Search our online database of Indian immigrants to South Africa. The Indian Shipping Lists, complete in 91 volumes, provide extensive data relating to Indian indentured immigrants to South Africa.

Passenger Lists

The captain of each vessel was provided with a list of passengers and this was handed over to the Protector of Indians, or his representative in Natal, who, after checking the list against the passengers, had it bound in what have become known as the Indian Shipping Lists or Ships' Lists.

Every indentured labourer from India is listed in these registers according to the colonial number given at the time of indenture or departure from the ports of Madras (for south Indians) and Calcutta (for the north). This number remained with the individual throughout his or her stay in Natal. It followed them into marriage where the colonial number of the husband appeared on the marriage certificate with his wife's number and on the birth record of their colonial born children. The colonial number appeared on every official document including licenses, employment agreements and finally death certificates.

Indentured Indians in South Africa

In addition, using the Registers of those returning to India, which are unfortunately incomplete, information has been given, as far as possible, about those who left to return to India. This has been explained in the next section on Indentured Indians who returned to India. Other information has been captured from the copious correspondence of the Protector of Indians and the Indian Immigration Trust Board; this included lists of those leaving Natal under license for other parts of South Africa. The final remarks column provides the employer, an individual or an estate, where the first indenture period was served.

The start of the Shipping List project

Research into the Shipping Lists began in 1978 when a study of was made of the number of Christian Indians who had come to Natal. The Shipping Lists were used extensively to identify them for a study of Christian Indians in Natal ( J.B.Brain, Christian Indians in Natal: Cape Town, OUP, 1983). They also formed a base for work on the economic history of Natal, in which the caste and occupation of individuals were extracted and then traced to their employers in the Estates Registers (Guest and Sellars eds, Enterprise and exploitation in a Victorian Colony, chap.8: Pietermaritzburg, Natal University Press, 1985).

The Department of History of the University of Durban-Westville was given permission to consult these documents at a time when they were closed to the public for political reasons. Because work on the Shipping Lists was obviously going to be a long term project, permission was requested to have them microfilmed. This was granted on condition that nothing was removed from the Department of Indian Affairs where they were kept.

However it proved impossible for any microfilming cameras, large as they were at the time, to pass through the strongroom doors. Just as the project seemed impossible, a young professional photographer offered to copy the registers.

After experimenting for some time a focus range was selected and the entire task was performed, using three vintage Leica cameras borrowed from the photographer's father, one of which collapsed under the strain and had to be repaired; fortunately in those days spares were still available. The numerous five-foot lengths of 35mm document film, after developing 15 at a time in three tanks, were spliced together, sometimes in the wrong order, by a commercial film studio. Although the end result was not as professional as it would have been if a microfilm camera had been used, the entire first stage of computerisation was completed from these reels.

Thanks are due to the Registrar of UDW for obtaining permission for this work to be done and to the Research Fund for providing the financial resources. The set of microfilms is the property of the Department of History of the University of Durban-Westville.

For the first few years two research assistants, working from the microfilm reels, captured the details on to a computer. It was a slow and exacting occupation and errors inevitably slipped in but they worked steadily, and eventually, when the money ran out, they had completed about 96000 entries. Work came to an end for some time and Professor Surendra Bhana used the information then available to compile a statistical analysis of the first stage of the study (Indentured Indian Emigrants to Natal 1860-1902: New Delhi, Promilla & co.,1991). In 1989 money was again available and in the next three years the second part of the capturing was completed. In 1992, with the Shipping lists now housed in the Natal Archives, the task of revising, checking and correcting began. Now, using the actual registers for the first time, the entire 91 volumes were revised and this was completed in June 2003.

Special Problems

The computerization of the Indian Shipping Lists presents special problems for the researcher. The first is the condition of the original registers. Some, as for example vol.1 (Madras), has many of the initial pages missing, others are torn or have the numbers and first names destroyed. The early Calcutta registers (A-D) are also in a poor condition. Calcutta volume J is almost illegible. Even when the pages are intact many of the volumes have been repaired with opaque tape which has become brittle and discoloured and nothing can be seen through it. We have tried to find the missing names in other sources with only limited success.

The next difficulty is in reading the handwriting. There is an art in reading nineteenth century copperplate handwriting, as all researchers know, but in the case of the Shipping lists there is an extra problem in that in most instances it is almost impossible to distinguish between n and u. Both these letters, as well as m and r, are in common use in proper names and when carelessly written, as many are, nn may correctly be un or in. Examples of names using these letters are Munnuru and Narasimmulu. Thus inaccuracies may and do appear in proper names despite care, patience and the use of a magnifying glass!

In a few cases it has been shown that the person's sex is given as male in one source and female in another. This has been left as it appears unless it is obviously a female name and is followed by the names of infants or children. Some of the ages are difficult to decipher where 3 and 8, 5 and 7 are not properly formed.

As far as place names are concerned it must be pointed out that Indian place names have been substantially altered since 1947 and the original names as given in the registers have been left as they are. The use of a 19th century gazetteer, such as The Imperial Gazetteer of India , which is available in Natal, is useful in identifying places and districts.

Because of the possibility of inaccuracies in the reading of proper names, the researchers would like to be informed of errors that have been detected by family or descendants together with sources consulted. This will allow corrections to be made in the revisions.

Acknowledgements

The University of Durban- Westville Research committee and the Human Sciences Research Council provided financial support in the 1970s and 1980s, paying for the hire of research assistants for part of that time. Again in 1990 and 1991 Miss Jaythree Singh did sterling work in the deciphering of north Indian proper and place names. I thank them for their generous support and thank also the research assistants associated with this project, in particular Miss Nadine Cockburn of Durban, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

For several years permission was given to Professor Brain to work one day a week at the Department of Indian Affairs, consulting the original registers which were closed to the public at that time. This was of great assistance.

