and defiant under the influence of the older hands to treat sick South Sea Islanders. When people died, disposal better terms. It was also said that islanders preferred to work amongst them, and they wander a great deal by night.20 of the dead occurred in graves on the estates or in separate in the southeast because the plantations were smaller and

sections in local cemeteries. Many of these are now unmarked friendlier compared with the huge, impersonal estates of Desertion was common. In 1883 nine newly arrived islanders and almost impossible to find. By law the wages of the deceased the north. being sent to work on a plantation in Upper Coomera were had to be paid into a PacificI slander fund or sent back to frightened by a discharging gun and fled into the scrub.21 their relatives. Armed with cane knives, they made their way down the

Coomera River and were at large for three weeks, living off the The strain of indentured life took an emotional as well as land and evading capture by hiding in the mangroves. As local physical toll. Some people were incarcerated for insanity, and and Brisbane police searched, there were sightings of them on the Goodna Asylum near Ipswich received South Sea Islanders Pimpama Island and Stradbroke Island. On Stradbroke hunger from all over Queensland.19 In the 19th century people were drove them to steal some roasted fowls from a camp at Kooran admitted to insane asylums with a wide range of social and and also kill and eat two horses. The gang was eventually physical conditions including epilepsy, alcoholism, syphilis recaptured and incarcerated in the Nerang gaol. and destitution. Today many of these people would not be Rations for indentured South Sea Islanders Polynesian Labourers Act 1868 (QLD)

34 Journeys to Sugaropolis 35 Return of offences and convictions of South Sea Islanders in Queensland Johnny Lefu, from Apu Island, was from 1885-1895 convicted in Brisbane in 1880 Queensland State Archives, Item ID89505 Queensland State Archives, item ID341532

At times there was open violence against employers. The Social harmony on the plantations depended greatly on the Warfare and rivalry between different South Sea Islander leaders were arrested and put in prison. In 1883 there was a

carrying of guns, as well as traditional weapons such as spears nature of the overseers. If they were fair, relations were groups came with them to the plantations. It was common smaller fight over a man’s wife.

and clubs, was so common that from 1877 the Queensland generally good, but unfortunately the kind of men attracted practice on the sugar estates for the managers to employ gangs

Government prohibited South Sea Islanders from having to the overseer positions tended to be uncompromising from different tribes or islands and use feuds as a means of Alcohol fuelled violence could also erupt between islanders,

firearms. The prohibition was never well enforced and and callous. On the whole the indenture system worked to controlling or subduing their workers. Often fighting erupted police and other people, particularly on Saturday nights

islanders continued to be heavily armed. control islanders through coercion and alienation rather than over women or property, but other times fighting was due to when it was usual for large numbers of islanders from the

outright brutality, although across Queensland there were traditional rivalries. Issues could be resolved on Sundays when plantations to converge on the towns and illegally consume

A number of clashes involving South Sea Islanders occurred some terrible episodes of extreme punishment that resulted ritualised battles were staged. alcohol. In South East Queensland, islanders who were

on the Gold Coast. In 1877 at Rocky Point Plantation, a in deaths. Rarely was the full force of the law brought to bear convicted of serious crimes were sent to gaol in Brisbane or

disagreement over wages caused an islander nicknamed on cruel masters, and even if the matter made it to court, it Ageston Plantation was the site of some South Sea Islander St Helena Island.24

‘Monkey’, who came from Api Island, to shoot and wound the was usually very difficult for South Sea Islanders to represent fights. In 1878 there was a clash amongst a group of

owner, Captain Smales, and his son, and injure one of their themselves or have their evidence taken seriously. Erromango Islanders from Vanuatu armed with bows, arrows

22 neighbours with an axe. After that incident, local employers and waddies.23 There were severe injuries and the three ring met to petition the government to disarm all islanders.

36 Journeys to Sugaropolis 37 Government legislation stipulated that employers had to return

first-contract Islanders safely to their home islands when their employment

ended. According to official reports, most people were sent back to their own Time expired communities, but some irregularities did occur.25 It appears that some people were simply dumped on the nearest convenient island. More often, though, the

continuous movement of people among the islands of Melanesia meant that in

many instances returnees asked to be dropped off at another island to seek out

friends and family who had moved while they had been away. When their three year indenture was complete, many South Sea Islanders chose to return home and There were those South Sea Islanders who did not return home immediately resume their old life. Before leaving Queensland, they but decided to sign up on another contract or find employment outside the estates. These were known as ‘time expired’. Choosing to stay was risky as withdrew their money from the Government Savings it annulled the original employer’s obligation to provide safe passage home, Bank and used it to stock a ‘trade’ box full of items and it was not always easy to find another ship later. In some instances, people became stranded for lengthy periods. such as knives, axes, cloth, tobacco and fishhooks.

