As you likely know, the National Library of Australia (NLA) has released records of over 60,500 immigration passes for indentured labourers who arrived in Fiji through the Indentured System. Additionally, the NLA has made available a registry documenting the deaths of Indian Immigrants during the years 1879 to 1972. Regrettably, certain pages have suffered deterioration…
Rajendra Prasad’s Tears in Paradise is now available at Amazon as an ebook for your Kindle or Kindle App on your iOS or Android devices. I was very impressed with the Kindle edition of this book – the most convenient part is that I can flip to any page and read any bit as and…
An employer often complains, that the women suckle their infants, too long and that they could be left in the lines much sooner than is usually done. These gentlemen forget that these people have no other means of providing suitable nourishment for their children – Dr Hirsche, Chief Medical Officer, Fiji On 10 April 1913,…
The initial number of women in the Colonies were less. It was also considered that if the labourers had a family living in the colonies they would be more likely to stay on. Women, however, were not treated well; apart from living in appalling conditions, they were expected to return to work on the farms…
I have taken screenshots from the BBC Documentary, Coolies: How Britain Reinvented Slavery. The full documentary is available under the History tab on this website. The screenshots are part of the interview undertaken by Dr Brij V Lal who visited Late Mr Deo who was an indentured labourer who arrived in Fiji under the Indian…
From 1879 to 1916, over 60,000 Indians migrated to Fiji under the Indentured Labourer Scheme. The British Government introduced the system to recruit labourers from India to work on plantations in Fiji. The Indian Indentured Labourer collection held at the National Library of Australia includes immigration passes, general registers, plantation registers, repatriation registers and death registers. These records are used by many…
I have read a lot of literature by historians and came across the writing of JW Burton through books and articles written by, Dr Brij Lal, Andrew Thornley, Ken Gillion, Dr Ahmed Ali, Rajendra Prasad (NZ), Dr Satish Rai, and Thakur Ranjit Singh. This discussion is based on the works of authors/historians mentioned here and…
INDENTURED women, especially those in Fiji, unwittingly played a very large part in the movement to abolish the indenture system. The Indian public had for a long time been aware of the sorry plight of the Indian labourers overseas, but it was the news of the molestation and abuse of Indian women on the plantations…
The purpose of establishing informational websites, blogs, forums and publishing books, articles and research is firstly because the people doing this is not only interested in history, but it’s a personal choice; because it’s important to them. For many of us, and I am saying this from my discussions with many people that they want…
The Girmitiyas who left India between 1879 and 1916 most likely did that in search of a better life, many hoped to get away from Indian famines that ravaged the country in the 19th Century; while others were tricked into a better future by the Recruiters. They left in groups of family members, while some…