I express my gratitude to the staff of the Natal Archives in Pietermaritzburg where in the 1980s I examined and listed every document relating to Indian immigration; they also permitted the temporary transfer of the Estates Registers, volumes 1 to 8, to the Durban depot. The staff of the Durban archives, where the Shipping Lists are now kept, have provided us with every assistance, including pleasant and friendly working conditions, over the final period of this project.

Finally I want to express my gratitude to my colleagues of the last few years: Dr T.H.Bennett travelled to Durban with me each week to work on the Shipping Lists and on the Estates Registers and has been responsible for the capturing of all the new and revised information. Mrs Deirdre Papendorf and the late John Ford gave of their time and energy so that the work could be completed in 2003. That this has been possible is due to their help and enthusiasm.

Conclusion

Although the computerisation has been completed, we do not consider that this project has come to an end because there will no doubt be revision and correction to be done in the future. Nevertheless after many years of detailed and time-consuming work we believe that the computerisation of the Indian Shipping Lists will be of assistance to researchers and to the descendants of the indentured labourers, while at the same time helping to preserve the life of the original registers.

J.B.Brain Professor Emeritus, University of Durban – Westville Kloof, July 2003

How can Ancestry24 can help you ?

By providing you with a list of those recorded immigrants. It is important to note that no complete list of INDIAN PASSENGERS exists, however Ancestry24 has obtained the only lists available which have been transcribed from the original source. Indians who paid their own passage to Natal and needed no passport, because they had come from British India, entered South Africa and left again as they pleased in the 1870s and 1880s. Passenger Indians began to arrive in 1875, the number increased in the 1880s and by the mid 1890s restrictions on their movements were introduced in both Natal and the Transvaal. This is the subject of other studies.

The first Indentured Indians arrived on the Truro, a paddle steamer from Madras, on November 17,1860. The second ship arrived soon afterwards from Calcutta; this was the ship Belvidera which reached Port Natal on November 26, 1860. After this ships arrived regularly until July 14, 1866 when the Isabella Hercus arrived from Madras.

No immigrants were sent to Natal from India between 1867 and 1874 partly because Natal was suffering from economic depression in the last years of the 1860s and, when this lifted, the Government of India required some of the conditions under which Indians were employed to be reviewed. The first returning immigrants, sailing on the Red Riding Hood in January 1871,and on the Umvoti shortly afterwards, complained about some of the conditions under which they lived and worked in Natal. They complained particularly about the £10 bonus that had not been paid to them despite the promise they claimed had been made to them when they were indentured.

The colonial government then set up a Commission of Enquiry under the chairmanship of the attorney-general M.H.Gallwey. The report of this Commission, which became known as the Coolie Commission, was published in 1872. Once new regulations were promulgated the Government of India allowed recruitment to take place again.

Emigration began again in 1874 and continued without interruption until July 21,1911 when Umlazi 43 brought the last immigrants to Natal before the termination of the indentured labour system by the Government of India. Ships could accommodate between 300 and 700 migrants and altogether a total of 152,184 men, women and children were transported. Of these two thirds of the immigrants were from Madras and one third from Calcutta. Each shipment was expected to include 40 women for every 100 men but in many cases there were far fewer than 40 women and sometimes as few as 25.

It has always been assumed that exactly 152,184 individuals arrived in Natal as indentured immigrants. A study of the Shipping lists, however, reveals that a few numbers were never allocated, and a number of immigrants who returned to India were recruited again, often with their friends and members of their families, and were given new colonial numbers when they came back. Some of these were known to be returning immigrants and their names were endorsed with R of N (Resident of Natal) but many others seem to have said nothing about the earlier period in Natal and were given completely new numbers. There is no way of discovering how many of these returning immigrants there were but certainly there were fewer first time immigrants than was formerly thought. There were also men and women who had originally indentured for work in other colonies, completed their period of indenture and then volunteered for Natal; their names are endorsed R of S (Surinam), R of F (Fiji) etc.

Other British colonies who imported Indian labour were Mauritius, Trinidad, Jamaica, British Guiana, St Lucia and Grenada; the French islands of Reunion, Martinique, and Guadelope, together with St Croix, also took advantage of indentured labour from India.

Initially the demand in Natal was for agricultural labour for the farms and estates; gradually this changed and by the 1880s it was railway workers that were needed to extend the railway line from Port Natal to the interior. By the 1890s the coal mines in Northern Natal were calling for labour as were the rapidly developing sugar estates along the north and south coasts. By 1904, when Zululand was opened up, the planting of sugar began in the Amatikulu district and around Empangeni and Indian labour was needed there. In addition a small group of indentured men, known as Special Servants, were brought in from Madras to work in hotels and clubs, as grooms and waiters, laundrymen and carriage drivers and as gardeners and aiyas (nursemaids) in private residences. These skilled people were recruited in Madras for a particular employer, were paid higher wages and enjoyed better conditions.

Indian Indentured Migrants to South Africa

The first war between the Transvaal and England lasted from December 1880 to March 1881. It was caused by the refusal of the Transvaal Boers to submit to British authority as proclaimed by Shepstone in 1877. After a period of passive resistance and repeated attempts by Paul Kruger and other leaders to have the annexation revoked, it was resolved at a national meeting on 13th December 1880 at Paardekraal to restore the Republic. Its affairs would be managed by a triumvirate consisting of Paul Kruger, Piet Joubert and M. W. Pretorius. Notice of the resolution was given to the British administration in Pretoria as well as to the governments of the Orange Free State, Natal and the Cape Colony.

