Far More than Money: British West Indian Slavery, Emancipation, and Australia’s Sugar Industry

Abstract

As more sources have been made available by the Legacies of British Slavery project, it is clear that ties between Atlantic world slavery and Queensland’s sugar industry are considerably more extensive than previously understood. This article goes beyond looking at money and men to explore what this means for understandings of race, slavery and indenture on Australia’s sugar plantations. It argues that slavery was understood in specific ways by West Indians after emancipation, and that race was increasingly used to bolster white supremacy, both of which adversely affected Pacific Islanders in Queensland.