An Australian academic is fighting for justice for tens of thousands of people who worked unpaid on cattle stations until the 1960s.
Sydney University law lecturer Thalia Anthony is leading a campaign for compensation for the Aboriginal workers, who had their wages withheld or stolen by cattle station owners. They worked on various sites between the 1880s and 1960s, driving or mustering cattle, erecting fences and building roads and dams.
Dr Anthony is assembling evidence to bring a test case for about 40 workers from one station, although she says she would prefer the Government to set up a voluntary compensation scheme with liability extended to the companies that owned the stations.