Friday essay: a slave state
- Written by Jeff Sparrow, Lecturer, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne
Kanakas on a sugar cane plantation, Queensland c.1890.Public domainIn July 2021, Jack Dempsey, the mayor of Bundaberg, delivered an official apology for Northern Queensland’s past reliance on the indentured labour of Pacific Islanders, many of whom were kidnapped (or “blackbirded”) and forced to work on the state’s cane...





