Sugar Slaves documentary screening

Come along and join us at a special screening of the history of Australia’s sugar slaves as part of our Australian South Sea Islander National Recognition Day program. Australia’s Blackbird trade is an untold story. Few people know that the Australian sugar industry was founded on the forced labour of Melanesian men, women and children kidnapped from the 80 islands of Vanuatu and Solomons.

Sugar Slaves tells the history of Australian South Sea Islander families' stories and reconnections with their Vanuatu homelands. Between 1863 and 1904 some 60,000 Pacific Islanders were transported to Queensland, where they slaved across sugar, maritime, fishing, pastoral, and railway industries in establishing Australia’s rich economy.

Australian South Sea Islanders are descendants of the Pacific Islands Blackbird trade.

Australian South Sea Islander National Recognition Day marks the date in 1994 when the Commonwealth Government officially recognised the Australian South Sea Islanders as a distinct cultural group.

Bookings are essential for this free event.

We aim to deliver inclusive and accessible events. If you have any particular access or communication needs, don't hesitate to contact Lorraine, City of Sydney Youth team leader, 02 8512 8771.

Image: Group of Australian South Sea Islander women labourers on a sugar cane plantation near Cairns, Queensland, ca. 1895. Courtesy of the State Library of Queensland.