Say Our Name: Australian South Sea Islanders
By Olivia Robinson, Curator Special Projects, Cultures and Histories
Queensland Museum’s newest exhibition celebrates the present and reflects on the past for Australian South Sea Islanders. It also imagines a future inspired by strong community connections, and familial links and identity.
Australian South Sea Islanders descend from South Sea Islanders blackbirded, coerced, taken and recruited into forced and unforced labour on Queensland’s sugar and cotton plantations in the late 19th century.
Many of the 62,000 labourers endured difficult conditions and exploitation which was further exacerbated when in 1901, the White Australia Policy signalled their forced mass deportation. Following extensive lobbying 1654 South Sea Islanders were exempted from deportation and allowed to stay. Their descendants make up today’s Australian South Sea Islander community.
Say Our Name: Australian South Sea Islanders coincides with the 30th anniversary of national recognition of Australian South Sea Islanders as a distinct cultural group. This milestone is an opportunity for unity, reflection and rethinking.
What is the impact of recognition? What does it mean for Australian South Sea Islanders to be recognised? How can recognition shape the future? These are questions answered in part in the exhibition and in the digital story Recognise, Reflect, and Rise, which was produced as a collaboration between Queensland Museum and State Library of Queensland.
On 7 September 2000, six years after national recognition, Queensland Government formally recognised Australian South Sea Islanders and acknowledged their traumatic history and continuous contribution to the culture and economy of Queensland.
On this day, Australian South Sea Islanders gathered from across the state in the grounds of Queensland Parliamentary Annexe to hear the Honourable Peter Beattie AC, then Premier of Queensland, give his heartfelt address and personally hand to Elders a Recognition Statement. A copy of the statement as the first written and formal acknowledgement by the Queensland Government is viewable in Say Our Name: Australian South Sea Islanders.
Australian South Sea Islanders attend the Queensland Government’s Australian South Sea Islander Recognition Ceremony, 2000. Photographer Imelda Miller, Queensland Museum Collection EH7863.
There are more Australian South Sea Islanders living in Queensland than any other state in Australia. As we celebrate and reflect on Queensland’s recognition it is timely to revisit the words of the Recognition Statement:
“The Government acknowledges and regrets that Australian South Sea Islanders experienced unjust treatment and endured social and economic disadvantage prejudice and racial discrimination… The Queensland Government is committed to ensuring that present and future generations of Australian South Sea Islanders have equality of opportunity to participate in and contribute to the economic, social, political and cultural life of the State…”
Recognition is the first step and the journey for equality continues.
Visit Say Our Name: Australian South Sea Islanders at Queensland Museum Kurilpa until 13 July 2025 to learn more. Free, no bookings required.
View Say Our Name: Australian South Sea Islanders learning resources for schools.
Share and connect using #SayOurNameQM #ASSI30Years
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