Captain William Twizell Wawn
The South Sea Islands Islanders and the Queensland Labour Trade
INTRODUCTION.

THE Author of this volume being now in Australia, and so not available for immediate reference, it has been deemed desirable to preface his work with a few explanatory remarks. These are more particularly addressed to English readers.

     Among political controversies in the Colony of Queensland, the " Kanaka Question " held a prominent place for many years, becoming at length of almost supreme importance. Along the coast, more especially of Northern Queensland, there stretches a belt of country adapted for the cultivation of tropical products, chief among them being the sugar-cane. To develop the resources of this region it was necessary to find a class of labourers better able to endure the climate than Europeans, as well as to work at a cheaper rate. Thus arose the demand for labourers brought from the various island groups of the Western Pacific-Papuans and Polynesians, loosely termed " Kanakas."

    Captain Wawn was engaged in recruiting such labourers, from 1875, when they were first introduced, down to 1891, when the Queensland Government legislated against the importation of Kanakas into the Colony, and their employment there. His narrative is that of a practical man, than whom none could be better acquainted with the subject he treats of. He has recorded much that is interesting relative to numerous little-known islands, and the tale he has to tell may well be regarded as a valuable contribution to the history of Queensland and the Western Pacific.

    It was while the labour controversy was at its height in Queensland, that Captain Wawn sent his manuscript to England for publication. Forwarded on board the ill-fated S.S. Quetta, it was lost in the wreck of that vessel. By the time that the Author had re-written his narrative, bringing it down to a later date, the political situation in the Colony had changed. The Kanaka Question had passed out of the region of debate, and the abolition of " the Labour Trade" had become an accomplished fact.

    Under these circumstances it was thought desirable to make some alteration in the original plan of the work. Much controversial matter had been gathered into it for which the occasion had passed. Written as the " log " of a practical seaman, details were also contained in it that were only suitable for inclusion in a Nautical Directory. . These features, it was felt, might be dispensed with, and the whole remodelled into a less tedious and more attractive form.

    The manuscript was therefore entrusted to Mr. W. Delisle Hay, whose experience of revisionary work has been considerable. At his hands such reduction was made as has been just indicated, and. the whole narrative carefully re-shaped. No alteration of the text here given was attempted, except of a purely literary kind; the most scrupulous care having been taken to preserve Captain Wawn's own words and to present his views without material change or any substitution. The illustrations' have been reproduced from the Author's own sketches, and the maps, supplied by Messrs W. and A. K. Johnston, have been conformed to Captain Wawn's charts.

    SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO.
    LONDON,
    September, 1893.