Sugar dreams

Though government legislated for the use of indentured Melanesian labour in Queensland sugar cane fields that use was not universally approved of. White workers resented the presence of a cheap, non-white labour force while other people objected on humanitarian grounds. The Herbert district used indentured Melanesian labour and the Herbert River planters were the brunt of much criticism. A poem published in 'The Worker' on 23 April 1892 expressed a mixture of sentiments critical of the use of Melanesian (Kanaka) labour, with the criticism directed at the Herbert River planters.

Even after the use of indentured labour had been stopped white workers did not want to cut cane either. It was hard, dirty work and was seasonal. They preferred to work nearer the cities or in the mines. A poem written by local poet Dan Sheahan published in 'Songs of the Canefields' in 1972 by his daughter Josephine Sheahan, was reminiscent of the above poem and titled The Canegrower's Dream. It talks of a farmer's dream of a harvesting machine and of cane cutters who liked to cut cane!

Melanesian workers at Macknade and overseer Mr E.L. MacDonald. Their daily regime was ruled by the clock and the bell, n.d. (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photographic Collection)

First of the white cane cutters in Ingham, 1904. (Source: Hinchinbrook Shire Council Library Photographic Collection)