Kanakas

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Kanaka labourers on a Queensland pineapple plantation, 1890s. Photographer unknown.

In Hawaiian usage see Haole

The Kanakas were workers from various Pacific Islands employed under varying conditions in various European colonies, such as Fiji, Queensland (Australia) and British Columbia (Canada), in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term Kanaka is generally regarded as outdated and inaccurate, and was not used by many of the people concerned.

Kanakas were often unfree labour, of the specific form known as indentured labour. It is sometimes alleged that their employment in Australia was a form of slavery. This is because some Kanakas were recruited by kidnapping (or "blackbirding" as the practice was known at the time). However, historians such as Keith Windschuttle (in his book The White Australia Policy) have disputed this.

Australia repatriated many Kanakas to their places of origin between 1906 and 1908 under the provisions of the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 [1]. However some remained in Australia; their descendants generally refer to themsleves as South Sea Islanders.

In Canada, many Kanaka men married first nation women, and their descendants can still be found in British Columbia and neighbouring parts of Canada and the United States.