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Name
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Ambrym
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Type of carceral site
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Blackbirding
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Dates of use
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1847 – 1906
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Quote
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Lilon Bongmatur's great-grandfather was just a boy when he was kidnapped from a Vanuatu beach. At first, he and the other children didn't realise the threat. Missionaries and traders were common on Ambrym Island, and they thought nothing of the ship coming towards the beach near the village at Dip Point. By the time they realised, it was too late. Lilon's great-grandfather was taken.
Journalistic article.
Wayne Hilda, Lester, Kim, Lucas, Rachael and Smith, Dan. "Generations ago, families were ripped apart in the Pacific - now, these women are working to reunite them." Sistas, Let's Talk, ABC News, 6 May, 2023, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-07/blackbird-international-reuniting-pacific-families-torn-apart/102297478. Accessed 16 June 2026.
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[T]he present invasion by those now in the cove might be repeated many times over, they were faced with the danger of their island losing many of its men.
Novel, Historical Fiction.
Bandler, Faith. Wacvie. Rigby, 1977, p. 21.
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And various groups of people would come in from the mountains and say "Oh, Name bilong Lessing con?" That was me. And they'd tell me some story about being related to me. One morning we get up and sitting outside is a bloke, must've been about 6 foot plus, with a big white feather in his head and a group of women who'd escorted him there. They'd come in the morning with hot roasted taro, or roasted yams or chicken or what have you. But there he was and he was nursing a rooster. And so when I go out they say "Lessing con. This is cousin belong-you." So he stands up and presents me with the rooster. I tell you, it was very moving. [...] so we came back to Sydney and that inspired me to write 'Wacvie'.
Interview.
"Faith Bandler [Tape 13 Side A] Interviewed by Carolyn Craig" 7:26–11:56". Amplify: State Library of New South Wales, 1997, https://amplify.gov.au/transcripts/statelibrarynsw/faith_bandler/mloh307-0001-0013-s002-m.
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Authority
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Polynesian Labourers Act 1868 (Qld); Pacific Islanders Protection Act 1872 (also known as the Kidnapping Act) (UK); Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 (Cth)
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Archives and sources
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Docker, Edward. The Blackbirders, the recruiting of south seas labour for Queensland, 1863-1907. Angus and Roberston, 1970.
National Library of Australia
Pacific Manuscripts Bureau, ANU.
Shineberg, Dorothy. The People Trade: Pacific Island Laborers and New Caledonia, 1865-1930. University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.
State Library of Queensland.
Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Port Vila.
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Contact
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Jerry/Kieren
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identifier
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SITE-AM