‘We are the forgotten people of this nation’: South Sea Islanders on Australia referendum

Millions of Australians will head to the polls tomorrow to decide whether there should be an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice enshrined in the constitution.

A "Yes" vote will determine whether indigenous rights should be considered in government decisions - establishing a consultation group called "the Voice".

Sydney City councillor Waskam Emelda Davis says this referendum raises questions about the implications for Pacific communities in Australia.

“What’s in it for Australian South Sea Islanders? What about us who [were] slaved on the same mission stations, plantations, reserves and were absorbed under the Aboriginal Protection Act?

“That’s a conversation that I take to government, should the Voice get up or not get up, because we are still the forgotten people of this nation.”

There are up to 50,000 South Sea Islanders in Australia who are the descendants of Pacific peoples who were kidnapped or tricked from their islands and used for forced labour in Australia.

Waskam’s grandfather was taken from Vanuatu when he was 12, and put to work in Bundaberg, Queensland, her great grandmother was also stolen at 14.

“We are descendants of seven islands affected through blackbirding, but we are indigenous to the Pacific, and we also have dual and tri-cultural heritage with First Nations Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“We are Melanesians, and we are part of one of the largest melanesian communities outside of their island state.”

Opinion polls suggest there’s not enough support for the referendum to be passed, with concerns the referendum will not make any difference for indigenous peoples, who make up only 3.5% of Australia’s population, and false claims ancestral land would be returned to the original owners.

Changing painful legacies

Waskam was the first black woman elected to Sydney City council and has been in the role for two years.

She is proud to have spearheaded next month’s renaming of New South Wales’ national park which was named after a colonial slave trader.

“Port Jackson or Sydney Harbour was a receiving port for our people since the 1790s and most definitely the illegal blackbirding in 1847 by Benjamin Boyd.

“We’re heading into the change of name of Benjamin Boyd Park, it’s being changed in collaboration with the First Nations mob to Beowa National Park.”