Blackbirding – Vanuatu project

A hundred-and-fifty years ago, young ni-Vanuatu men were brought to Australia to work on sugarcane plantations in northeast Queensland.  The practice, known as Blackbirding, went on for 41 years.  Now the Blackbird descendents are trying to track down their families and a new association’s being set up to help them.  Oral historians in Vanuatu say around 1,000 men were loaded every year on to ships to work the Australian cane fields, from 1863 to the early 20th century. For full story including radio broadcast click here.