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Listed under:  Economics and business  >  Work (Labour)  >  Occupations (Work)  >  Historians
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Pacific Islander labourers planting sugar cane, Mackay, 1870s

This is a black-and-white photograph showing large groups of poorly dressed indentured Pacific Islanders planting sugar cane on a plantation at Mackay in Queensland. Fourteen or more Pacific Islanders are manually placing sugar-cane cuttings at regular intervals in long furrows. Two mounted white men oversee their work ...

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Former Pacific Island indentured labourers waiting for deportation, 1906

This black-and-white photograph shows Pacific Islanders mustered at the Cairns Court House in Queensland awaiting a medical examination prior to their deportation under the Australian Government's 1901 Pacific Island Labourers Act. The group, including a woman, some children and an Islander holding a bicycle, would probably ...

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Pacific Islander women working in cane fields, c1890

This sepia photograph shows eight indentured Pacific Islander female labourers preparing to hoe weeds in rows of cane at Hambledon Mill, near Cairns in Queensland. The women and girls, some barefoot, stand at the edge of the cane, which is above head height. The foreground is bare soil and a thickly wooded hill rises in ...

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Pacific Islander labourers outside slab-hut dwellings, late 1800s

This is a black-and-white photograph showing indentured Pacific Islanders and their families posing by their slab-hut homes, probably on a coastal Queensland sugar plantation. They are wearing Western-style clothes, with the women in long skirts and the men wearing jackets and trousers. The huts appear to have been constructed ...

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ABC Open: Australians recognise past sacrifices on Anzac Day

Share the memories of Australian war veterans and discover their thoughts about Anzac Day's significance. In this clip, veterans living on Queensland's Gold Coast express their ideas and feelings about what Anzac Day means to them.

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ABC Open: Observing a minute's silence on Anzac Day

Why do we observe a minute's silence during Anzac Day ceremonies? Remembrance on Anzac Day has been an important part of Australian culture since the first Anzac Day was observed in 1916. In this clip, residents of Queensland's Gold Coast were asked what they think about during the minute's silence.

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ABC News: Mungo man goes home

The discovery of Mungo Man in 1974 rewrote history by revealing that Aboriginal people had been in Australia twice as long as previously thought. Named after the location at which it was found, the skeleton is around 42,000 years old. When discovered in 1974, Mungo Man was moved to a university in Canberra for scientific ...

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The convict voyages

What do you think it was like for convicts on their voyage from England to Australia? Would you be surprised to discover that their life expectancy on board a convict vessel was actually higher than that of free settlers? Watch this video to discover why this might be, and learn about the convicts themselves.

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ABC Open: World War I: The dead man's penny

Imagine the feelings of a family when they learn of the death of a son during World War I. How might they react to receiving a giant penny for a life sacrificed? This ABC Open program explores the role of the 'dead man's penny', the token given by the British government to many families of British and Commonwealth troops ...

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Journey into Japan: The end of Japan's isolation

Under the shoguns, Japan was deliberately isolated from the outside world from around 1600 CE. However, by the mid-19th century, Western imperialism was entering a new phase of expansion that no Asian state was able to resist. Discover what happened when the West came beating on the doors of a closed society. This clip ...

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World’s first bakers?

When did humans begin grinding seeds to make flour? Many people believe bread-making began in Egypt or Mesopotamia as long as 17,000 years ago. Archaeologists have recently found evidence that Indigenous Australians were producing flour 65,000 years ago. Were they the world’s first bakers?

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Gold rush

Walk through the streets of 1850s Ballarat at Sovereign Hill and learn about how the discovery of gold shaped the development of this region. What were the three distinct but overlapping eras of gold mining in Ballarat? How do staff at Sovereign Hill know what life was like for people during this time? Find out how the ...

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ABC Open: The changing roles of women on Anzac Day

How have the stories and observances of Anzac Day changed to include women alongside men? During World War I and the years that followed, women had little involvement in Anzac Day events. In some instances, they were deliberately excluded! This has changed dramatically in recent decades. In this clip, women and men from ...

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Impact of European settlement on Aboriginal Tasmanians video

Aboriginal Tasmanians had inhabited Tasmania for over 40,000 years before the arrival of European settlers. What do you think life was like for Aboriginal Tasmanians before then? Why might have they embarked on a war, called the 'Black War', once settlers began arriving in Tasmania, despite existing relatively peacefully ...

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ABC Open: Veterans reflect on the meaning of Anzac Day

What does Anzac Day mean to you? For some older Australians, Anzac Day recognises loyalty to the British Empire. To others it is a time to remember sacrifice and to take pride in Australian character. Watch this clip to discover what Anzac Day means to a number of veterans in the 21st century.

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ABC Open: Anzac Day and the unseen costs of war

Discover the unseen costs of war. Many people experience fear, anxiety, bereavement, shock and other forms of psychological trauma that do not end when they return home. Watch this clip as residents of Violet Town in Victoria reflect on the personal cost of war.

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Foreign Correspondent: Mysteries of Angkor

Did you know that around 800 years ago the world's biggest city was in Cambodia? From the 10th century, Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which ruled a huge part of South-East Asia for around three centuries. But Angkor was abandoned in the 15th century. Discover how modern archaeological techniques are now helping ...

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Untold Stories, Ep 12: The submarine that ran amok at Gallipoli

Alec Nichols was a farm boy from the Sunshine Coast who joined the navy at the age of 18. During World War I, he was one of 35 men on the AE2 submarine that broke through enemy lines in the Dardanelles strait. After five days of sustained attacks from the Turkish navy, the submarine had to surface. The men were captured ...

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Journey into Japan: Tokugawa shogunate is overthrown

How did Japan's Tokugawa shogunate come to an end? The entry of the US fleet into Tokyo Bay in 1853 and the events that followed exposed the shogunate's policy of isolation as a potential threat to the country. Western influence, and Japan's response to it, would have an enormous impact on the country's future. This clip ...

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ABC 7.30: Chinese ANZACs

When World War I broke out in 1914, the 'White Australia Policy' had been in place for 13 years. Despite this attempt at exclusion, many Chinese Australians chose to enlist and fight the war with their fellow countrymen. Do you think you would have done the same? Why/why not? Watch this video to find out more about the ...