The immediate cause of an armed conflict with the British authorities was an attempt by Gen. Piet Cronje to have a proclamation announcing the restoration of the Republic printed at Potchefstroom. The appearance of armed Boers in the main street and on the church square, where part of the British garrison under Capt. M. J. Clarke had entrenched itself in the magistrate’s office, ended in shooting. Hostilities followed also in other places in the Transvaal.

The British garrisons in Potchefstroom, Pretoria, Rustenburg, Lydenburg and Marabastad were surrounded and besieged. The Boer strategy was to isolate the British units in the Transvaal and to prevent their being reinforced from elsewhere. A detachment advancing from Wakkerstroom to Pretoria was forced to dig in at Standerton. Another detachment of the 94th Regt. under Col. P. R. Anstruther was cut to pieces on 20th December at Bronkhorstspruit by a commando led by Comdt. Franc Joubert. British losses were extraordinarily heavy: half of the force was killed and wounded and the rest taken prisoner. Immediately afterwards the main body of the Boers, led by Gen. Piet Joubert, occupied Laing’s Nek, the passage from Natal to the Transvaal. Meanwhile Kruger was conducting the affairs of state from Heidelberg, the temporary capital.

Britain’s first and foremost task was to relieve the besieged garrisons. Only by achieving this could the resistance of the Boers be broken. So Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley led an expeditionary force from Natal with the purpose of breaking the Boer positions at Laing’s Nek. He had at his disposal soldiers from the zest, 58th and Both Regiments, and was well provided with rockets and artillery, arms which his opponents lacked altogether. Initially his force consisted of hardly more than 1,000 men. On 28 January 1881 Coney launched a frontal attack on the Boer positions from his camp at Mount Prospect. Despite heavy protective fire by cannon and rockets and heroic charges by infantry and cavalry, he could not succeed in driving away his opponents, all of them excellent sharpshooters. Once more the losses were heavy, and the defenders were not coming off lightly either.

Joubert was not willing to remain on the defensive, for large British reinforcements were on their way from the south and the Boers would not be able to withstand such superior numbers for a long period. He therefore sent a commando under Gen. Nicolaas Smit to the rear of Coney’s positions in order to obstruct his line of communications with Newcastle. The British commander immediately realised the danger and marched against Smit. A fierce battle took place on 8th February at Skuinshoogte, near Ingogo. The battle lasted the whole of the afternoon amid a heavy thunderstorm, and under the protection of darkness Colley was obliged to withdraw from the battlefield. Once again the Boer sharpshooters were successful and Coney lost a large part of his force. It was clear that the bravery of the British soldiers was no match for the Transvaalers’ tactics and use of the terrain.

While the war continued on the Natal border and the British administration in the Transvaal had come to a complete standstill, Paul Kruger, supported by Pres. J. H. Brand of the Orange Free State, attempted to come to an agreement with London and end the war. He counted on the sympathy of the rest of South Africa and on the active support of the Free State, many of whose citizens were threatening to join the cause of the Transvaalers. In England, too, influential persons were seeking a peaceful solution of the Transvaal problem, and Gladstone’s Liberal government, inclined to big concessions, would accept any reasonable proposal which suited the interests of Britain. As early as January Kruger had already made a peace offer based on the restoration of the independence of the Transvaal subject to some sort of British authority. On 12th February Kruger once more appealed to Coney from Laing’s Nek to make an end to the struggle and offered to withdraw from the Boer position pending an impartial inquiry by a royal commission. Coney wired the contents of the letter to London and the British government agreed to negotiate on that basis. Colley, however, delayed his reply unnecessarily, so that it reached Kruger only at the end of the month, after his return to Heidelberg.

Meanwhile Coney decided to outflank the Boers by means of a bold act and to avenge his defeats. With a hand-picked band he occupied the top of Majuba, the hill which dominated Joubert’s positions, on 26th February.

This forced the Boers to launch an immediate counter-attack. A storming party hastily collected and, led by Nicolaas Smit, scaled the hill and from close quarters opened overwhelming fire on the enemy. The demoralised soldiers fled, Coney himself was killed, and the survivors entrenched themselves in their camp at Mount Prospect, where they awaited the arrival of reinforcements under Sir Evelyn Wood.

The victory at Majuba echoed throughout the country and stirred up national feeling among the Afrikaners in the whole of South Africa. President Brand was hardly able to restrain his people any longer from entering the war, and the government in London began to fear a general uprising. The Gladstone cabinet was magnanimous and willing to enter into negotiations for peace, as proposed by Kruger.

On 6th March Joubert and Wood agreed to a provisional armistice and the British government recognised the Boer leaders as representatives of their people. Kruger arrived shortly afterwards at the border and Brand hastened there as mediator. The negotiations were then continued. Kruger, faithfully assisted by Dr. E. J. P. Jorissen, had to use all his diplomatic skill to ensure that Britain would agree in writing to the restoration of freedom to the Transvaal even before the Royal Commission began its inquiry. Eventually an agreement was reached in terms of which Britain practically undertook to cede the country within six months, and on their part the Boer leaders accepted limited independence under British suzerainty and agreed to disband their armed force. The agreement was ratified on 23rd March 1881.

The major task of the Royal Commission was to determine the borders of the ‘Transvaal State’, as the republic was now called, and the Boers were obliged to agree to the loss of considerable territory along the south-western border. The final treaty was incorporated into the Pretoria Convention, which was signed on 3rd August 1881. On 8th August the country was formally transferred to the Boer representatives and the British flag was replaced by the Vierkleur, the green, red, white and blue flag of the Transvaal.

Do you want to know more about the 2nd Anglo Boer War?

