This week in Bundaberg, on Queensland’s central Coast, a small but significant ceremony started to turn a long history of exploitation and shame around. And we bring it to you on this episode of Streets of Your Town. Bundaberg Mayor Jack Dempsey, took the step of becoming the first representative of any government in Australia, to say sorry for blackbirding, the practice where more than 62-thousand Pacific Islanders were brought to Australia from the 1860s to the turn of the 20th century. Many were forcibly removed from their Pacific Island homes to work in appalling conditions on cane fields in towns such as Bundaberg. You will hear from Australian South Sea Islanders in the audience on this special day, with many of them brought to tears, as the Vanuatu flag was raised outside the council chambers alongside the Australian flag and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag. It was recognition some of them had waited a lifetime to see and hear.

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