Did legalised slavery exist in Australia?

Verica Jokic reports on ABC Radio National -10 July 2014

For almost a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians were forced to work for pastoral stations, missions and government reserves for little more than pocket money. Some have called it legalised slavery and are now fighting to recoup stolen wages. .

Between the 1860s and the 1970s, Aboriginal people of all ages were taken from their homes and sent to work on cattle and sheep properties all across Australia.

Several such schemes were run by colonial and state governments, theoretically to protect Aboriginal Australians from mistreatment.