Kimberley man seeks compensation for stolen wages

Gooniyandi man Meryvn Street can't remember exactly how old he was when he began working with his father in the cattle mustering camps in the central Kimberley.

But the 72-year-old said he was very young when he began work at Louisa Downs Station where his family lived in the 1950s and 60 s.

I was asking my mum and dad if I wanted to go out working, mustering, and riding horses.

While Mr Street remembers his work in building the cattle industry in a country he loves, it was not until he was in his 30 s that he got a monetary wage.

His father received no money for decades worth of work.

Mr Street is the lead candidate in a class action against the Western Australian state government to recoup wages that were never paid to station workers, domestic staff, and labourers.

Under state policies which were not overturned until 1972, up to 75 per cent of a First Nations people's wages could be withheld by an employer.

Mr Street was the first witness to give evidence to the Federal Court in the class action brought by Shine Lawyers.

Between 8,000 and 10,000 members have joined the action, which may be resolved later this year through scheduled mediation.

The Federal Court will sit in communities across the Kimberley over the next two weeks to listen to accounts from around 30 witnesses about their alleged stolen wages. Justice Bernard Murphy was shown how Mr Street painted of station life on Louisa Downs, including water troughs his father built and the ration shed where flour, tea, and sugar was distributed to workers.

Mr Street, now an award-winning artist, spent his first few years in the bush before his parents moved into Louisa Downs and described in detail the nature of his station work.

We got rations and credit, Mr Street said outside court, a makeshift chamber inside Fitzroy Crossing Adult Learning Centre.

They were asking : Did you get paid to buy something from the store? My mum, my father, my granny were all working. I'm looking forward to getting some compensation. He was pleased to be able to address the Federal Court.

He said it's good to bring the story to the judge and the lawyer.