These were gifts to be distributed to relatives and other Johnny Murray, from Murray Island, Time expired South Sea Islanders shifted between different towns and arrived in Queensland in 1870. In districts seeking work. In doing so, they could move considerable distances. people to whom there were obligations. 1890 he was convicted in Brisbane of keeping a ‘bawdy house for gain’ In 1895 one man in Beenleigh was found to have previously worked at Mount Queensland State Archives, item ID341532 Cotton, the Tweed River, Rockhampton and Mackay.26 Many islanders had

skills in fishing, gardening and boat building, and a small number were able

to become refinery workers or set up independently in occupations such as

land clearing, boarding-house keeping or tenant farming. They employed

their kin or fellow islanders, and pooled resources to purchase equipment

and stock. By the 1890s, a growing shortage of South Sea Islander labour

meant that time expired workers could be choosy about where they worked

and demand better wages and conditions. Brisbane, as the largest port and

Sugar mill and farm, nerang area, c. 1871 John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland), negative 20306 Journeys to Sugaropolis 39 labour market, was where islanders often congregated as they Connections

sought further employment. Indentured work in Queensland brought South Sea

Time expired South Sea Islanders also congregated in Beenleigh, Islanders into contact with people from many different

where they shared houses with their friends.27 This situation was backgrounds, as sugar plantations also employed European,

of concern to some locals who believed that, because the South Aboriginal and Asian workers. In the Gold Coast region

Sea Islanders were not on contracts, they were not subject to a cosmopolitan society developed that was made up of

proper surveillance. Their living conditions were thought to be mostly of British and German colonists, Melanesians and

unsanitary, and they were said to be buying alcohol and getting the Indigenous inhabitants. Sometimes there were disputes,

drunk in the streets. To make matters worse, in 1895, a Solomon but generally islanders learned to mix with different ethnic

Islander called Maselite was discovered to have Hansen’s Disease groups. As the bulk of the islander population comprised

(leprosy).28 Much fear was associated with this disease at the young men, sexual encounters with local women were also G roup of young men in European dress with clergyman, Solomon Islands c.1900 time, and afflicted South SeaI slanders were sent to the lazaret to be expected. While instances of rape and prostitution State Library of Victoria, image H92.350/877

on Peel Island in Moreton Bay, where they were restricted to a were known, marriages also occurred. The intermixing that

special compound reserved for non-Europeans. occurred in Queensland’s sugar districts tended to break down many cultural barriers, leading to marriages between Belief Some South Sea Islanders settled in the Gold Coast and Logan South Sea Islanders from different tribes or islands as well as Christian missionaries became very active in Melanesia, and

regions and started their own families. Of these, a number between them and other racial groups. Particularly close ties so some of the South Sea Islanders who came to Queensland Traditional religious and magical practices were continued managed to buy or lease land. Brothers Peter and Alexander developed between the South Sea Islander and Aboriginal were Christian. Most were not, and by the 1880s concerted among South Sea Islanders in Queensland, although these Roache came from Santos, Peter arriving around 1886 and communities, and there was much intermarriage and attempts to convert the islander workforces of the plantations were usually kept hidden from European eyes. In many Alexander in 1889.29 They married locally born German women socialising between the two. were occurring. Many South Sea Islanders became closely tied districts sacred or Tarunga huts were built where male elders and settled in the Beenleigh area in the early 1900s.30 Alexander, to the church as it provided a substitute for the social and met to form decisions for their local community and male who was a wood cutter, lived with his wife, Fredericke, and six kinship networks they had left behind. ceremonies could be observed. Belief in totems and garden children in Beenleigh township. Peter and his wife, Augusta, magic was maintained, and sorcerers practiced both good and leased a small farm on Pimpama Island where they grew hostile magic. sugarcane and corn, until later joining the other branch of the

Roache family in Beenleigh.

40 Journeys to Sugaropolis 41 Importation of all ‘coloured’ labour was opposed by from employment in the colony’s pastoral and maritime

Australian unions on the grounds that it competed with industries and restricted to working in tropical and semi-

European workers, and by conservative political factions who tropical agriculture along the coast. They were also barred from Closing the door believed it was creating an exploited underclass. The White domestic service and skilled positions in mills and refineries. Australia movement was growing and there was a widespread Only those who possessed an exemption ticket, which were

belief that Australia had to remain British, or at very least, issued to just 700 long-term residents, were able to work in

European. Plantation owners, on the other hand, demanded skilled jobs. Even then restrictions applied, as they were not

continued access to cheap labour. allowed to become naturalised British subjects, a precondition Over time the South Sea Islanders in Queensland felt for voting and owning land. increasing discrimination and exclusion. Under Queensland’s Pacific IslandL abourers Act 1880 and its amendment in 1884, most South Sea Islanders were banned

A South Sea Islander exemption certificate, permitting the holder to stay in Queensland under the provisions of the Pacific Labourers Act 1880 Amendment Act 1884 Queensland State Archives, Item ID1235089

A group of return south sea Islanders, 1893 State Library of Victoria, image IAN01/02/93/5.

