Paying Aboriginal Rural Workers: Racism, the Labour Market and Worker Agency

Abstract

Research into experiences of Aboriginal workers on pastoral stations in Queensland has revealed systemic slave-like conditions and underpayment, primarily focusing upon northern regions of the state. This article reveals details of Aboriginal workers’ employment on one station in the less examined southern districts of Queensland, specifically the South Burnett region, that suggest calibrated payments were well above the (later) legislated rate of pay, but less than rates awarded to white men on the same property. We adopt micro-historical and socio-linguistic methods to examine the Kilkivan station diary of 1898. By conducting a close reading of employment practices adopted by station owner, Aubrey Jones, we reveal how linguistic management of cultural difference intersected with the agency of Aboriginal workers. The level of business risk apprehended by Jones impacted the level of trust he exercised and the autonomy he granted to Aboriginal workers. The spare but unguarded prose of the diary reveals how Jones mobilised anonymising racist language or chose to individuate Aboriginal workers, depending on their compliance and perceived reliability. This article thus extends previous understandings of crossracial relations, the racialised pay gap, and Aboriginal agency in the Australian pastoral industry.