The causes of the war must be sought first in South African politics and secondly in international politics at the end of the 19th century. Because of their interrelationship these two causes are here treated as one.

To a certain extent it can be said that the seeds from which the war was to stem were sown during the Great Trek. This had as one of its most important results the fact that the second half of the 19th centuty after the two Boer republics, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, had gained their independence -was to see an increasing conflict between the political aims of the Afrikaners and the British. In events such as the Basuto wars, which the Free State had to wage for self-preservation, and the annexation of the diamond-fields, the germ of the development of Afrikaner nationalism is to be found. The annexation of the Transvaal in 1877 and the First Anglo-Boer War (1880-82) which it caused gave this nationalism such an impetus that it was to become a dominant factor in South African politics.

At the same time British imperialism in respect of South Africa was revealed. Imperialism was not by any means limited to Britain, but was a world-wide tendency. Other European powers, such as Germany, France and Italy, were also engaged in it. The result was the ‘scramble for Africa’, in which these powers competed with one another to establish colonies on the continent. This acquirement of colonies was chiefly motivated by the idea that the colonies would provide raw materials for British industries and at the same time would be markets for manufactured products. When other countries also became industrialised and established their own colonies, Britain could no longer consider herself one jump ahead of the rest of the world. This fact was of particular significance for South Africa.

The champion of the British imperialist cause in South Africa was Cecil John Rhodes, who became a member of the Cape Parliament in 1881 and rose to be Prime Minister in 1890. His great ideal was to bring the whole of South Africa under British control. He was to find his chief antagonist in President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal Republic, who became the leader of Afrikaner nationalism after 1881. Kruger’s great aim was to protect the political and economic independence of his state, to check British influence and to prevent British control. It was inevitable that there would be a clash between him and Rhodes, who succeeded, by the annexation of Bechuanaland and of Rhodesia, in surrounding the two Boer republics completely, precluding any further expansion on their part. After that the only outlet for them that was not in British hands was Delagoa Bay, to which the Transvaal built a railway, financed by German and Dutch capital.

The discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand in the Transvaal Republic in 1886 was to the advantage of British imperialism. Thousands of British subjects moved to the Transvaal to try their luck. They began to campaign for equal political rights, which the original Transvaalers could not grant for fear of losing their independence. After the agitation had continued for some years, some of the leading Uitlanders (foreigners) in Johannesburg conspired with Rhodes, which led to the abortive Jameson Raid at the end of 1895. This event not only marred the relations between English and Afrikaners in South Africa, but also revealed to an amazed world that Britain and Germany were no longer on very friendly terms. Germany had already invested a considerable amount of capital in the gold-mines, and besides she had an idea of gaining possession of Delagoa Bay. The Emperor William II was moved to send a congratulatory telegram to President Kruger on the failure of the Raid. This caused much indignation in Britain, and the Government, in which the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain, was a leading figure, was determined to cut the knot in South Africa by terminating the independence of the Transvaal.

It was with this policy in view that Sir Alfred Milner, a convinced Imperialist, was sent to South Africa in 1897 by the British government as Governor of Cape Colony and High Commissioner in South Africa. He seized his opportunity at the beginning of 1899, when the Uitlanders in Johannesburg renewed their agitation. This time they sent a petition to Queen Victoria, begging for British support. Milner also urged interference on their behalf. Pres. M. T. Steyn of the Orange Free State, who feared that war would result and wished to prevent it, then invited both Kruger and Milner to a meeting in Bloemfontein to discuss the situation. The talks lasted from 31st May to the 5th June. The main subject was the granting of the franchise to British subjects who had settled on the Witwatersrand. Although Kruger made considerable concessions, Milner remained unsatisfied, as he was already contemplating the destruction of the independence of the Transvaal by military force. For this reason the Bloemfontein Conference failed.

After his return to Cape Town Milner urged the British government to send troops to South Africa, and they began to arrive in August and September. The Transvaal government now made further concessions regarding the franchise for foreigners, but these were not sufficient to satisfy Milner. The Orange Free State, as well as the Transvaal, saw in the arrival of the British forces a threat to their independence, and on 9th October an ultimatum was sent to the British government: if the troops were not removed, a state of war would exist between Britain and the Boer republics. And so the war began on 11th October 1899. A few days later Chamberlain stated in the House of Commons that the war was necessary to maintain Britain’s position in world affairs. The diminution of British power, owing to the rapid rise of important competitors, turned the problems in South Africa into a matter of prestige for Britain. She had to show that she could compel a recalcitrant small state to submit to British domination.

Indentured labour to Natal was introduced in terms of Laws 13, 14 and 15 of 1859, which set out the regulations and conditions of service for men and women recruited at Madras under the supervision of the Protector of Emigrants in India. Initially Natal had a recruiting office in Madras only, while in Calcutta the recruiting officer for British Guiana looked after their affairs. This was changed in 1884 when Mr R.S.W. Mitchell, working in Garden Reach, Calcutta, took over the Natal work. Looking for your Ancestors Colonial Number?

Natal needed agricultural labour in the 1850s and 1860s and put pressure on the Natal government as well as on Sir George Grey, then Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, to approach the British Government and the Government of British India with the aim of extending the indenture system to Natal. Indentured labour was already being supplied to Mauritius and to a number of sugar growing colonies in the West Indies, and, after examining the conditions agreed to for Natal, the scheme was finally introduced. Nevertheless certain aspects of indenture were not adequately thought through and were amended several times over the years. One of these was the question of whether Indians should be allowed to settle permanently in the Colony of Natal after they had completed their indenture, or if they should be returned to India. Employers hoped that the Indians would supply a permanent, regular and reliable labour supply, for that was what the colony seemed to need as farmers struggled to find a cash crop among the many that they tried -cotton, coffee, tea, indigo and arrowroot – without much success. Not until the 1870s did farmers on the coastal belt turn to sugar when new varieties were introduced; once this happened the demand for Indian labour increased greatly.

