HPRC School Public Lecture: The Pacific Islanders Fund and the Misappropriation of the Wages of Deceased Pacific Islanders by the Queensland Government, Professor Clive Moore (staff)
Event Details
- Date:
- Thursday, 15 August 2013
- Time:
- 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
- Room:
- Social Sciences Building Room S402
- UQ Location:
- Social Sciences Building (St Lucia)
- URL:
- http://www.uq.edu.au/hprc/seminars-and-events
- Event category(s):
Event Contact
- Name:
- Serena Bagley
- Phone:
- 52795
- Email:
- s.bagley@uq.edu.au
- Org. Unit:
- Historical and Philosophical Inquiry
Event Description
- Full Description:
- In August 2013 while Queensland is marking the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Pacific Islander labourers, it is timely to raise the issue of the Pacific Islanders’ Fund. The Queensland government’s Pacific Islanders’ Fund which operated between 1885 and the 1900s is unknown today. It was established in the Treasury to facilitate the operation of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1880 Amendment Act 1885 to safeguard return fares and to ensure that the money due to deceased Islanders was returned to their families. However, over time, because of the high death rates (30 per cent), the wages of deceased Islanders became so substantial that they were able to be used to supplement the administration of the whole labour trade. There is evidence that the Queensland government seldom returned the full wages to the families of the deceased Islanders and profited largely from their deaths. The process was immoral and lacking in fiduciary care. In today’s money, millions of dollars were misappropriated, in similar fashion to wages misappropriated by the same government from Aborigines.
This paper explores the legislation, the payment of wages and the misappropriation from Pacific Islanders’ wages that occurred. The aim is to estimate how much money that should have been legitimately paid to South Sea Islanders or their families was held back by the Queensland government, diverted for other purposes. The legal ramifications are explored and the conclusion suggests the fairest way for the Queensland and Australian governments to redeem their tarnished reputations.
Directions to UQ
- Google Map:
-
- Directions:
- St Lucia Campus | Gatton campus.
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