Journeys to Sugaropolis 43 In 1885 the Queensland Government passed legislation that stated that There was public concern over the social impacts of deportation, including

no more licenses to recruit South Sea Islanders were to be issued after 31 the fate of Aboriginal women who were married to islanders and forced to

December 1890. Planters were given until then to phase out islander labour, leave with their husbands.31 Despite this, mass deportation commenced

and the government began to encourage small-scale white owned farms from 1904. Steamers collected people from ports along the Queensland

processing their sugar at communally-managed central mills. However, coast and brought them to Brisbane’s immigration depot at Kangaroo Point,

due to a depression in the sugar industry, the labour trade was allowed and from here most were sent back to Melanesia. Some were enticed to go

to continue. to Fiji and work on plantations there.

In 1901 the newly formed Australian Federal Government introduced two A total of 7,068 people were repatriated between 1904 and 1908 and a

pieces of legislation that had a major impact on South Sea Islanders. The further 194 between 1909 and 1914. South Sea Islanders staged a campaign

Immigration Restriction Act 1901 banned almost all non-European immigration. against the Pacific IslandL abourers Act and were able to achieve some softening

The Pacific IslandL abourers Act 1901 opened the way for the deportation of of the regulations. In 1906 exemptions were granted to 1654 people to allow

Melanesians from Queensland and New South Wales. By then there were them to stay. Almost 1000 other people managed to avoid deportation by

approximately 10,000 South Sea Islanders living in these states. The Pacific illegal means. In some instances people simply fled into the bush. In 1906 a

Island Labourers Act 1901 prohibited islanders from entering Australia after Royal Commission was held into the deportation, during which six South

31 March 1904, and those arriving before that date required a license. All Sea Islanders were interviewed at Beenleigh.32 All had been in Queensland

indentured labour agreements were annulled in 1906, and any South Sea many years, most had bank savings and property, and most wished to stay. Immigration form and handprint Immigration form and handprint Islander found in the country after 31 December of that year could be for Tom Oba under the Immigration for Tom Oba under the Immigration Restriction Act 1898 (NSW) Restriction Act 1898 (NSW) deported immediately. While many wished to return to their islands, others C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library, who had started families in Australia wanted to remain. LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0065 LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0063

44 Journeys to Sugaropolis 45 The impact of deportation on the sugar industry was dramatic. not obtain loans from banks. The QueenslandG overnment

In 1902, 85.5 per cent of Queensland sugar was produced by placed further restrictions on the use of all non-European

‘coloured’ labour. By 1908, 87.9 per cent was produced by labour in the sugar and banana industries. Islanders who

European labour. wished to work in these industries had to obtain an exemption

certificate, which were only granted to people who had been

Although some South Sea Islanders were able to settle in the resident in the state for a period of time and were previously

country, from 1909 to 1942 this remnant community endured engaged in the industries. As employment for South Sea

severe difficulties. They faced similar types of discrimination to Islanders became harder to find in the 1900s, the number of

Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people, but were further unemployed congregating in the towns and countryside grew.

disadvantaged by not being recognized as either Indigenous or Although elderly members were able to receive an ‘indigence

a legitimate immigrant group. Segregation existed at school, at allowance’ this was only one quarter of the age pension. It was

the workplace, in shops and theatres, and elsewhere. Unions not until 1942 that South Sea Islanders and Aboriginal people

resisted their employment in many industries and they could were able to receive the age pension.

South Sea Islander exemption certificates for the sugar and banana industries South Sea Islander evidence given at In the early parts of the 20th century, the Queensland Government moved the 1906 Royal Commission into the to exclude non-Europeans from working in these industries, and only a deportation of South Sea Islanders small number of South Sea Islanders were granted exemptions Queensland Parliamentary Papers, 1906, V.2, page 875 Queensland State Archives, item ID902851, ID902852, ID902863

46 Journeys to Sugaropolis 47 Islanders were also drawn into the district because for a long By the late 1890s, the New South Wales government followed

time New South Wales did not have discriminatory laws Queensland in discriminating against South Sea Islanders. In

dealing with South Sea Islander labour, and so they enjoyed 1912 the Cudgen Estate was sold to CSR and subdivided for A shift to the Tweed many of the rights denied them in Queensland. Another European farmers. The islanders on the estate lost their jobs attraction was the mill built by the Colonial Sugar Refining and leases but many found subsequent employment in the

