Islanders wronged by AWU and others AUSTRALIA has recently introduced a small number of seasonal workers from Vanuatu and Solomon Islands, an echo of a much larger and more contentions labour scheme from the 19th century. The first Pacific Islands labourers were employed in NSW in 1847. The main group worked in Queensland between 1863 and 1907. The first shipload arrived in Brisbane in mid-August, exactly 150 years ago. Bound by 62,000 labour contracts, they numbered perhaps 50,000 individuals, as a significant number came to Australia on more than one occasion. Of these, 95 per cent were young men aged between 16 and 35 who came mainly from what are now Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.