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Cane Farming - South Sea Islanders in the Tweed Valley

In 1875 William Julius purchased land at Cudgen and established a sugar cane plantation. He also built a mill to process his cane and employed a workforce made up largely of men from the South Sea Islands, also known derogatorily as Kanakas. The story of the Kanakas, and of the infamous practice of blackbirding, or Europeans kidnapping Islanders after luring them on board ships with offers of trade, is an integral part of the story of sugar farming in both Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Farmers required cheap labour to make their plantations economically viable and the solution in the 19th century was to import contract labour from the neighbouring South Pacific Islands, mainly from the Solomon and Vanuatu groups.

Mr. Julius employed South Sea Islanders who had completed their contracts on Queensland plantations, or who had escaped south over the New South Wales-Queensland border. When he sold his plantation in 1892 to John Robb, the estate was known as a safe and comparatively comfortable place for Islanders to live and work. The conditions on Queensland plantations were often harsh and labourers were treated poorly, but on the Robb Estate in 1903 the Islanders were paid wages of around £1 per week and were provided with food, housing and other amenities.

Although their labour was needed, the South Sea Islanders were disadvantaged by the dominant attitudes and policies of the late 19th century that viewed white (and especially British) people as superior. These attitudes were seen in initiatives by the Government such as imposing an excise (a kind of tax) on all cane and then paying a bounty (a reward) to those growers who used only white labour on their farms. These attitudes were also expressed in the Government's White Australia Policy that was devised to keep non-Europeans of all descriptions out of Australia.

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Migration promotional poster used in Britain and Europe by the Commonwealth Department of Information 1947. Courtesy National Library of Australia, nla.pic-vn3279439, PIC POSTER LOC DRAWER 94

Representation

Look closely at the illustrated poster and discuss or write answers to the following questions:

1. Describe the man in the poster. For example, comment on his size or build, clothing, hair etc.
• Make a list of things the artist has drawn in the background.
• What appears in the foreground of the image?
  
• What are these images suggesting about life in Australia?
  
2. Who was the intended audience of this poster?
   
3. What was the purpose of the poster? Why was it made?
   
4. According to the words and images in the poster, which groups of people are excluded and not intended to respond to it?

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