Friday essay: a slave state - how blackbirding in colonial Australia created a legacy of racism
- Written by Jeff Sparrow, Lecturer, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne

In 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...