GALLE AND ST. ALOYSIUS' COLLEGE

The picturesque town of Galle, with its sea front, harbour, Dutch ramparts and walled city in the Fort, figured prominently in NU's life in the early 1920s.

- KUMARI JAYAWARDENA AND JENNIFER MORAGODA

During Portuguese and Dutch occupation, Galle had been the main port of the island, since it possessed an excellent natural harbour, with trade and commerce with Europe and Asia conducted from there. In the 19th century, Galle continued to be a busy entrepôt and commercial hub, and was the main port of Sri Lanka up to the 1880s. Compared to Tangalle, Hambantota and Matara, Galle was a bustling town, with a variety of ethnic and religious communities - Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, South Indian Chettiar, European, and Burghers of Portuguese and Dutch descent - with their temples, kovils, mosques and churches. Galle had several large girls' and boys' schools run by Christian missions or by the Buddhist Theosophical Society.

There were government and mercantile offices, banks, hotels, cinemas, and shops.

Among the important foreign mercantile establishments in Galle were: E. Coates & Co., Charles P. Hayley & Co., Volkart Bros., and the engineering firm of Walkers.

Main Street had several large shops - The Galle Stores, National Stores, Modern Drapery Stores, Abdul Rahims, and Lakmini Jewellers, among others. Norah Roberts (1993, pp.10-13) recalls the popularity of Galle's first cinema hall, the Britannica Picture Palace (later called Queen's), which opened in 1924 showing Charlie Chaplin's The Truant. Norah Roberts (the daughter of civil servant T.W.

Roberts from Barbados and his British wife Florence Tarrent) was the librarian of the Galle Library from 1940 to 1982. In her book on Galle, she notes the changes in Galle in the 19th and early 20th centuries: Galle port won international fame.