The first shipment of indentured labourers from India arrived in November 1860 on the Truro and Belvidera. In the next six years a total of 6445 men, women and children arrived. Natal was now suffering deep economic depression with the forced sale of a number of farms; the importation of labour was now halted. At the end of 1870 the first group of labourers had completed ten years of indenture but instead of re-indenturing, as had been hoped, a substantial number decided to return to India. Others abandoned their right to a free passage and were licensed to leave Natal for the Diamond Fields.

The first legislation provided a clause allowing immigrants who had completed their ten years of indenture to claim a piece of land in lieu of a return passage and a small group of 51 men took advantage of this and after a long wait were granted land at Braemar on the South Coast. This clause was removed from the legislation before the arrival of the 1874 immigrants.

Another point that had not been taken into account in passing the legislation was that the colony of Natal was required to send back to India, at the expense of the colony, invalids and those unable to work. The first such group returned on the Catarqui in November 1861 and thereafter small groups of sick, injured and ‘insane’, as well as their families, were placed on returning ships as the statistics show. It is interesting to read that the people returned on the Catargui were found by the Indian medical examiner to be quite fit enough to be immediately assigned to another recruiting agency.

Towards the end of the 1880s regular shipments of time-expired as well as invalid and unsuitable immigrants were returned to India and then transported to their home villages where they had been recruited.
The first ship chartered to take returning workers to Madras was the Red Riding Hood, which arrived at Madras in April 1871 bringing returning immigrants. The Umvoti, which left-Natal in May 1871, followed it and the two vessels together took 413 returning passengers of whom 187 disembarked in Madras and 226 went on to Calcutta. On arrival, some of the passengers gave unfavourable reports on the treatment they had received in Natal, and while a Commission of Enquiry was appointed in the colony to investigate their complaints, the Indian government allowed no further indentured labour to be sent to Natal. Problems were identified and new regulations promulgated and by 1874 recruiting was again allowed in both Madras and Calcutta. Many of the sugar estates, previously se~iously under-capitalized, were now sold to form part of larger enterprises, and with the discovery and exploitation of diamonds and gold, the economy of South Africa took a leap forward.

The second batch of indentured labourers, arriving between 1874 and 1879, numbered between eight and nine thousand and were all from Northern India. They were in great demand not only for sugar estates but also for the construction of the railway line from Durban to the interior. The Natal Government Railways, established in 1876, became the largest single employer of Indian labour, some of their employees being experienced and skilled men who had worked on railway construction in India.

In the 1880s labour was required for the rapidly developing coal mines in Northern Natal and recruiting agents were asked to find men working in Bihar’s coal mines. They had little success, either because wages offered were not attractive or because there was a shortage of labour in India itself. Nevertheless between three and four thousand indentured labourers were employed each year on the coal mines in Natal, contributing to the economic development of the mines and of the colony. Now the medical records began to give details of accidents resulting from machinery and mining operations, including loss of limbs, and the affected men were eventually returned to India as invalids or unfit to work. Every ship carrying returning workers now had a section for the sick and incapacitated.

On completion of their indentures Indian workers had four options open to them. They could re-indenture to the same or another employer of their choice and this they were actively encouraged to do, to the extent that in 1895 a law was passed imposing a tax of £3 on those time-expired workers who did not sign on for a further period of at least two years. This law came into effect in 1901 and two years later was extended to cover the children of formerly indentured men; boys over 16 and girls over 13 now became liable for the tax. All adult men in addition to the annual £1 Poll Tax paid this. A second choice for time-expired Indians was to leave Natal for another part of South Africa such as the Diamond Fields or the Eastern Transvaal or Witwatersrand gold fields. Thirdly they could enter the field of agricultural production on their own account, many having special skills in intensive agriculture. Of these some could afford to buy a plot but most found farmland to rent along the coastal belt or close to the towns. Others took up employment in the non-agricultural sector, using their skills as jewellers, blacksmiths, potters, tailors and so on. The final choice was to return to India and try to take up life where they had left off ten years earlier. Many of these returning Indians had accumulated money and jewellery during their years in Natal and the Protector remarked on several occasions that more money was taken back from Natal than from any other colony.

The attitude of the colonists towards Indians as permanent residents of Natal altered over the years, particularly after Natal was granted Responsible Government in 1893. The colonists began to resent the presence of considerable numbers of “Passenger Indians” who had paid their own fares, had never been indentured, and, since the 1880s, – had established themselves as hawkers, traders and merchants in the towns and country districts, competing with the local business people who saw them as providing unfair competition. The hostility began to spread to the ‘free’, i.e. ex-indentured, men and women who now outnumbered the colonists; this was eventually to cause political tensions. After the Anglo-Boer War Natal suffered another serious depression and the Indians could no longer afford to pay the £3 tax and many were forced to return to India or to leav~/Natal. Towards the end of this period, before the Act of Union of 1910, M.K.Gandhi, who had arrived in South Africa in 1893, took up the cause of the Indians who were discriminated against in Natal and the Transvaal, leading protest action. In 1914 he signed an agreement with General Smuts, then Minister of the Interior, known as the Indian Relief Act, Act 22 of 1914. Under this Act, which was administered by the Protector, ‘free’ Indians and their colonial born children were to be encouraged to return to India, the hated £3 tax was abolished; no action was to be taken to recover unpaid tax, Indian marriages were regulated and special marriage officers were appointed. Instead of
language tests a thumb print on a certificate of domicile would now be accepted as proof of the owner’s former domicile in Natal. The Assisted Emigration scheme, which was part of the Smuts-Gandhi agreement, began in September 1914 and for the next seven years a
bonus of between £1 and £5 was paid but only to indigent who never agreed to return to return.