Company (now known as CSR) at Condong in 1880. For many Tweed area clearing land. Others moved into banana growing,

years the mill employed South Sea Islanders as well as leasing which became one of the chief industries in the Tweed and

land to South Sea Islander sugar growers. Gold Coast areas by the 1930s. T oday there is a sizeable Australian South Sea Islander community on the Tweed River.33 The history of In 1894 it was noted that: Despite the mass repatriation of South Sea Islanders after this community began in 1875 when William Julius The Kanakas who have completed their time in Federation in 1901, various families were able to stay on the Tweed, some intermarrying with Aboriginal and other local Queensland and have settled on the Tweed, number purchased land at Cudgen and established a sugar cane people. Their descendants continue to live in the district. about 400. Many of these lease the land and cultivate it plantation and mill. His workforce consisted mostly on their own account and are large employers of white Among the people who settled on the Tweed was Peter of 200 South Sea Islanders who had completed their labour, to whom they pay the current rate of wages-£l Mussing (Wacvie Mussingkom), who landed in Queensland as contracts on Queensland plantations. Julius employed a-week with board. They are frugal, sober, thrifty, and a 13 year old from Ambrym Island, Vanuatu, in 1883. He made Sugar cane cutters in Cudgen, are good colonists.34 his way to the Tweed in 1895, and in 1905 married Ida Venno, them to clear the land and then leased blocks of around New South Wales, c. 1930s who was Anglo Indian, at Cudgen. He died in 1924, leaving Ida Left to right: Mart Wattego, Ben Long, Will ten acres (four hectares) to them to grow sugar, while Ejettica, Tom Spiros (from Pentecost), Eddie with seven children. Peter’s brother Harry also started out in Borcan, Tom Mel (from Aoba), Otto Redman (ganger from Sandwich Islands), Bob Atto Queensland and made several trips to the islands as a recruiter. others worked in the mill. When he sold his C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD046-IMG0032 In 1910 he was the first man to grow bananas atE ungella, plantation in 1892 to John Robb, the Cudgen Estate and in 1915 he married Elsie Venno. He died at Murwillumbah was known as a safe and accepting environment for in 1950. South Sea Islanders.

Journeys to Sugaropolis 49 The Freeman Family

At Tomewin, in the upper Currumbin Valley, one of the largest banana

Families plantations was established by Englishman, Arthur Freeman, in 1912.35

This was a 360 acre (145 hectare) property, which he named ‘Viria’, and is

widely regarded as the beginnings of commercial banana growing in the

southeast. Arthur Freeman had previously been a planter in Fiji, and when Po ssibly a workers cottage or banana he settled in Currumbin with his wife, Fredericka, and daughters Marie and shed on the Freeman property on Tomewin, Currumbin Valley, c. 1950 Jane, he readily engaged South Sea Islander workers, providing employment C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0043 for them during the difficult years of theG reat Depression and the White

Australia Policy. Up to 1000 cases of bananas, packed into wooden boxes,

Banana farmers of Currumbin were sent by horse and cart to the Currumbin railhead. In addition peanuts

and beans were also grown. After the end of the sugar era, banana growing South Sea Islanders worked as labourers on Viria and the many other sustained many South Sea Islanders living on the Gold banana plantations in the district, as well as leasing their own five-10 acre Coast and in northern New South Wales. The banana (0.8 – four hectare) farms or going into share cropping. Tomewin became industry boomed in the 1920s and 30s, with the main one of the main areas of settlement for South Sea Islander families, which including the Togo, Sussyer, Mussing and Toar families. With a growing growing area being Currumbin Valley and the Tweed. number of children, there was a need for a school, as the nearest was over Bananas were also grown at Coomera, Mudgeeraba, six kilometres away. Fredericka Freeman helped lobby the government for the establishment of a school at Tomewin, and Arthur donated a portion Mount Nathan, Tallebudgera and Numinbah. of his land for the erection of the building in 1949. The old Beeches State

Arthur Toar with bananas harvested School at Currumbin was moved to Tomewin and the school opened in from the Freeman plantation on Tomewin, Currumbin Valley, c. 1950 1950. Jane Freeman ran the local Sunday School. TheF reeman family had Arthur Toar`s parents arrived from Vanuatu in numerous islander friends and when Arthur died in 1965, his funeral was 1900. Arthur was born in Bundaberg in 1904 and worked on banana farms in the Gilston/ Mt Nathan area and later at Tomewin. Portrait of Arthur Freeman, c. 1950 well attended by the Australian South Sea Islander community. C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0094 image LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0069

The Freeman banana plantation, Viria, c. 1950 C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0092 Journeys to Sugaropolis 51 F or children growing up on the banana farms in Currumbin and TheT omewin families maintained strong links to relatives

on the Tweed, life was very basic but happy. Johnny Itong recalls: living across the border. Saturday was the main day when The family home had about four rooms. Our house had people from all around the district went to Tweed Heads to buy food, meet with friends and go to the pub. When they went a dirt floor. We used to put bags on it to keep the dust into a town they faced segregation, such as being restricted down. Inside, my mother had a camp oven over an open to a special section of the picture theatre. In Murwillumbah, fire with cross bars. At night, a fire was lit inside. Foods South Sea Islanders were not accepted into the main wards of

we ate were taro, yam, potatoes, meat preserved in the hospital but treated in tents within the hospital grounds. A mos, Celia and Narda Togo in the Freeman G irls from local South Sea Islander families, garden, Tomewin, Currumbin Valley, c. 1950 Tomewin, Currumbin Valley, Queensland, c. 1950 kerosene tins, corned beef. Plenty of vegetables, plenty C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD046-IMG0003 C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0104 of fish. We used to do chores. We had a happy family.36

