Two University of the South Pacific scholars have uncovered and reconstructed the identities of indentured labourers believed to have died in the 1884 wreck of the Syria, challenging long-held assumptions that the victims were never formally recorded in colonial archives.
In a special presentation titled “The Wreck of the Syria, 1884: Naming the Dead,” Associate Professor Margaret Mishra and Professor Sudesh Mishra detailed how archival records and historical documents were used to identify those lost at sea during one of the darkest tragedies in Fiji’s Girmit history.
The presentation formed part of Girmit Day commemorations and drew on departure and arrival records housed at the National Archives of Fiji.
Associate Professor Margaret Mishra said the project evolved beyond academic research into what she described as a moral responsibility.
“This research began as an archival search, but it soon became an ethical responsibility to name and mourn Syria’s dead and bring closure to a catastrophic event that has loomed darkly over the Fiji indenture story for 142 years,” she said.
She described discovering unnumbered immigration passes in the archives as a breakthrough moment in the research.
“When I flipped past the final numbered pass at the National Archives of Fiji, I found the unnumbered passes arranged ascendingly by ship number at the end of the pile. What a discovery that was,” she said.
Professor Sudesh Mishra said naming the dead represented an important act of remembrance and healing.
“For 142 years, the dead of the Syria remained unnamed in history. By invoking their names, we mourn them, we memorialize them, so as to let them go,” he said.
He added that the project sought to address generations of unresolved grief linked to the tragedy.
“We have lived in a state of melancholia for 142 years. We now want to properly mourn the dead by invoking their names in a ceremony of farewell.”
The presentation concluded with the recitation of names believed to belong to those who perished in the wreck, alongside an exhibition of Emigration Passes and ship records connected to the victims.
USP said the research formed part of broader efforts by scholars to preserve Girmit history through interdisciplinary work in literature, history, governance, ethics and cultural studies.