The number who left Natal voluntarily under the Assisted Emigration Scheme of 1914 was a disappointment to the South African government and in the next ten years legislation discriminating against Indians in various ways continued to be passed. In 1921 the Asiatic Enquiry Commission increased the bonus to £5 per person with a maximum of £20 per family in order to encourage voluntary repatriation to India. This was increased in 1924 to £10 per person or £ 50 per family.

Natal now restricted the areas in which Indians could acquire land for farming to the coastal belt, extending about 20 or 30 miles inland. The core of the problem at this time was the fear among the white residents of Natal that their country would be flooded with Indian immigrants, or the “Asiatic influx” as it became known.

In December 1926 the Round Table Conference was held, resulting in the passing of an important agreement, known as the Cape Town Agreement of 1927. This included an Upliftment Clause addressing the question of the education of Indian children, which had been largely neglected by the South African government. The newly appointed Agent General for India, V.S.S. Sastri, and the South African Prime Minister, General Hertzog, signed it. This again was an attempt to relieve the tension by offering free passage to India to any who would go, plus the inducement of a gratuity to be paid on their arrival in India. The gratuity had reached £40 per adult and £20 per child under 16 by 1949. Again there was a limited response.

Those Indians who might have gone back to India were discouraged by reports of difficult climatic conditions, low wages, problems arising from the caste system for those who had contracted inter-caste marriages, the high cost of foodstuffs and the different style of living in the crowded cities which made it difficult for skilled workers to settle down. The Indian government, which had agreed to assist the returning families to settle in and find jobs, had been able to help a few in South India but not in the north. The report, written by Bhawani Dayal Sannyasi, on the assisted emigration scheme was highly critical of it -and believed that the emigrants had not been given all the facts. The arrangement failed to attract the large number of returning Indians that the South African government had expected, despite the economic depression of 1929 to 1933 during which Indian families had suffered hardship and neglect.

To conclude, Indians returned to India under one of these categories:
1. Those who were sick or unfit to work, and their families
2. Those entitled to a free passage under Act 17 of 1895, after completing their indenture period
3. Those who volunteered under the Relief Act 22 of 1914
4. Those who paid their own passage
5. Those who volunteered under the conditions of the Cape Town agreement, Act 37 of 1927 or under Act 45 of 1931, section 18

Full details of the numbers returning after 1914 are provided in the Statistical Report of the Protector of Indian Immigrants for the fifteen months ending March 31, 1953, p.9.

The 1954 Report of the Protector of Indian Immigrants provides statistics of the number of Indian immigrants, introduced from India from:
1860 to 31 December 1954 as 152 641
Died in Natal 53 334
Colonial born offspring of indentured persons 404 086
Estimated total returned to India 94 466
Left Natal for other places 14 984
Passenger Indians 30 680
Total Indentured Indian population of Natal,
31 Dec 1954 306 814

These figures are approximate since the number absconding from estates and other employers and then crossing the borders of Natal is unknown.

Further Information can be found in the Annual Reports of the Protector of Immigrants and of the Indian Immigration Trust Board.
Political aspects of the topic can be found in B. Pachai, The South African Indian Question 1860 to 1971, (Cape Town, C.Struik, 1971).

J.B.Brain Professor Emeritus, University of Durban-Westville

Hein Wicht

Ek koop graag outobiografiese boeke van minder bekende mense. O.a. omdat dit dikwels inligting oor nog minder bekende baie interessante mense bevat!

Ek lees vanaand in Hein Wicht se boek Road Below Me wat in 1958 uitgegee is deur Howard Timmins. Voordat Wicht die wêreld vol geseil en gereis het, het hy vir ‘n jaar of wat op 10 akker grond op die Kaapse Vlakte met groente probeer boer. Hy sê: “I always wanted to go to the sea, but my mother (sy het in Seepunt gewoon) made it clear that this was out of the question. If I couldn’t be a doctor, in the family tradition – and this was manifestly impossible owing to my “resistance to education”, then I would have to be a farmer. In those days many people still believed that it was the ideal occupation for the fool in the family.”

Oor die ligging van sy plasie sê hy: “To get to my holding, I used to take a train to a station called Ottery. From there it was necessary for me to walk about six miles along lonely, sandy tarcks, overshadowed by the Australian scrub.”

Ek skat dit moes kort voor of kort na die 1920′s gewees het. Hy het op daardie stadium in groot isolasie gewoon, maar met die skryf van die boek het die huis wat hy daar gebou het deel gevorm van ‘n woonbuurt.

Hy sê o.a. oor van sy bure: “These were my strange associates of the Cape Flats. Marthinus, the respectable coloured man, bearded and Arab-like; the now nameless drunken philosopher of the motor-case; Murphy, the hunchbacked printer; and one or two other colourful characters like old Pretorius.” Oor elkeeN van eersgenoemde drie persone vertel hy heelwat.

Oor sy Pretorius-buurman sê hy: “Pretorius was a retired railway ganger, and he lived among the dunes, with a very fat wife, and eleven daughters ranging in age from fourteen to forty. The old man, who must have been quite eighty, looked like a popular illustration of Jehovah.