W orkers and Arthur Freeman with hands of bananas on the Freeman plantation, Tomewin, Currumbin Valley, c. 1950 C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD046-IMG0028

Joe Sleba and Arthur Toar with bunches of Portrait of Celia Togo c. 1950 Marie Freeman and Bob Leo amongst Charlie Togo and John bananas grown on the Freeman plantation on C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, the bananas on the Freeman Breckenridge, Tomewin, Tomewin, Currumbin Valley, Queensland, c. 1950 image LS-LSP-CD046 -IMG0001 plantation on Tomewin, Currumbin Currumbin Valley, 1952 C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0098 Valley, Queensland, c. 1940s C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, T om Oba, Tierry Togo and Jane Freeman with C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP- CD046-IMG0038 harvesting equipment in the bananas on the Freeman image LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0096 property on Tomewin, Currumbin Valley, c. 1950 C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD045-IMG0089

52 Journeys to Sugaropolis 53 The Emzin family of Surfers Paradise Charley’s adopted son and took on the Emzin name. Charley

made arrangements for him to be brought up with a local

Charles (Charley) Emzin came from Tanna Island in Vanuatu European family at Benowa and to attend the Benowa school. and got a job as a sugar boiler at Robert Muir’s Benowa

40 plantation. He was also employed for a time on Edward In 1915 Charley became one of the first property owners within

Cooper’s farm, Birribon. In 1888 Charley bought four blocks of the new subdivision, PacificO cean Estate, which would later

land on the east bank of the Nerang River, but because he could form the heart of Surfers Paradise. He bought three blocks of

C oomera State School not own land in his own right, he made arrangements with the land in what would become Cavill Avenue for £11 each. On one class photograph, 1929 Brisbane solicitor, H. Ruthning, to act as trustee. These blocks Jack Santo is pictured first row of these he built a cottage for a sum of £300-£400. To complete (seated), ninth from left;M arie Santo were originally part of land owned by J.H.C. Meyer, who is second row, fourth from left the building, he borrowed £90 from Mr Appel, who had such C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, established Meyer’s Ferry and a hotel. On this land Charley high regard for Charley that he loaned the money interest free. image LS-LSP-CD063-IMG0004 built a cottage and kept a farm. In later years he ran Meyer’s These properties were given to Bill as a present on his marriage

Ferry and lived in a cottage on land owned by J.G. Appel, who to Eileen Norris in 1921. Eileen had Irish and Scottish parents.

lived next door in ‘Sea Glint’ the first private holiday residence Because she was Catholic, and he was Anglican, they had to

in Surfers Paradise (built 1885). Charley let out his farm to have a private wedding ceremony. The Santo Family South Coast Town Council and the family became highly various tenants. respected for their commitment to local sport and community David Santo came from the New Hebrides to Bundaberg in Charley wanted his son to take over the farm, but Bill was service. In 1988 the Santo Family Park at Biggera Waters was the late 1880s to work as a cane cutter.37 He married English A relative of Charley, Sam Tanna and his wife Annie Mallicolo more interested in making a living on the sea. For much of his named in their honour. immigrant, Alice Mullins, and by the late 1920s they were (or Ormalekula) had a child, William, on his farm in 1889. Sam life he was a skipper of cargo boats sailing between Brisbane,

settled in Upper Coomera with their eight children, Roy, and Annie were employed by Edward Cooper at Birribon in Southport and Caloundra. He was also the master of two of J.G. Family building fostered national loyalty, and Australian Dave, Winnie, Rose, Jack, Marie, Frank and Hazel. David 1884. When Sam and Annie’s contracts were up, they were Appel’s boats and for a period owned the fishing and towing South Sea Islanders have served the Australian nation in both worked as a labourer and farmer, and the younger children sent back to Vanuatu – Sam to Tanna Island, and Annie to boat Trophy II. So the farm was sold before Charley’s death in world wars and later conflicts.A mong these service personnel attended the local schools.38 By the 1930s the family settled Mallicolo (Malekula) Island. Because he was born in Australia, 1921, and the proceeds left to Bill. After Charley’s death, Bill were Jack and Dave Santo, who enlisted during World War II. in Southport and Labrador, where some of the children William, or Bill as he was usually called, was able to stay in the and Eileen left Mr Appel’s place and moved into the house in Until recently, this wartime contribution by Australian South became known for their sporting prowess. Heather excelled country. Concerned about the welfare of their child if taken to Cavill Avenue, where they had a son, Charles, and a daughter, Sea Islanders was not acknowledged, as they were generally in athletics, Frank and Marie in running and Dave in boxing Melanesia, Sam and Annie made the decision to leave him with Mary. At this time the Emzins were the only South Sea Islander classed as Aboriginals by the military. and rugby league.39 Dave, Jack and Frank worked for the Charley, who was exempt from being repatriated. Bill became family within the area.

