Cane and Labour: The Political Economy of the Queensland Sugar Industry, 1862-1906

‘A great many of them die’: Sugar, race and cheapness in colonial Queensland

“…With this expansion, the frontier wars were already ongoing when planters arrived. The apocalyptic violence of the frontier was perpetrated by squatters and planters alike—but especially by the Queensland Native Police (Graves, 1993, p. 14). In some cases, such as with ‘The Ceders’ and ‘Fairymead’, land that would later become plantations was the site of Indigenous massacres, prosecuted by squatters (Bottoms & Evans, 2013, pp.…”

“…In some instances in remote districts, planters violently secured their land against the traditional owners by marshalling their Islander workers as militia (Graves, 1993, p. 194). Resistance to dispossession continued late into the 19th century, when ‘as late as 1885, the workers on ‘Pyramid’ plantation at Cairns fought a battle with local Aborigines who systematically set fire to the plantation's cane, speared its horses and terrorized its labour force’ (Graves, 1993, p. 14). This continued resistance was a heroic but isolated case, in that the violence across Queensland was intense and genocidal.…”

“…This reference to ‘skulking’ is likely a reference to the common practice of working very slowly, or pretending not to understand instructions, with many references to ‘Kanakas’ working ‘sullenly’ or ‘shirking’ (e.g., Davitt, 1898, p. 273)—although not an organized form of industrial action, this kind of work‐slow practice ought to be thought of as resistance to the exigencies of capital, especially as it was often pursued against violent enforcement. Further, such strikes were often strategic, as they ‘were frequently times to coincide with vulnerable moments in the production cycle’ (Graves, 1993, p. 197). Whether as violence or working slow, however, these forms of resistance were insufficient to challenge the conditions of cheapness at the frontier in a generalized way.…”

“…These local histories have much to gain too from such a conversation. For example, Graves' (1993) Cane and Labour: The Political Economy of the Queensland Sugar Industry proceeds as a historical materialist critique of Whiggish histories that explained the end of the Queensland plantation complex as the triumph of urban, liberal politics. Instead, he traced the internal contradictions of that labour regime, noting the rising cost of ‘Kanaka’ labour.…”

“…Why are engagements across these three literatures-world-ecology, Black radicalism and Australian history-needed? While this article does include some novel archival research, there is a rich extant historiography around Queensland sugar production (see especially Banivanua-Mar, 2006;Graves, 1993;Griggs, 1997Griggs, , 2000Saunders, 1984). That local literature remains disconnected, however, from broader conversations-those around Australian capitalism or world-ecological histories of capitalism.…”