Sugar Slaves (1-Year Access)

PLEASE NOTE: THIS PRODUCT IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO CUSTOMERS RESIDING IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. ANY ORDERS FOR THIS PRODUCT THAT ARE PLACED FROM OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND WILL BE CANCELLED AND REFUNDED.

PLEASE NOTE: You will receive an email (separate to your tax invoice) with a link to watch this video once your credit card or PayPal payment is received, or when we approve your purchase order. (Approvals are usually processed regularly during trading hours, but please allow up to two business days.)

Few people know that the Australian sugar industry was founded on the sweat of men and women enticed or kidnapped from the islands of the South Pacific. Sugar Slaves is the story of that human traffic, euphemistically known as 'blackbirding'. Between 1863 and 1904 about 60,000 islanders were transported to the colony of Queensland, where they toiled to create the sugar plantations. Then, after the introduction of a White Australia policy, most were deported. A unique community – the only substantial black migrant group in Australia – is at last uncovering the past.

(1994, 56 minutes) A Film Australia National Interest Program. Produced in association with Annamax Media and Arcadia Films with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

© National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.