AustLit

'This significant work, drawn from the author’s doctoral studies, is the first to report on Aboriginal child labour in Queensland. It follows excellent historiographies by Ros Kidd (1997) and Dawn May (1994), as well as that of Hetherington (2002) in Western Australia, but extends these by focusing exclusively on children. The author is generous in acknowledging the seminal works that pre-date hers, and in providing a comprehensive review of the historical literature centring on the Indigenous labour sphere. Thus this work fills an important gap because there has been little recognition of the role played by Aboriginal child labour in the formation of the post-colonial state.' (Introduction)