54 Journeys to Sugaropolis 55 Bill Emzin with his accordion C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD264-IMG0023

The children grew up thinking of themselves as Aboriginal, Eileen did ironing, washing and cleaning for other people. At

and the family had strong social ties with the Yuke, Dillon and the age of 12 Mary brought in income by minding children.

Graham families of Southport, who were of Aboriginal descent.

They also had some close friendships withE uropean fishing and Bill made news in 1958 when, at the beginning of the Gold

farming families. The children attended Southport School and Coast property boom, he sold two of the blocks of land left to

were sent to the Methodist Church every Sunday. Due to a lack him by his adopted father for £20,000. When he died in 1961 at

of transport, they walked most places, and spent much of their the age of 72, Eileen lived with her son, Charley, and his family

free time swimming in the river, despite the numerous sharks. in the house on the remaining block. Charley worked as a taxi

Bill became well known for playing the accordion at dances driver and a racehorse trainer before his early death at the age

at Tippler’s on Stradbroke Island. The family was respected of 43. His nine children went into a variety of occupations,

throughout Surfers Paradise and Southport and because of this, including teaching, police service, nursing, pathology and

did not face much in the way of discrimination from locals. local government. One of his sons, Graeme, was taken on

by George Schofield, the General Manager of the Chevron

During the Great Depression of the 1930s life was very hard Hotel. Graeme became an executive with the Chevron before

for the Emzin family, and Bill was forced to do relief work embarking on a distinguished career in the hotel industry in

Pacific OCEAN Estate and bring in food for the family by shooting birds and fishing. Australia and overseas. sales map C ity of Gold Coast Local Studies Library, image LS-LSP-CD902-IMG0003

56 Journeys to Sugaropolis 57 One person to do this was John Mussing. John was the eldest son of Peter and Ida Mussing. John

ran a local campaign for equality in the Tweed area during the 1950s. In 1952 he wrote a letter to the

editor of TheT weed Daily, stating: Activism and recognition – Australian South Sea M ay I take the Liberty of asking you to publish this letter of how the coloured population of the district are treated. At certain places they are directed to a Islanders place reserved for the coloured people alone, and are not allowed to sit where they choose, the same as the whites do. This act of segregation has been going on for some years. On July 1, 1951, my wife and I wrote a letter to Mr H.L. Anthony, MHR, concerning the matter. In his reply to our letter Mr Anthony As the 20th century progressed, many South Sea stated it was not a Federal matter and he therefore forwarded our letter to Mr Islanders came together in small communities on the S.T. Stephens, MLA, for attention. Mr Stephens passed our letter on to the Chief Secretary, and said as soon as he had a reply from the Chief Secretary he would fringes of major port towns, and here they were able convey it to us. So far we have had no reply from Mr Stephens. I have come to to preserve some traditions such as gardening, fishing the conclusion that there has been nothing done concerning the matter. I’m sure and living in extended family networks. While they the coloured people of the Tweed district and Coolangatta are worthy of better Left to right: Mr J. Itong; Private (Pte) did have to change and adapt to Australian society, Edward Mussing and his brother Thomas treatment than they are receiving. It appears to me that the act of segregation is Mussing at Cobaki, near Tweed Heads, NSW, shortly before Private Mussing’s neither a Federal nor a State matter. Where is the democracy the coloured men in time they began to speak up and protest against departure for service overseas. Pte Mussing enlisted in June 1940 and served with of both world wars helped to preserve? I may also mention that my brother, Pte. discrimination. the 2/26th Battalion. He died of illness whilst a Prisoner of War on 7 July 1943, aged 34. Edward and Thomas were sons of PeterM ussing E. Mussing, 2/26th Battalion, 8th Div., paid the supreme sacrifice on the Burma Australian War Memorial ID P03897.002 Road, also that my nephew, Pte. D. Runge, 8th Div., had both legs amputated as the result of Japanese atrocities. (Both boys were well known on the Tweed). Is this the type of freedom they were defending for the coloured people? 41

Journeys to Sugaropolis 59 Peter Mussing’s daughter, Ida Lessing Faith Mussing, also became an Endnotes 8 The Queenslander, 2 December 1876, page 28.