For some reason I cannot now recall, I once spent a night in the Pretorius homestead. I remember the occasion, however, very well. Before turning in, we all sat on bentwood chairs round the walls of the voorhuis, while the old, white-bearded Pretorius read a chapter from the Bible. After we had sung a hymn, the youngest daughter went out and returned with a bucket of water. Kneeling down before the patriarch, she proceeded to wash his feet. We were all barefooted—in that sandy country with so much water lying about, most people went without shoes—yet the little girl made no attempt to minister to her mother and her sisters. From her father she came across to me. Much to my embarrassment, she thoroughly scrubbed my feet, paying particular attention to the spaces between the toes.

I remember being a little worried about the sleeping accommodation. The house was a wattle-and-daub structure with three rooms in a row, and a lean-to kitchen behind. The partitions went up to rafter level, but there was no ceiling—and thus very little privacy. The middle room was the voorhuis or living-room, on either side were bedrooms. Where was I going to sleep? I suspected I would have to bed down on the dung floor of the voorhuis. Presumably, Ma and Pa slept in one bedroom, the eleven girls in the other. To my surprise, I was ushered into the room on the left where there was a massive double bed with a feather mattress, and at least four lesser couches. I found that I was going to share the room with several of the daughters—and the double bed with father !”

Ek het skanderings van die eerste nege bladsy by Facebook

Andries Stockenström: “… A thousand times have such men as Van Wyk, van der Walt, Pretorius, Oberholzer, Joubert and others (whom before some of you, it is hardly safe to call human) spoken to me with the utmost warmth and sympathy of the dangers and injustice of taking the perty of the boarder tribes..”

My seun Malan by die graf van Michiel Oberholster.

Op 15 Junie 1845 – vandag 165 jaar gelede – sterf Michiel

Adriaan Oberholster op waarskynlik die plaas Schietmekaar in die Fauresmith-distrik. Michiel Adriaan was my oupagrootjie Daniel Johannes Malan Jacobs wat in 1869 op die plaas Platfontein i

n die Fauresmith-distrik gebore is se oupagrootjie. Hy was die leier van ‘n groot

klomp Trekboere wat reeds voor die Groot Trek semi-permanent in die Suid-Vrystaat gewoon het. Op sy plaas Schie

tmekaar kan sy nasate vandag nog uitwys waar die sogenaamde raadsaal gestaan het waar ek aanvaar hy en van die ander trekboer-leiers van tyd tot tyd vergader het. Michiel se skoonseun – my voorouer Willem Daniel Jacobs (geb. 1804) – op wie se Griekwa-huurplaas Fauresmith aangelê is – was ook een van hierdie Trekboer-leiers.

Die volgende inligting word gegee in ‘n dokument wat ek by Tannie Annatjie van Deventer – nasaat van Michiel Oberholster – gekry het:”… WD Jacobs, die eienaar van Sannaspoort, het later op eie koste predikante in die Kaap Kolonie laat haal om hier te kom preek. Hy het dus baie gedoen vir die welsyn van hierdie gemeente.” Later meer oor die Trekboere en die onderskeid tussen hulle en die Voortrekkers.

Ek en my seun Malan het Faur

esmith van 15-16 Julie 2009 besoek en was ook by die graf van o.a. Michiel Adriaan op Schietmekaar. Ek aanvaar dat dit een van die oudste geïdentifiseerde grafte van ‘n blanke wat in die Suid-Vrystaat gesterf het moet wees. Die graf van Michiel en ander lede van sy familie is in die 1940’s deur van sy nasate uitgewys aan van die jonger generasies wat toe grafstene van sement gemaak het en by die grafte aangebring het.

As jong kind reeds – miskien 7-8 jaar oud – het ek die eerste keer gehoor dat my oupagrootjie Daniel Johannes Malan Jacobs (agterkleinkind van Michiel) in die Fauresmith-distrik gebore is. Die inligting verskyn dan ook voor in my Oupagrootjie se Bybel.

Daniel Jacobs by die graf van Michiel Oberholster

My Oupagrootjie het my Oupa Jacobs met seker so 7 jaar oorleef. My Pa was 14 jaar oud toe sy Pa in 1945 oorlede is en ek kan onthou dat ek op ‘n stadium onder die indruk gekom het dat my Pa nogal geheg aan sy Oupa was.

Van al my Pa se voorgeslagte is daar in ons huis die meeste gesels oor die Malans. Seker, maar deels omdat ons familie-name Daniel Malan is – my seun Malan is nou al die vyfde geslag Daniel Malan Jacobs. Waarskynlik ook omdat ons o.a ‘n ou skryftafeltjie van my Oupagrootjie se ma – Anna Aletta Malan (geb. 1840’s) – gehad het. Ek kan onthou dat ek as kind ervaar het dat daar ‘n sagte plekkie vir haar was in die hart van my Ma – wat baie in geskiedenis belangstel – omdat Anna Aletta jonk gesterf het. Ek skat my Oupagrootjie was nie ouer as 3-4 jaar toe sy gesterf het nie. Hy het ook nog twee susters gehad wat jonger as hy was.

Dan was daar ook Anna Aletta se Pa Daniel Johannes Malan (geb. ca 1824) wat as Ryk Daantjie Malan bekend gestaan het. In Stals se twee volumes Die Afrikaner in die Goudstad word daar genoem dat hy ‘n direkteur was van die Langlaagte Gold Mining and Prospecting Syndicate. Of hulle egter een ons goud gemyn het betwyfel ek – die navorsing om my vermoede in die verband te probeer bevestig moet nog gedoen word. Hy het weliswaar ook arm gesterf – dit is egter ‘n storie vir ‘n ander dag.

