Jean M'Barai The Trepang Fisherman

Between 1860 and 1910, over 60,000 Pacific South sea islanders were lured from their villages: tricked, transported, forced to work in the harsh queensland bush, and then repatriated. In Jean M’Baraï, The trepang fisherman (first published In french in 1919) Georges Baudoux tells their story.

Translated by Dr Karin Speedy and published here in English for the first time, this book exposes the rich, complex and brutal world of a south sea islander caught up in the duplicitous trade that came to be known as blackbirding. For the English-speaking world it is an astonishing and confronting account of Australian and Pacific history.