15/11/21 Emelda Davis: Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) support historical analysis that deemed notorious Blackbirder Benjamin Boyd’s name be removed from the Ben Boyd National Park announced by NSW Government
His methods used in securing the labourers were considered to be coercive and the second voyage descended into extreme violence when his ships bombarded the villages, killing numerous Islanders.
The import of these men, and some women, was no secret. Contemporary newspapers reported on their arrival in shipping lists and their movement across New South Wales in articles and editorials.
On the 14th November 2021 NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean announced the permanent removal of Benjamin Boyd’s name from the infamous Ben Boyd National park. It’s evident from the report that Boyd was a scoundrel and a notorious Slave trader whose wealth was derived through human trafficking.
Boyd was under investigation through a parliamentary inquiry and was tried and found guilty of slave trading which has no place by modern standards and most certainly had no place by the standards of the times in 1847.
Chairwoman of ASSI-Port Jackson (Waskam) Imelda Davis says… “For the generations of men, women and children stolen from their island homes this is a day of reckoning that yet again reinforces the need for truth telling and healing for our communities and the nation.
Some 60,000 Melanesian men were Blackbirded to Australia making up ¾ of the trade stolen from Vanuatu being 95%, women 5% and children unaccounted for but there were many. Today we remember you with pride for your contribution in establishing Australia’s wealth in sugar, pastoral, maritime, cotton, railway and fishing industries.”
Other islands affect that made up the rest of the trade were Solomons, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Today ASSI have an evident kinship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as well as were absorbed under Aboriginal protection acts of the 1930s.
Boyd’s methods split opinions in the colony with many large land holders, squatters and their allies supporting Boyd’s approach, while city workers, former convicts and their advocates, as well as religious leaders and anti-slavery activists opposed him. In New South Wales, the Legislative Council in response to Boyd’s operations, amended the Masters and Servants Act (1847). The Act dictated the terms of contracts, including the provision for fines or imprisonment to workers who broke from their employers. The amendments to Section 15 of the act excluded anyone from the South Sea Islands from the provisions of the Act, essentially voiding Boyd’s contracts with the Islanders.
Boyd trafficked 200 men and some women from the islands of Tanauta (Tanna) in Vanuatu and Lifou in New Caledonia to work across his industries alongside Maori and First Nations Slaves. Some escaped en masse Boydtown and Port Phillip to find their passage back to the islands with trouble looming Boyd eventually abandoned the scheme and the islanders and its believed those left were absorbed into local communities.
ASSI-Port Jackson have worked for well over a decade in pushing for greater recognition and inclusion for the blackbirded descendants their history and modern day survival.
Ms Davis told ABC South East NSW Radio today … The legacy of blackbirding remains and the psychical and emotional injustice remains, generational trauma remains.Systemic change through transitional justice is something that can heal communities and assist collective decision making enabling Indigenous peoples and traditional owners to assert sovereignty.
The advocacy on the Boyd name change has been a collaborative and widely consulted process sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement. ASSI communities historically have been side by side on First Nations advancement dating back as far as the 1967 Yes campaign which led to a referendum inclusive of prominent Australian and blackbirded descendant Mrs Faith Bandler – AO (woman Ambrym, Vanuatu).
Mrs Bandler was a constant on human rights advocacy who as Vice President of the Evatt Foundation Sydney and in 1992 wrote to the North Sydney Council in calling for Ben Boyd Road name to be changed. To date a 2021 survey to change the has seen no success however this recent report may assist residents in making a reasonable decision.
ASSIPJ Honorary patron Aunty Shireen Malamoo says… “Tell the Truth and we all grow up… This is a welcomed follow through from the 2013 NSW Parliament bipartisan recognition of ASSIs and support by Independent Member for Sydney Mr Alex Greenwich.” Motion
Information:
Benjamin Boyd – Historical analysis report
M: 0416300946