HOPEFUL CREWshort story

▪ The St Helena Island Community ▪ www.sthelenacommunity.com.auJuly 2019

Edward Rogers and the crew of the ‘Hopeful’Administration No. 3065

Recruiting or kidnapping?Between 1863 and 1904, approximately 50,000 South Sea Islanders were brought to Queensland to work on Sugar Plantations. Plantation owners and ship’s crew called it ‘recruiting’ but others called it ‘blackbirding’ or slave trading, the result of stealing and kidnapping men from their island homes.

The crew of the ship ‘Hopeful’ were imprisoned in 1884 for kidnapping islander men from New Guinea and 2 crew were charged with murder. This was divisive. Evidence from the Commission of Inquiry justified the growing demand for abolition of the slave trade. Sir Samuel Griffiths’ government ordered the return of 400 men to New Guinea in 1885. ³

The ‘Hopeful’ recruiter and bosun were sentenced to death, but commuted to life imprisonment. Edward Rogers, seaman, win as the youngest at age 24 and was to spend 4 years on St Helena Island, engaged in the bootmakers', carpenters' and field workers gangs, the bakehouse, and more appropriately sailmaking. Captain Townley and Superintendent Pennefather both requested him to cook for him in their private homes, despite not knowing much about cooking.1

In 1890, a petition of 20,070 Queensland names help secure the release of the crew. News of their imminent release caught the crewman by surprise. Fellow crewman Bernard Williams immediately stopped his work - shaving Edward Rogers' beard - and was so excited that he didn't finish the job!²Sources: 1.Colonial Secretary Correspondence2. Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 1 March 1890, page 4123. Stevens, E.E., ‘A brief History of the South Sea Islands Labour Traffic and the vessels engaged in it.’ Historical Society of Qld, 23 March 1950.

Consider: Ethics of forced labour(see also ‘Attamrip’ story for the opposite perspective)

1. What were the various techniques used to get people on board ships for Queensland?2. What were conditions like on board? (Read also James Aird’s blog post “Diary of a slave trade”

on the St Helena Community site for a very personal account).3. Why were the crew of the ‘Hopeful’ jailed when others weren’t?4. Why did over 20,000 people in society petition for their release?

Debate: Was it ‘recruiting’ or was it ‘kidnapping?’