BY EMMA MURPHY
In the first week of September, Lanora Jackson and her 12-year-old daughter Cassie drove masses of Stolen Wages Campaign postcards from Brisbane to Sydney and Melbourne, in a bid to build support and solidarity for the Queensland campaign.
From 1897, when the federal Protection Act took effect, to 1972, the Queensland government could declare any Indigenous person a ward of the state. Under these policies, the wages of thousands of Indigenous workers were paid directly to the state-appointed "protector" and they were then handed "pocket money". Workers on reserves were paid well under the award.
In an interview with the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC), Lanora Jackson explained: "My father was taken away from his home on Palm Island at 13 years of age and sent to work as a stockman on a station called Dover. He was there for a year and never received any wages. All he received was food and lodgings. While he was there his grandfather died. They didn't inform my father and he only found out when he returned to the mission.
"I have got all the records that prove my father worked at various places. The government claims that it has pay slips that indicate that he was supposed to be paid, but he never received anything in his hand. The money went to the government. I remember looking at one of the pay slips that indicates he was paid eight shillings but he never received any money."
More than 4500 Indigenous people have lodged applications to the state government, demanding compensation for the state's misappropriation of their wages throughout the last century. While the state Labor government established a $55 million package to compensate these thousands of workers, the process has been frustratingly slow and tedious. As of July, only 701 of the thousands of claims had been allowed, and of those only 16 had been paid.
Another insulting aspect of the process has been the government's persistent offer of a measly $4000 to claimants. Lanora Jackson's father Henry has been offered this amount.
"It is an insult, absolutely disgusting. It doesn't come anywhere near compensating Dad", she told the VTHC, "not only for the loss of wages but the emotional trauma he
suffered ... As my father gets older he breaks down a lot. As a young person he kept all of the pain inside and wasn't able to deal with the trauma he had been through — now the memories keep coming up and he finds it very difficult.
"[Queensland Premier Peter] Beattie knows that most of these claimants are very old and that some of them are taking the money because they don't understand the law and they feel intimidated. My dad won't be accepting the money being offered. He just wants to make sure his name is on the list of claimants."
The postcard campaign, launched at a Queensland Council of Unions rally in Brisbane on August 8, is the next step in the campaign, intended to raise awareness and garner support for the Indigenous claimants from working people around the country.
The campaign has already gathered an impressive array of support, and a series of rallies and public meetings have been held. Forging links between unions and the Indigenous communities has been an important aspect of the campaign.
While in Melbourne, Lanora Jackson met with Dave Cushion and Kevin Braken from the Victorian branch of the Maritime Union of Australia. Cushion and Braken both emphasised to her that they believed it was important that unions were saying to their members that "it's about wages and therefore it's a union issue".
Speaking at the August 8 rally, Gwynneth Evans from the VTHC made similar points: "Certainly it's about Indigenous workers, but whichever workers it happened to, it would not be acceptable. The VTHC considered we had to support the Indigenous people in this campaign and this campaign can't be allowed to be finished by Beattie with the pittance that is being paid."
Lanora Jackson also met with a visiting delegation of Korean trade unionists, who took hundreds of the postcards back to Korea with them. Resolutions supporting the campaign have been passed by the full council of the Queensland Aboriginal Coordinating Council; the Indigenous Union Conference; the Queensland Council of Trade Unions executive; Australia-Asia Worker Links; the Socialist Alliance national executive and National Indigenous Postgraduate Association Aboriginal Corporation.
The postcards come in a set of three, which together tell the story of the missing, unpaid or inadequate wages belonging to Indigenous people throughout the last century. One card supports the unions' backing of the campaign, one is to be sent to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, and the third — intended to be kept — has details of a fighting fund due to be set up for a longer-term campaign.
Lanora Jackson is hopeful that the campaign will make a difference. "I am hoping that the postcards will generate a lot of attention around the issue. We feel the Queensland campaign could set a precedent for other states in Australia. It is important to make the public aware of what has happened because a lot of people in the community don't know the facts. They might think we are asking for a hand-out but that is not the case at all. I can't see anyone working for nothing these days. Everyone expects to receive their pay at the end of the week. This is a wage claim and the people involved should be adequately compensated."
Stolen-wages postcards are available from:
- Queensland Council of Unions (07 3846 2468)
- ANTaR Qld (07 3844 9800)
- Aboriginal Coordinating Council (07 4044 2999)
- FAIRA (07 3391 4677) and 4AAA(07) 3892 0100)
- ANTaR National in NSW (02 9555 6138)
- Australia Asia Worker Links in Victoria (03 9663 7277)
- Victorian Trades Hall Council (03 9662 3511)
- ACTU (03 9663 5266)
From Green Left Weekly, September 24, 2003.
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