Map of islands in the Southern Pacific, to the east of Australia
This region is often referred to as the South Sea.
In 1863 a group of 67 South Sea Islanders were brought to Queensland to perform manual labour in the cotton and sugar industries. They were the first of more than 62,000 Pacific Island men, women and children who were transported to Australia over the next 40 years. Some were kidnapped, or ‘blackbirded’, others were misled.
Source
Eliane Touma