9 activist. Better known today as Faith Bandler, she has played a pivotal role Helensvale and other plantations in the Coomera and Nerang districts are desrcibed in detail in a newspaper report on the sugar industry in 1 in championing Aboriginal and Australian South Sea Islander civil rights. Unless specifically referenced, the information presented in this 1885. The Brisbane Courier, 26 November 1885, page 2. book has been primarily sourced from: Jones, M., 1988, Country of 10 Five Rivers: Albert Shire 1788-1988, North Sydney: Allen & Unwin, Census of Queensland 1881, Votes and Proceedings of the Queensland pages 55-130, Saunders, K., 1988, The Black Scourge: Racial responses Legislative Assembly, 1882. v.1, pages 921-922. In the second half of the 20th century the descendents of the early South towards Melanesians in colonial Queensland, in Evans, R., K. Saunders 11 Cooper, E., 1883, unpublished diary. and K. Cronin, Race Relations in Colonial Queensland : a history of exclusion, Sea Islander workers began to form their identity as Australian South Sea 12 For a detailed account of Ageston Plantation see City of Gold Coast, exploitation and extermination, St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 2013, Ageston Plantation Excavation Report, unpublished report, Islanders. They campaigned orf recognition, and this was achieved when pages 147-234; Moore, C, M. Quanchi and S. Bennet,1997, Australian Nerang: City of Gold Coast. South Sea Islanders: a curriculum for secondary schools, Brisbane: Australian they were formally recognised as a distinct cultural group by the Federal Agency for International Development in association with the 13 Logan Witness, 16 April 1881 page 3. Department of Education, Queensland. Government in 1994. In 2000 the Queensland Government offered a similar 14 City of Gold Coast, 2000, Sweet Survivor: the sugar industry and the Gold Additional information has come from: Australian Human Coast, Nerang: City of Gold Coast. formal statement of recognition. Rights Commission, eRace Archives, Australian South Sea 15 Census of Queensland 1886, Votes and Proceedings of the Queensland Islanders: A century of race discrimination under Australian Law, Legislative Assembly, 1887, v.2. pages 344, 1191. http://www.humanrights.gov.au/racial_discrimination/forum/Erace/ 16 Today there are approximately 15,000-20,000 Australian South Sea Islanders south_sea.html, accessed 16.12.2010; Centenary of Queensland Census of Queensland 1891, Votes and Proceedings of the Queensland Women’s Suffrage 2005, Excluded from the Vote, http://www.emsah. Legislative Assembly, 1892, v.3, pages 1193, 1195, 1197; Census of living in Australia. There are also other people who have some, perhaps uq.edu.au/awsr/Act_Centenary/excluded.htm, accessed 16.12.2010; Queensland 1901, Votes and Proceedings of the Queensland Legislative Miller, I. 2010 Australian South Sea Islanders, in Queensland Historical Assembly, 1902, v.2, page 958. undiscovered, Australian South Sea Islander ancestry. Most Australian Portrait of Ida Faith Mussing (Faith Atlas [on-line], http://www.qhatlas.com.au/content/australian-south- 17 Bandler), Australian Women’s Saunders, K., 1988, page 178. sea-islanders, accessed 16.12.20110; Moore, C.1975, Whips and Rum South Sea Islanders live in Queensland but approximately 1400 reside Land Army, outside the Land Army 18 Swizzles, in Lectures on North Queensland history (second series), Saunders, K., 1988, page 185. Hostel at Wamoon, NSW. 1943 in northern New South Wales. Members of the community have played Townsville: James Cook University, pages 119-134; 2001; Museum 19 Queensland State Archives Item ID444438, file - estates, mentally Australian War Memorial, ID P03897.001 of Australian Democracy, Documenting a Democracy, Pacific Island incapacitated persons. prominent roles in politics and the civil rights movement and have excelled Labourers Act Amendment Act 1884 (QLD), http://foundingdocs.gov. 20 The Brisbane Courier, 12 November 1885, page 3. in sport, particularly rugby league. Australian South Sea Islanders are also au/item-did-66.html, accessed 16.12.2010; Documenting a Democracy, PacificI sland Labourers Act 1901 (Cth), http://foundingdocs.gov.au/ 21 The Queenslander, 27 October 1883, page 694. item-did-15.html, accessed 31.07.2012; Reynolds, H., 2009, Mackay achieving in many other areas such as trades, academia, nursing, teaching, 22 The Brisbane Courier, 22 September 1877, page 6. and the Melanesians, in Australian Heritage Magazine, Spring 2009, 23 music and art. pp. 55-60; Rolley, A., 2001, Thirty-nine moons at Townsvale Cotton The Queenslander, 9 November 1878, page 168. Plantation:1862-1873, Beaudesert: Ailsa Rolley. 24 Queensland State Archives, item ID89505, batch file.

2 The Argus, 5 October 1868, page 4. 25 Queensland State Archives, item ID861833 Correspondence; item From labouring on the early cotton and canefields to building families and 3 The Courier, 24 August 1863, page 2. ID861834 Correspondence. businesses, the Australian South Sea Islander community has suffered social 26 4 The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 August 1863, page.6. Northern Star, 4 May 1895, page 2.

