It was exactly 137 years ago to this day when the Leonidas berthed in Fiji on May 14, 1879 — with it the first load of indentured labourers from India. Fiji was under the British and steps had been taken to recruit labourers to work the cane fields, which back then, was Fiji’s main earner.
It was five years after Fiji was ceded to Britain and years after the abolishment of slavery.
The indenture system was an alternate source of labour. Having taken labourers from India to work in Mauritius and other places for an initial five-year period, the British too brought them to Fiji.
The ship arrived with 373 male and 149 female labourers, some of whom had contracted diseases such as cholera, dysentery and smallpox on board.
The Fiji Times reported that the ship Leonidas arrived in port on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 14 but failed to make the harbour that evening.
It was reported communication was made with the ship the next morning and the vessel was found to be in a pest-stricken condition.
“Eventually, after the ship had sailed for some time up and down outside the port, she was piloted in by means of the pilot boat,” the report said.
On May 11, 1884, the fifth emigrant ship to Fiji, the Syria, was fatally wrecked on the Nasilai Reef just off Nausori that claimed 59 lives.
The ship had left Calcutta in India on March 13, 1884 carrying 497 passengers.
Despite the captain’s desperate measures to turn the ship, the Syria ran aground at 8:30pm on May 11.
Fifty six passengers died, three crew members and 11 others died a fortnight later as a result of injuries sustained.
The cane fields reeked with blood, sweat and tears until the indenture system was officially abolished by Britain in 1916.
It was reported the last ship load of labourers from India arrived in Fiji on the Sutlej on November 11, 1916.
The indenture system in Fiji was cancelled in 1920, according to girmitunited.org.com
Wikipedia reports that between 1879 and 1916, 42 ships made 87 voyages carrying indentured labourers to Fiji.
The report said the ships initially brought labourers from Calcutta but from 1903, except two ships which brought labourers from Madras.
It reported that 60,965 passengers left India but only 60,553 arrived in Fiji. This included births at sea.
“A total of 45,439 boarded ships in Calcutta and 15,114 in Madras. Sailing ships took, on average, 73 days for the trip while steamers took 30 days,” the report said.
After 10 years of Girmit, the colonial government was compelled to provide free passage back to India for every Girmitiya and their children. They were finally free to return home at their own expenses after five years.
However, the majority of the Girmitiyas remained in Fiji and their descendants are now in different corners of the country and the world.
Professor Biman Prasad said in Parliament earlier this month a speech of the Honourable Justice Jai Ram Reddy, a grandson of an indentured labourer and the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the NFP to the Great Council of Chiefs on June 6, 1997 would go down as a defining moment in Fiji’s history.
“The Indians of Fiji, brought to these shores as labourers, did not come to conquer or colonise…Our ancestors came to this land in search of a better life, in search of a future they dreamed of for their children and their children’s children.
“Though they travelled to these islands long after your ancestors, surely the dreams and hopes of those who landed from the Leonidas were not that different from those who came ashore after the epic earlier voyage from the West”. (Quote by Reddy) Leader of the National Federation Party Prof Biman Prasad said the indentured labourers and their descendants, over the past 100 years had significantly contributed to the social, economic and political development and advancement of Fiji.
“This is well recognised,” Prof Prasad said.
“They have lived peacefully and harmoniously, side by side with other races, especially with our original inhabitants of these beautiful islands, the indigenous community or the i-Taukei at all times with a few exceptions, since the start of the coup culture in 1987.”
Prof Prasad, a chief guest, at the closing Girmit celebration in Lautoka this week said, their forefathers operated on the basis of freedom, human rights, dignity and a virtuous living — the values that, over a period of time, guided their fight against the vices of the indentured system.
