Chains of Empire - Australian legacies of British slavery

Did slavery ever exist in Australia?

This exhibit explores what happened when Britain abolished slavery across its empire in 1833. Former slave owners were paid compensation to give up their human ‘property’.

But where did they spend this money – and how did they find a new labour force? Many came to the Australian colonies, with enduring consequences for First Nations peoples across the continent.

Explore the journeys and stories of people who had been enslaved – and those who once owned them. Learn about Aboriginal people forced to dive for pearl shell and indentured workers shipped from the Pacific Islands to Australia.

The exhibit invites you to let us know whether you think slavery ever existed in Australia.

This exhibit was created through a collaboration between the University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan University and the University of Melbourne, with First Nations guidance.

The aforesaid Wm. Hickman, in answer to the foregoing complaint and evidence, saith—the two pairs of trousers and the waistcoat now produced are Mr. Habgood's. I took them out of a box in Mr. Habgood's kitchen. The box, and the trousers in it, had been lying in the kitchen for a long time. As they were old things, and had been lying there for a long time, I took them to give to the natives. I have three other shirts like the one now produced. I do not know where I got them, but I am sure that I bought them somewhere.

Taken before me                    William X Hickman
W.H. Mackie                              his mark
Prisoner was fully committed for trial at the next V. Sessions of the Peace

W.H. Mackie