South Sea Islander Canecutters MemorialPrint Page

The monument commemorates the South Sea Islander labourers brought primarily from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in the late 1800s to work in the cane fields.

The South Sea Islanders arrived in Mackay in May, 1867, just six years after white settlement. They were brought to the district as labourers to work in the sugar plantations. Many more were recruited - some by choice, others by force. This form of indentured labour continued until 1904. It is estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 descendants of these original indentured labourers live in Australia today, with some 85 per cent living in Queensland with an estimated three to four thousand residents of Mackay can trace their ancestors back four to five generations.

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