The uncle of prominent Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson is suing the Queensland Government to recover wages he claims were stolen from him more than half a century ago.

Key points: Class action involves 300 Aboriginal people who say they were not paid for years of labour

Class action involves 300 Aboriginal people who say they were not paid for years of labour Wages controlled by Qld Government, held in trusts, but much of money lost or stolen

Wages controlled by Qld Government, held in trusts, but much of money lost or stolen Government paid people 'miniscule amount' in return for waiving legal rights in 2002

Hans Pearson, 77, is the lead claimant in a class action involving 300 Aboriginal people who say they were not paid for years of labour as stockmen or domestic workers.

For almost 80 years, the wages of Aboriginal people were controlled by the State Government and held in trusts, but much of the money was lost or stolen.

A statement of claim filed on Monday in the Federal Court argues the Queensland Government breached the trust of Aboriginal people by failing to protect their money.

Mr Pearson said he had been forced into taking legal action.

"We've got to have justice. We worked for over 10 to 12 years for nothing," Mr Pearson told the ABC's 7.30 program.

"They've got to pay for what they've done, we're not asking for their money, it's our money."

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Legal action 'as important as Mabo'

Noel Pearson said his uncle had taken a brave and important step on behalf of Aboriginal people.

"Uncle Hans and all of those who come behind him have got to fight this one," he said.

"This is as important as Mabo.

"There's a precedent here that is a fundamental cornerstone of justice, because of the opportunity cost that he has forgone and that an entire generation has forgone."

Hans Pearson believes he earned up to 7,000 pounds as a stockman during the 1950s and 60s and was planning on buying a house in North Queensland for his young family.

Hans Pearson was planning on buying a house in North Queensland for his young family. ( Supplied: Hans Pearson )

But, when he went to collect his money, he only received a fraction of that amount.

"When the police called me up to the police station, me and the wife went up and he had a cheque waiting for me for 28 pounds," Hans Pearson said.

"I said: 'Is this all I'm getting?' and he said: 'Well, that's all you have after 10 years of working'."

Hans Pearson has lived in community housing for 46 years and said being denied his wages had deprived him of his life-long dream of home ownership.

"It set me and the wife back. The first 10 years of your life you're working to buy yourself a home, you know, to set your family up. That's every person's dream, but it didn't happen," he said.

Cairns solicitor John Bottoms is running the class action.

"It's an action for breach of trust. The Queensland Government held itself up via its legislation as the protector of Aboriginals, as holding the funds in trust to look after it for them [because] it was said that they couldn't manage on their own, and so they would care for them," he said.

"We've already got 300 claimants. We're intending to take the matter to court and let the court decide what they're entitled to."

Hans Pearson has lived in community housing for 46 years. ( ABC News )

Pearson 'conned' into waiving legal rights for payment

In 2002, in an attempt to avoid court action, the Queensland Government set up a reparations scheme paying each person up to $4,000 in return for waiving their legal rights.

Hans Pearson signed up because he was desperate.

His payment has recently been topped up and in total he has received $9,000.

"That's $9,000 for 10 to 12 years of work, you know? That's not right, that's not justice," Mr Pearson said.

Mr Bottoms argued Hans Pearson was conned into signing up.

"We don't think that the discharge and release that he was forced to sign is valid or binding," Mr Bottoms said.

"We think that the way it was imposed was unconscionable. He was never told what he was actually owed, he was just simply told if he didn't sign this, he'd get nothing."

Historian Dr Ros Kidd, a consultant to the class action, said there was substantial documentary evidence to support the claim.

Hans Pearson believes he earned up to 7,000 pounds as a stockman during the 1950s and 60s. ( Supplied: Hans Pearson )

"There were internal inquiries, there were investigations and there were audit reports every year and I've got every one of them from 1940 to 1990 and time after time they say this money is going missing and you need for people to see a record of their accounts to stop this type of fraud," she said.

Dr Ros Kidd claimed the amount paid by the Queensland Government was miniscule compared to the actual amount that was owed.

"I did an estimate, which [former Queensland premier] Peter Beattie actually mentioned in Parliament, of $500 million," she said.

"That estimate was worked out on a partial loss to Aboriginal people, given the number of people the Government had under control."

Pearson hopes to buy house

Noel Pearson said it was a source of deep pain for his family that his Uncle Hans was still living in government housing in Townsville.

"For him to be still living in a social housing, a public housing house, 50 years later because of that thwarted ambition, it's like a great bitterness inside me about past treatment," Noel Pearson said.

"You want to understand Indigenous disadvantage in 2016, it has its roots back then.

"Where would he and his children and his grandchildren be if that virtuous cycle had taken place — namely he had a house in the 60s?"

Hans Pearson said he hoped the legal action would result in his dream of being able to buy a house, but he expects a fight from the Queensland Government.

"We will just keep fighting, they've got the money to fight us, but I hope that justice will be done that they'll be compassionate with us and just give us what they owe us," he said.

Queensland's Indigenous Affairs Minister Curtis Pitt declined to comment, saying the matter was before the courts.

The Queensland Government has been contacted for comment.