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Kabu
Excellent snapshot of a very important era in Aussie history...
posted by
Nautikos
on May 22, 2013 at 11:44 AM
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Kabu..thanks for the info...
This is probably something an encyclopedia would condense into about two lines, with the editor thinking "Can't say too much about that", but history is history, whether it be likeable or not....
posted by
Rumor
on May 22, 2013 at 9:49 AM
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Your homeland is has an interesting history. Close to the ranch I worked on as a kid was once a sugar beat factory, as kids we used to go out into the fields of sugar beats and hoe them, clean out the weeds 8 hours a day, or until the sun went down. This was back breaking work as well and one could see it throughout the state, all done by hand and by the young, not imported labor. When the sugar cane came about here in this country, sugar beats became unprofitable and the industry died.
posted by
UtahJay
on May 22, 2013 at 9:16 AM
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Very informative history on that. Every race that has ever come to a place for freedom has used slaves, apparently. I am glad reforms were made and it got so much better.
posted by
mariss9
on May 22, 2013 at 9:06 AM
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when I was a kid there was a sugar beet factory in our town, they closed it out. It was owned by the two brothers that started up our town
Interesting story, here today its the Mexicans that do that hard bending and picking strawberries and other crops. I am sure most are illegal but you dont see the white people out there
posted by
Lanetay
on May 22, 2013 at 8:30 AM
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Kabu
mThat’s interesting that the slaves were Polynesian. Also the Italian and Greek men that worked to support their families back home. And the agricultural practice of using the leftover canes a s mulch in the garden. Thank you love. BC-A, Bill’s R®st
posted by
BC-A
on May 22, 2013 at 8:28 AM
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Re: Can't help thinking of the casual way people far from those fields
have always plopped one lump or two into their cup, with no knowledge and respect at all for the misery that got that sugar to the bowl.
posted by
Ciel
on May 22, 2013 at 8:12 AM
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Can
posted by
Ciel
on May 22, 2013 at 8:10 AM
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CCT captured what I was thinking as I read your post. I imagine that most countries have similar blights in their histories.
posted by
adnohr
on May 22, 2013 at 2:49 AM
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Of course no one knew what they were getting into in those days. Most of the manual jobs were pretty horrible. I expect fortunes were built on this kind of Labour, very interesting Kabu.
posted by
C_C_T
on May 21, 2013 at 11:26 PM
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Thanks for bringing to light this history. I myself was unaware of it.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on May 21, 2013 at 7:51 PM
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kabu
your knowledge is first hand and probably more realistic than in a book. i found the read so interesting. back in the early 70's my husband and i ran across an article that said australia was looking for craftsmen, like carpenters, plumbers, and electricians and if we were to move to australia and commit to staying 5 years they would pay for the move, we actually considered it. we had just bought our first home and i think if we had seen the article before we bought we might have gone. who knows i might have been your neighbor. i also did not know that is where my bananas and pineapple came from. australia was always on my list of places i want to go.
posted by
jeansaw
on May 21, 2013 at 7:49 PM
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Thank goodness for industrialization. It is amazing how over time things get better in the physical realm. Good story. In parts of Florida sugar cane was/is grown for syrup. There was a huge law suit regarding the conditions of the workers. In American, that is one way to change conditions.
posted by
Dr_JPT
on May 21, 2013 at 6:36 PM
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Kabu
I loved your story about sugar cane and the lovely bananas and pineapple. I believe Fla and Louisiana grew sugar cane. We grew cane only for a syrup. The county I lived in most of my young life in AL was one of two that did not allow slavery from the beginning. Well except some Europeans who who indentured two or three work years of their lives to pay for their trips to America. But we grew cane just to make syrup called sorghum. The fields or growers were not big enough to have equipment to do the work. The family did the work. The cut cane was taken to a man who used horses to make syrup. It is delicious there are still two or three who make small batches of the cane and the leaves of the cane here was used for feed for horses. 
posted by
Justi
on May 21, 2013 at 6:16 PM
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Fascinating, Dear Kabu!
So many histories of the world are woven with the tragic thread of slave labor and the miseries, injustices inherent. Unbelievably it still goes on to this day in parts of Asia and some Middle Eastern counties. On a brighter note, history also proves that humankind can pull out of the abyss with enough determination and spirit.
Very good post! 
posted by
Katray2
on May 21, 2013 at 4:34 PM
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Wow, that's so interesting. It makes a great case for machines...
I've worked as a strawberry picker, which work is still done by hand mostly, but never had to deal with burned leaves or deadly snakes. Hard, backbreaking work, but when you're sixteen or seventeen you'd be playing that hard anyway. I've always been fascinated by Australia - thanks for the new information and your take on it. :)
posted by
Pat_B
on May 21, 2013 at 3:34 PM
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