Indigenous elders give evidence in NT Stolen Wages class action

Indigenous elders whose wages were withheld or underpaid between 1933 and 1971 have shared their harrowing stories as evidence preservation hearings commence in Alice Springs.

Indigenous Australians who had their wages withheld or underpaid between 1933 and 1971 under wage control legislation have shared their harrowing stories as part of the Northern Territory Stolen Wages class action.

Indigenous Elders described working 12 hour days in the blistering heat on the Territory’s cattle stations, only to find bank accounts where pay was promised to be deposited empty.

Others described long days cooking and cleaning when they were a “small girl” in order to receive rations of flour, sugar and tea – but no payment.

One man described working for hours before and after school chopping wood at the age of seven and was “flogged” if he spoke back with others he was working with locked up in a tool shed for hours at a time as a form of punishment.

If he spoke his native language, he said was made to wash his mouth out with soap twice.

The stories were presented to Federal Court Justice Bernard Murphy in Alice Springs in the first of multiple Evidence Preservation Hearings to take place across the Territory.

Federal Court Justice Bernard Murphy will preside over the Evidence Preservation Hearings.

Twenty-five witnesses are set to give their evidence in the hearings, which will span across Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine and the Tiwi Islands.

Joint head of class actions Vicky Antzoulatos, of Shine Lawyers which has taken on the class action, said the preservation hearings would be “crucial” in achieving justice.

“Group members are frail, aging and vulnerable, and given how long class actions can take, capturing evidence while the Indigenous Elders are still alive is crucial on our journey to achieving justice for these group members,” she said.

This point was highlighted in the Alice Springs hearings, where one member set to give evidence passed away just six weeks before.

Shine Lawyers’ joint head of class actions Vicky Antzoulatos said in addition to compensation, those impacted deserve an apology and recognition of the trauma they endured. Picture: Shine Lawyers Facebook.

Ms Antzoulatos said in the coming weeks the court would hear stories from other survivors who worked from as young as eight years old for tea and sugar.

“We will hear of Indigenous men and women who never had the chance to learn basic literacy, and who were treated appallingly by the nuns, brothers and stationmasters to whose care they were entrusted, on the missions and stations on which they worked,” she said.

“The government cannot reverse the damage done, but it can work at stopping cycles of underprivilege by compensating these survivors and their relatives.”

Shine’s previous head of class actions Jan Saddler, who has since left the company, told the NT News in 2019 more than 2200 Indigenous Territorians who may have worked during the relevant period could be owed up to $200,000 each.

The claim was filed in 2021 to the Federal Court of Australia, following the success of a similar class action in Queensland.