Stolen wages: the long wait for Northern Territory Indigenous workers

Abstract

Justice for Indigenous cattle station workers requires recognition that unknown numbers of Indigenous people throughout the 20th century had their wages either stolen or wholly withheld. Research has disclosed both the negligent administration of stations by State Governments and the fraudulent expropriation of moneys held on trust for workers. Substantial evidence of fiduciary breaches of trust on the part of both the New South Wales and Queensland Governments has been uncovered. Both of these States have established compensation schemes for victims of stolen wages. By contrast the Northern Territory (which was the largest employer of Indigenous workers nationally) and the Commonwealth have failed to address the fact that, with few exceptions, Indigenous workers went unpaid for nearly half a century. This lecture will provide a moral and legal argument for Commonwealth government compensation. It is a timely call for action in the aftermath of the 2006 Commonwealth Senate Inquiry into Stolen Wages.