Rights and freedoms
Pacific Islanders Labourers Act 1901
17 November 1901
This Act stopped Pacific Islanders coming to Australia to work and allowed thousands to be deported.
From 1863 to 1904, up to 62,000 men, women and children were recruited to work on sugar and cotton farms in Queensland and northern New South Wales. Many were blackbirded – kidnapped, tricked or forced into working for low or no pay – and stopped from doing higher paid jobs or leaving the farm they worked on.
Pacific Islanders were a readily available source of cheap labour. Some Australians worried Pacific Islanders would become a non-white underclass that would lower the pay and conditions of white workers.
Part of the 'White Australia’ policy, this law aimed to deport the whole Pacific Islander community. From 1906 to 1908, 7,500 people were deported, even though many had families and lives in Australia. About 2,500 people remained, suffering severe discrimination.
Certificate of exemption of Calleyho, 1907
State Library of Queensland
Certificate of exemption of Calleyho, 1907
State Library of Queensland
Description
A 'General Certificate of Exemption' issued by the Colonial Secretary's Office for the South Sea Islander, known as Calleyho, dated 4 May 1907.
This certificate provided Calleyho with exemption from the provisions of Section 7 and 8 of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901. This law aimed to deport the vast majority of the Pacific Islanders in Australia from the end of 1906.