Former Pacific Island indentured labourers waiting for deportation, 1906

Description

This black-and-white photograph shows Pacific Islanders mustered at the Cairns Court House in Queensland awaiting a medical examination prior to their deportation under the Australian Government's 1901 Pacific Island Labourers Act. The group, including a woman, some children and an Islander holding a bicycle, would probably be returning to islands such as the New Hebrides (later Vanuatu) and the Solomons. They wait in an orderly fashion in a picket-fenced grassy yard with tropical vegetation and hills in the background.

Acknowledgements