{"product_id":"blackbirding-a-reckoning-with-the-australian-slave-trade-9781923135703","title":"Blackbirding: A reckoning with the Australian slave trade","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn important reckoning with Australia’s unspoken history of slave trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn important reckoning with Australia’s unspoken history of slave trade.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrom the author of the bestselling books \u003c\/i\u003eThe Ballad of Abdul Wade\u003ci\u003e and \u003c\/i\u003eThe Bravest Scout at Gallipoli\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Australia becomes more willing to confront the violence and trauma of its colonial past, one chapter has remained largely hidden: the Australian slave trade known as blackbirding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween 1860 and 1906, more than 60,000 Pacific Islanders were brought to Australia to work the Queensland sugarcane fields. Men, women and children were taken from their homelands through coercion, deception or outright abduction. Forced into contracts they could not read, unpaid until the end of their service and denied basic rights, they endured brutal working conditions that led to the deaths of nearly 15,000 people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this immersive and meticulously researched work of narrative nonfiction, Ryan Butta confronts one of the least acknowledged episodes in Australian history. Exposing a deliberate ‘engineered forgetting’ that has kept these stories out of the national memory, this book brings the hidden history of blackbirding into the light and reckons with the enduring legacy of Australia’s forgotten slave trade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9781923135703\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 28 Jul 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Simon \u0026amp; Schuster Australia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: Mulgrave, Australia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 23.4(H)x15.3(L)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eRyan Butta is an Australian author of narrative nonfiction that blends original research, history and literary storytelling. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Ballad of Abdul Wade\u003c\/i\u003e, shortlisted for the South Australian Premier’s Awards Non-fiction Book of the Year 2024, and \u003ci\u003eThe Bravest Scout at Gallipoli\u003c\/i\u003e. His books focus on overlooked lives and the hidden histories that shape Australia. He lives and works on Dharawal country on the New South Wales south coast.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e‘The truth-telling unearthed through Ryan Butta’s Blackbirding is not simply historical revelation; it is a chilling confirmation of what our grandparents and elders have carried in oral testimony for generations.’ \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  -- (Waskam) Emelda Davis, Founding Chair, Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson)","brand":"Ryan Butta","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49041642619097,"sku":"9781923135703","price":36.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9781923135703.jpg?v=1785937071","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/blackbirding-a-reckoning-with-the-australian-slave-trade-9781923135703","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}