NOVEMBER 16 marks the 164th anniversary of the first indentured workers arriving at their African homes aboard the SS Truro in 1860.
In the years that followed, aboard 384 ships, 152 184 indentured labourers were transported from 1860 to 1911 to provide labour in growing the colonial economy.
As part of the commemorations, the 1860 Heritage Centre, an agency museum of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sports Arts and Culture, will host an 1860 Memorial Lecture on November 15 at 6.30pm at its premises in Derby Street.
"This year’s 1860 Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Professor Vinay Lal, titled The Figure of the Migrant: The Moved, the Unmoved, and the Human Condition in Perilous Times.
"Professor Lal is a professor of history and Asian American studies at UCLA, who has written widely on the history and culture of colonial and modern India, popular and public culture. He is presently in South Africa on the prestigious STIAS fellowship at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study," said Selvan Naidoo, the Director of 1860 Heritage Centre.
"On November 16, the Indentured Workers Arrival Day, the 1860 Heritage Centre will host a commemoration ceremony at 10am at the site of the planned indentured monument. The event is open to the public."
Naidoo said the ceremony would be held in the vicinity of the parking lot of Durban South Beach, at the end of Erskine Terrance, directly opposite Silver Sands Lifestyle Resort.
"The programme includes an interfaith prayer followed by the singing of the South African National anthem and a bell ringing ceremony in tribute to South Africa’s first Indian indentured workers.
"The programme will conclude with an address by the KwaZulu Government followed by the symbolic offering of the marigold flower to the Indian Ocean waters, honouring all indentured workers who have contributed to the building of the nation of South Africa."
For more information, call 031 309 1818 or email 1860heritage@gmail.com or snaidoo@nwood.co.za