WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

economic or social conditions in Australia and elsewhere. For example Irish
immigration (1840s) to Australia to escape famine in their homeland, labourers from
Melanesia (1860s) for work on Queensland's sugar plantations and Japanese fishers
who are recognised as being instrumental in the pearling industry in the late
nineteenth century (Department of Immigration and Citizenship 2010).
Akerman and others highlight the social history associated with Aboriginal people
and Asian indentured labourers who worked in the pearling industry in Broome since
its early establishment (Akerman et al. 2010). The local history associated with the
impact of the White Australia Policy, the operation of the Aborigines Act 1905 (WA)
segregation and the development of Broome's local multicultural society is noted in
particular. Kaino (2005) also describes aspects of Broome's social history which, in
the Australian context, demonstrates the evolution of a distinctive local multicultural
society.
In summary, Broome's association with Australia's pearling industry has shaped its
economy and society. In relation to migration history, focusing on the indentured
labourers who came to Broome to work, their story demonstrates the important role of
these workers in the development of Australia's pearling industry. The difficult and
harsh conditions of work are also evident as is their part in the development of a
distinctive multicultural society in Broome. At the national level however, this
history, in the context of Australia's migration history, does not demonstrate the same
impact on Australia's society, culture or prosperity as the impact of the post war
immigration boom. Some other aspects of Broome's distinctive social history are
considered under criterion (g).
White Australia policy exemptions
Non-European pearl divers in Australia's north were able to continue to work in the
pearling industry because of an exemption from the White Australia Policy from
1901.
From the 1870s, the pearling industry relied on the employment of an indentured
migrant labour force at low rates of pay. These men, often highly skilled, worked in
difficult conditions, often without their families, could be readily deported if found
unsatisfactory, and out of economic necessity were willing to risk their lives in very
unsafe conditions with no compensation should they be injured or killed. Between
1910 and 1917, 145 Broome based divers died, primarily from decompression
sickness. (Edwards 1983; Sickert 2003; Bach 1955). By the early twentieth century
the Western Australian pearling industry was employing over 2,000 men, 1,700 of
them Japanese or Malays, with smaller numbers of Filipino, Chinese, Koepang
(Timor), Ambon, Macassan and Aboriginal men (Hocking et al 1993).
Prior to Federation, there was strong local support in the colonies of Western
Australia, Queensland and in Northern Territory for the use of cheap indentured Asian
labourers for the pearling industry, although each state's legislation differed. Japanese
divers were particularly valued for their proven skills in collecting pearl shells. In
each case, the respective colonial authority either supported the practice of using
indentured labour as an essential measure for the industry or the region's survival, or
agreed to a qualified exemption from restrictions applied to other industries in more
populous areas. Other exemptions included the importation of South Sea Islanders to
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