Page 41 - IBs November 2022

History and Culture

SYDNEY ROAD BLAKS: ABORIGINAL

AND ISLAND HISTORY COMES TO LIFE

By Nic Maclellan recreate the 1847 voyage, with imagery of Melanesian men
pushing a supermarket shopping cart through the streets of
In 1847, a group of Pacific islanders were spotted on the modern-day Melbourne, and drinking at the Retreat Hotel,
road heading towards the city of Port Phillip (modern-day where the 19th Century islanders arrived as a way stop on
Melbourne). The ten men were hauling two drays laden with their trip along Sydney Road.
wool bales from the colony of New South Wales, ending up in
Sydney Road, Brunswick. Memories of blackbirding
The movement of these Pacific workers was reported to In colonial Australia, industries like sugar cane and cotton
the Assistant Protector of Aborigines in an October 1847 let- relied on indentured labour from across Melanesia. Known as
ter, expressing concern that “a party of blacks were on their “blackbirding”, this colonial labour trade was notorious for
way to Melbourne on the line of the new Sydney Road. Early the mistreatment of workers known as Kanakas (a Polynesian
this morning I was out and to my astonishment found that word for human being).
they were not Aborigines of Australia but from the South Sea The ten men on Sydney Road were brought to Australia by
Islands imported by Mr Boyde. By noon they will be in town, Scottish settler Ben Boyd in the mid-1800s, from Lifou in the
there were ten of them with 2 Wool Drays from a Mr Wheatly Loyalty Islands and Tanna in the New Hebrides. By 1847, Boyd
station by what I could learn from Mr Murry, they were desti- had nearly 200 islanders working as labourers and shepherds
tute of weapons.” on sheep-stations near Eden (Monero country), Deniliquin
The epic journey of Ben Boyd’s indentured labourers has (Wemba Wemba country) and Echuca (Yorta Yorta country).
inspired “Sydney Road Blaks”, a collaborative art exhibition at Blackbirding to Australia expanded at the height of the
the Counihan Gallery in inner-city Brunswick. Blending history, American Civil War,when the southern Confederacy could not
humour and creativity, last month’s exhibition was supported export slave-grown cotton to the United Kingdom between
by the Australia Council for the Arts and curated by Kim 1861-65. Australian businessmen – flush with capital from the
Kruger, her daughter Savanna Kruger and PNG-born artist and 1850s gold rush – saw an opportunity to expand the cotton
researcher Lisa Hilli. and sugar industries in the British colonies of Queensland and
“Sydney Road Blaks” featured a range of photos, digital New South Wales. Between 1863 and 1904, more than 60,000
prints, acrylic paintings, sculpture and art installations by Melanesians were brought to work in fields and farms across
Aboriginal and Islander artists, including Paola Balla, Daniel Queensland and northern New South Wales. Employers relied
Boyd, Destiny Deacon, Kim Kruger, Savanna Kruger, Mandy on islanders recruited – or kidnapped – from the New Hebri-
Nicholson, Sofii Belling-Harding and Stacie Piper. des and Solomon Islands, as well as Lifou, Fiji and other sites
Co-curator Kim Kruger told Islands Business that “the art- across Melanesia.
ists’ response to the men’s story produces a rich dialogue be- “I find it really strange that people don’t seek out this his-
tween indigenous peoples. Collectively the works in ‘Sydney tory,” Kruger explains. “There’s a whole history of people who
Road Blaks’ contemplate the country the men traversed, who have benefited from the proceeds of slavery coming onto sto-
they were, the ways in which they were treated and how this len Aboriginal land and reinventing themselves. At the time of
reflects Aboriginal and South Sea Islander experiences today.” the gold rush, a lot of people came out here and re-invented
themselves as merchants.”
Sydney Road Blaks After Australian Federation in 1901, most indentured
From colonial times, Sydney Road has run through Bruns- Melanesian labourers were deported under the White Aus-
wick towards the heart of the Victorian capital of Melbourne. tralia Policy, with thousands returning to their home islands
Today, as its old industrial factories and brickworks are trans- between 1904 and 1914. Despite this, more than 2,000 people
formed into modern apartment blocks, this inner-city suburb remained in Australia – mainly around Mackay and other towns
retains many colonial-era buildings, bluestone laneways and in north Queensland – hiding from the authorities and often
heritage sites. The Retreat Hotel, established in 1842, is still marrying into indigenous Aboriginal communities. Today, their
a popular watering hole on Sydney Road, located close to the descendants are known as Australian South Sea Islanders
municipality’s town hall. (ASSI).
Along with the local library, Brunswick Town Hall hosts the For Kim Kruger, a woman of South Sea Island heritage,
Counihan Gallery, named after noted Australian artist Noel the artworks are part of a broader project of memory and
Counihan. For Kim Kruger, it was wonderful to exhibit in a gal- understanding. She says the art exhibition is a way of encour-
lery looking out directly onto Sydney Road. aging people to think about the history of their place and the
Her series of digital prints “Within ten miles of Melbourne” legacies of the colonial labour trade – especially at a time of
and “Splitting logs for a feed” feature in the exhibition. They growing labour mobility between Australia and neighbour-

Islands Business, November 2022 41