black-birding

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

I.


n.

kidnapping natives of South Sea islands for service in Queensland plantations.

1871. `Narrative of the Voyage of the Brig Carl' [pamphlet]:

«All the three methods, however, of obtaining labour in theSouth Seas – – that which was just and useful, that which was ofsuspicious character, and that which was nothing, more or less,than robbery and murder – – were in use the same time, and allthree went by the same general slang term of `blackbirding,' or`blackbird catching.'»

1872. Rev. H. S. Fagan, `The Dark Blue' (Magazine), June,p. 437:

«Well, you see how it is that C is not safe, even though he isa missionary bishop, after A has made the name of missionary anoffence by his ingenious mode of `black-birding.'»

1892. Gilbert Parker, `Round the Compass in Australia,' p. 78:

«In the early days of sugar-planting there may have beenblack-birding, but it was confined to a very few, and it isdone away with altogether now.»

II.

adj.

1883. `The Academy,' Sept. 8, p. 158 (`O.E.D.')

«[He] slays Bishop Patteson by way of reprisal for theatrocities of some black-birding crew.»

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