27 and economic disadvantage, but has also brought a unique contribution to 5 Docker, E.W., 1970, The Blackbirders, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, page The Brisbane Courier, 14 May 1895, page 4. 11. 28 the development and cultural landscape of the Gold Coast and South East The Brisbane Courier, 14 May 1895, page 4; Northern Star, 4 May 1895, 6 The Brisbane Courier, 16 February 1924, page 15. page 2.

Queensland. This is a story which needs to be acknowledged and understood 29 7 Queensland State Archives item ID1235094, correspondence. Queensland Parliamentary Papers 1906, v.2, page 875. as a key aspect of the region’s rich past.

60 Journeys to Sugaropolis 61 30 Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages register, 1890-1914, pages Disclaimer Acknowledgements 22156, 22160; Queensland Electoral Roll; Queensland State Archives item ID663893, Register - admissions, state school, years 1902, 1909, 1907, 1911. The materials presented are made available by City of Gold Coast as Researched and written by Dr Kevin Rains of the Office of City Architect and Heritage, 31 Queensland State Archives, item ID1238619, papers - inquiry an information source only. City of Gold Coast makes no statement, 32 Queensland Parliamentary Papers 1906, v.2, pages 875-876. representation, or warranty about the accuracy, completeness or City of Gold Coast. 33 The information in this section has been primarily sources from suitability for any purpose of any information contained. Any use of Valuable information and assistance have been provided by: Alan and Helen Boyd; Australian Tweed Shire Council, Cane Farming - South Sea Islanders in the Tweed this information is at the user’s own risk. Valley, http://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/Museum/History/Content/ City of Gold Coast disclaims all responsibility and all liability (including War Memorial; Mary Browning; Lesley Bryant; City of Gold Coast Local Studies Library; sugar2.aspx, accessed 3 April 2013; NSW Migration Heritage Centre, without limitation, liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, 1950 Tweed Cane Cutter Knife, http://www.migrationheritage.nsw. damages and costs that might be incurred as a result of the information Mary Howells (Environment & Heritage Protection); David, Margaret and Miles Huth; Tanya gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/caneknife, accessed 3 April 2013. being inaccurate or incomplete in any way for any reason. 34 The Barrier Miner, 27 April 1894, page 2. Jen (Ipswich City Council); Lesley Jenkins; John Oxley Library (State Library of Queensland); City of Gold Coast disclaims all liability for any damages arising from 35 Information on the Freeman banana plantation has been sourced your access to, use of, or downloading of any material or part thereof Sue Mills; Fiona Mount; Sue Pearson; Jon Prangnell and April Youngberry (University of from, Hilder, J.1979, Arthur Freeman: the Banana King, unpublished from their publication or Internet site. essay, Gold Coast and Hinterland Historical Society; Queensland State Queensland); Queensland State Archives; Ailsa Rolley; State Library of Victoria. Thanks Archives, Item ID391875 Corporate School Files – Tomewin State School. also to the ASSI 150 (SEQ) steering committee; the Department of Aboriginal and Torres 36 I tong, J.,1994, History and the South Sea Islanders on the Tweed, Coolangatta: Johnny Itong, pages 7-8. Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs; Debra Beatty andM useum and Gallery Services

37 The following information is from a plaque at the Santo Family Park. Queensland; Bronwyn Davies (Scenic Rim Shire Council); Guy Hastings; Helen Pithie 38 Queensland State Archives item ID613445 register - admissions, state school; ID613446 register - admissions, state school. (Queensland Museum); John Waldron (BlueSkyView). 39 The Brisbane Courier, 12 September 1931, page 7; 23 July 1934, page 9; 3 December 1937, page 9; The Sunday Mail, 14 June 1931, page 9; 23 August 1931, page 4; 17 April 1932 page 10; 15 October 1939, page 19; 20 March 1949, page 13. 40 The following information is from City of Gold Coast, 2011, oral history interview with Mary Browning (nee Emzin), Office of City Architect & Heritage, City of Gold Coast; Hannah, I., 3 October 1949, unpublished letter to Feez, Ruthning & Co.Holland; J., L. Cooper, J. Elliott and S. Derrick, 1993, Letters to Bundall 1872-1879 and Lena Cooper’s Manuscript, Southport: Boolarong Publications, page 211. 41 The Tweed Daily 26 February 1952, Letter to Editor by John Mussing, Cobaki Rd., Tweed Heads.

62 Journeys to Sugaropolis

The Australian South Sea Islander Story of the Gold Coast Region

Journeys to Sugaropolis: the Australian South Sea Islander Story of the Gold Coast Region has been produced as part of the ASSI 150 SEQ program. 2013 marks 150 years since the first South Sea Islander labourers were brought to Queensland. This important anniversary is being commemorated across South East Queensland (SEQ) from June to September 2013. ASSI 150 SEQ acknowledges the heritage and contribution of the Australian South Sea Islanders (ASSI) to the growth and development of SEQ and Australia. The program showcases the art, heritage and culture of the ASSI people.

heritage.goldcoast.qld.gov.au

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