Few people know that the Australian sugar industry was founded on the sweat of men and women enticed or kidnapped from the islands of the South Pacific. Sugar Slaves is the story of that human traffic, euphemistically known as 'blackbirding'. Between 1863 and 1904 about 60,000 islanders were transported to the colony of Queensland, where they toiled to create the sugar plantations. Then, after the introduction of a White Australia policy, most were deported. A unique community – the only substantial black migrant group in Australia – is at last uncovering the past.

(1994, 56 minutes) A Film Australia National Interest Program. Produced in association with Annamax Media and Arcadia Films with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

© National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.