kanakas

Noun

kanaka (plural kanakas or kanaka)

1. A person of Hawaiian descent.
   • It was considered one of the nation’s strictest bans because of the reference to Kanakas – native Hawaiians – and because Nevada was the only other state to add Chinese.2004 October 29, Peter Wong, “Interracial-marriage ban used in Measure 36 comparisons”, in Statesman Journal, volume 152, number 214, Salem, OR, page 2A
2. (historical) A South Pacific Islander, especially a labourer in Australia or Canada.
   • There remains one case to be considered, that of the deportation of the Kanakas who were introduced into Queensland for the purpose of work on the sugar plantations.[…]It was, however, felt in the south that a white Australia was essential, and the Commonwealth passed in 1901 an Act (No. 16) which...1912, Arthur Berriedale Keith, Responsible Government in the Dominions, Volume II, page 1098