Workers grade and sort mother-of-pearl shells at Broome, Western Australia, in 1953. The town, long a centre of the pearling industry, drew migrants from Japan and Southeast Asia, who several times came into conflict. Photo: Frank Hurley for National Library of Australia Workers grade and sort mother-of-pearl shells at Broome, Western Australia, in 1953. The town, long a centre of the pearling industry, drew migrants from Japan and Southeast Asia, who several times came into conflict. Photo: Frank Hurley for National Library of Australia
Workers grade and sort mother-of-pearl shells at Broome, Western Australia, in 1953. The town, long a centre of the pearling industry, drew migrants from Japan and Southeast Asia, who several times came into conflict. Photo: Frank Hurley for National Library of Australia
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What led Japanese and Indonesians in Western Australia 100 years ago to spill blood in the Broome race riots

  • Broome in Western Australia once had a thriving Asian community, who flocked to the town to seek their fortune beneath the waves, diving for pearls
  • But when jealousy arose between competing divers from Japan and Southeast Asia, blood flowed, and their clash was elevated to a national concern

Topic |   Australia
Joseph Lam

Updated: 4:43am, 20 Dec, 2020

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Workers grade and sort mother-of-pearl shells at Broome, Western Australia, in 1953. The town, long a centre of the pearling industry, drew migrants from Japan and Southeast Asia, who several times came into conflict. Photo: Frank Hurley for National Library of Australia Workers grade and sort mother-of-pearl shells at Broome, Western Australia, in 1953. The town, long a centre of the pearling industry, drew migrants from Japan and Southeast Asia, who several times came into conflict. Photo: Frank Hurley for National Library of Australia
Workers grade and sort mother-of-pearl shells at Broome, Western Australia, in 1953. The town, long a centre of the pearling industry, drew migrants from Japan and Southeast Asia, who several times came into conflict. Photo: Frank Hurley for National Library of Australia
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