Exploring the history of indentured workers in KZN

TODAY, South Africa observes a significant milestone as it marks the 165th anniversary of the arrival of the first Indian indentured workers aboard the SS Truro in 1860.

- TASCHICA PILLAY

UNIVERSITY of Cape Town Emeritus Professor Rajend Mesthrie at the 1860 Heritage Centre.

(Supplied)

This historic event has been commemorated through various activities, including a public lecture hosted by the 1860 Heritage Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, which is under the auspices of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.

Emeritus Professor Rajend Mesthrie, a prominent linguist and scholar, yesterday delivered an enlightening lecture titled, “The Durban Ships’ Lists of Indenture: A socio-geographic reanalysis of the districts of origin”.

He analysed the Durban ship lists of indenture from 1860 to 1911.

Mesthrie said his work continued the tradition of historians who had worked on the Indian communities of South Africa, on indenture and the plantations.

Among those that he mentioned were AG Choonoo in the 1960s, Joy Brain and Suresh Bhana in the 1980s and beyond, and present-day historians like his wife, Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie, Goolam Vahed and Ashwin Desai, among others.

Having completed his PhD on Bhojpuri-Hindi, the primary North Indian language brought to South Africa, that evolved on the plantations of KwaZulu-Natal.