These sugar cane cutters, working in a large plantation in Queensland, Australia, were known as 'kanakas', which had become an insulting term for Pacific Islanders. Many came from the Solomon Islands and may have been forced to leave their homes by 'blackbirders' – slave traders. In the late 19th century New Zealand missionary Florence Young set up a mission to work with them. It later became the South Seas Evangelical Mission, working with islanders who had returned to the Solomons, and is now the South Seas Evangelical Church.
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State Library of Queensland, John Oxley Library
Reference:
Neg 18051
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