Indigenous

Indigenous elders look to take fight over stolen wages to the UN as featured on Al Jazeera English

As a a boy and a young man, Trevor Bedford worked on horseback - on cattle stations run   by Western Australia’s government. From 4am to midnight, he'd break in horses, fix fences and round up cows.  His 'pay'?  A ration of food, somewhere to sleep and a tiny cash allowance for drinks; 'slave wages'.
As a a boy and a young man, Trevor Bedford worked on horseback – on cattle stations run by Western Australia’s government. From 4am to midnight, he’d break in horses, fix fences and round up cows. His ‘pay’? A ration of food, somewhere to sleep and a tiny cash allowance for drinks; ‘slave wages’.

Worked as a freelance producer/researcher on this story on Indigenous stolen wages in Western Australia’s  Kimberley region.

“Aboriginal pensioners in Australia are considering appealing to the United Nations to investigate whether Australia’s governments owe them compensation for ‘stealing’ their wages.  Until the 1970s it was legal to withhold wages from Aboriginal people who were not seen as responsible enough to manage their own money. The wages were supposedly held in trust – but they have never been handed over.  Andrew Thomas explains.”

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