In this Book

  • The Pearl Frontier: Indonesian Labor and Indigenous Encounters in Australia’s Northern Trading Network
  • Book
  • Julia Martínez and Adrian Vickers
  • 2015
  • Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
summary

Remarkable for its meticulous archival research and moving life stories, The Pearl Frontier offers a new way of imagining Australian historical connections with Indonesia. This compelling view of maritime mobility demonstrates how, in the colonial quest for the valuable pearl-shell, Australians came to rely on the skill and labor of Indonesian islanders, drawing them into their northern pearling trade empire. From the 1860s onwards the pearl-shell industry developed alongside British colonial conquests across Australia’s northern coast and prompted the Dutch to consolidate their hold over the Netherlands East Indies. Inspired by tales of pirates and priceless pearls, the pearl frontier witnessed the maritime equivalent of a gold rush; with traders, entrepreneurs, and willing workers coming from across the globe. But like so many other frontier zones it soon became notorious for its reliance on slave-like conditions for indigenous and Indonesian workers. These allegations prompted the imposition of a strict regime of indentured labor migration that was to last for almost a century before giving way to international criticism in the era of decolonization. The Pearl Frontier reveals how Asian migration and the struggle against the restrictive White Australia policy left a rich legacy of mixed Asian-Indigenous heritage that lives on along Australia’s northern coastline.

Instead of the mythologies of racial purity, propagated by settler colonies and European empires, the authors dissect the social and economic life of the port cities around the Australian- Indonesian maritime zone and lay open the complex, cosmopolitan relationships that shaped their histories and their present situations.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title page, Copyright
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-vi
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. vii-ix
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  1. Abbreviations
  2. p. xi
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  1. Introduction: The Pearl Frontier
  2. pp. 1-8
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  1. Chapter One: Border-Crossing on the Pearl Frontier
  2. pp. 9-20
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  1. Chapter Two: The Birth of the Pearling Zone, 1860–1890
  2. pp. 21-39
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  1. Chapter Three: Maritime Mobility in Eastern Indonesia
  2. pp. 40-54
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  1. Chapter Four: Master Pearlers on Both Sides of the Frontier
  2. pp. 55-76
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  1. Chapter Five: Labor Migration to North Australia, 1901–1941
  2. pp. 77-96
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  1. Chapter Six: Challenging Social Segregation
  2. pp. 97-114
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  1. Chapter Seven: War on the Pearl Frontier
  2. pp. 115-130
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  1. Chapter Eight: Disputed Borders on the Pearl Frontier
  2. pp. 131-147
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  1. Chapter Nine: Marriage and Australian Citizenship
  2. pp. 148-163
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  1. Conclusion
  2. pp. 164-168
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  1. Appendix
  2. pp. 169-172
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 173-204
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  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 205-218
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 219-228
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