Daily Mercury: Mackay and District Australian South Sea Islander Association’s Starrett Vea Vea hopes for more commitments from government to his community.
10th Nov 2016 – The Daily Mercury, Mackay ran an interesting article entitled EXPOSED: Lost history of South Sea Islanders slave labour. The article talks about Blackbirding in Queensland, growing up in North Mackay and going to school with many descendants of those who were blackbirded.
State Member for Pumicestone Rick Williams has sponsored a petition calling for a formal apology to the South Sea Islander community for forcing up to 62,000 people into the indentured labour trade known as ‘Blackbirding’, which was akin to slavery.
The petition currently has only 110 signatures. Mr Williams needs to secure 10,000 by February to ensure it is read in Parliament.
We emplore everyone to sign the petition to help with this goal.
Go to the Queensland Parliament website, click on ‘petitions’ and go to ‘current e-petitions‘ and look for ‘Australian South Sea Islanders – formal apology’ in the list.
Click the name and then click ‘YES’ next to “Do you wish to sign this E-Petition?”
You can read the full Daily Mercury story South Sea Islander slave labour by CLICKING HERE