Daniel Johannes Malan is in ca 1824 in Wellington gebore. Sy Pa Jan Jacobus Malan (geb. ca 1798) word volgens een bron saam met ‘n Dr Abbey aangegee as die stigters van Wellington. Die eerste huis in Wellington is deur hom gebou. Jan Jacobus Malan se Pa was Daniel Johannes Malan (geb. ca 1775). Ons kan die oorsprong van ons familiename na hom terugvoer. Hy was ‘n neef van die Voortrekker-leier Piet Retief.

Al wat ons verder van my Oupagrootjie se verbintenis met Fauresmith geweet het, was dat hy op 14-jarige ouderdom sy perd gevat het en weggeloop het na sy Oupa Daniel Johannes Malan wat op daardie stadium in Zeerust in die Wes-Transvaal gewoon het. Hy kon naamlik nie met sy stiefma oor die weg kom nie. Vandag weet ek dat hulle op daardie stadium – ca 1883 – nie noodwendig meer in die Fauresmith-distrik gewoon het nie. Ek het bv. sedertdien vasgestel dat sy Pa se derde huwelik in 1873 in Kimberley plaasgevind het. Soos seker ook baie ander Afrikaners het hy waarskynlik sy heil op die diamantvelde gaan soek.

Net vir die interessantheid. Die Erasmus Jacobs wat die eerste diamant in die Hopetown-distrik opgetel het, is deel van dieselfde “clan”. Sy Pa – Daniel Johannes Jacobus Jacobs – was ‘n kleinneef van hierdie oorgrootjie van my – Willem Daniel Jacobs (geb 1839) wat in 1873 in Kimberley in die huwelik getree het.

Anna Aletta Malan was Willem Daniel Jacobs (geb. ca 1839) se tweede vrou. Sy eerste huwelik was met ‘n Van Zyl-niggie van hom. Sy sterf op 22-jarige ouderdom en die huwelik met Anna Aletta Malan was in 1868.

In die 1860’s speel Daniel Johannes Malan bankrot in Wellington en ek vermoed dit is die rede waarom hy sy verdere heil in die noorde van die land gaan soek het.

Hierdie was my eerste besoek aan Fauresmith en distrik. Ek was in 1982 tydens my Nasionale Diensplig op ‘n offisier kursus by op Kimberley. Tydens ons “Vasbyt” het ons in vyf dae 180 km oor die vlaktes van die Noord-Kaap en Suidwes-Vrystaat gestap. Ons een draaipunt moes naby aan Jacobsdal gewees het. Op daardie stadium het ek nog nie geweet dat Jacobsdal aangelê is deur Christoffel Johannes Jacobs en sy seun nie. Christoffel Johannes was die oudste broer van my Oupagrootjie se Oupa Willem Daniel Jacobs (geb. 1804). Hy was die 9de oudste kind van David Jacobs (geb. ca 1749) en Jacoba Adriana Smit. Dit is op Willem Daniel Jacobs (geb. 1804) se Griekwa-huurplaas dat Fauresmith aangelê is.

Die Jacobse was van die trekboere wat hulle reeds voor die Groot Trek semi-permanent langs die Rietrivier bevind het. Prof. Britz noem in ‘n boekie wat hy oor die geskiedenis van Fauresmith se NGK geskryf het, dat die eerste trekboere hulle reeds in 1815 vir die eerste keer in die Rietrivier omgewing bevind het. Hulle belangrikste leier was my voorouer Michiel Adriaan Oberholster – wat vandag 165 jaar gelede gesterf het. Hy was vir baie jare die veldkornet van die Winterveld Veldkornetskap van die landdrosdistrik van Graaff-Reinet. Volgens Deel V van die SA Biografiese Woordeboek is hy in 1829 “algemeen as die leier van die trekboere erken”.

Die gebied waar hulle hulle gevestig het, was onder beheer van die Griekwas en reeds in 1828 het Oberholster namens die trekboere ‘n ooreenkoms met Adam Kok II aangegaan om grond van die Griekwas te mag huur (SA Biografiese Woordeboek, Deel V bl. 581).

Michiel Adriaan Oberholster se oudste dogter was getroud met my voorouer Willem Daniel Jacobs (geb. 1804) op wie se Griekwa-huurplaas Fauresmith aangelê is. Soos reeds genoem is hy my oupagrootjie – die eerste Daniel Johannes Malan Jacobs – wat in 1869 in die Fauresmith-distrik gebore is se oupagrootjie.

Hierdie trekboere het hoofsaaklik agter weiveld aangetrek en het nooit beplan om onder die gesag van die Koloniale regering uit te kom soos wat die geval met die Voortrekkers was nie. Hulle het dan ook as Lojaliste bekendgestaan omdat hulle lojaal gebly het aan die Engelse regering. Dit het dan ook tot struwelinge met van die Voortrekkers onder leiding van o.a. J.G. Mocke gelei wat hulle ook mettertyd in die Vrystaat gevestig het.

Daar is nie tyd om in diepte in te gaan op die “reg of verkeerd” van Oberholster se standpunt nie. Prof. PJ van der Merwe – my baie goeie vriend Joos se Pa – noem in sy boek die Noordwaartse Beweging van die Boere voor die Groot Trek (1770-1842) dat die trekboere oor ekonomiese redes getrek het.

Daar waar hulle in die Kaapkolonie gebly het – die Richmond-distrik – het hulle o.a. nie in voortdurende konflik met die Xhosas geleef nie en was dus nie vir die Engelse so kwaad soos die trekkers wat hoofsaaklik uit die Oostelike distrikte getrek het nie. Die feit dat baie min Voortrekkers uit o.a. die westelike dele van die Kaapkolonie gekom het, is ‘n verdere bevestiging van hierdie punt. Ook hulle het minder rede gehad om kwaad te wees vir die Engelse en daarom feitlik glad nie aan die Groot Trek deelgeneem nie.

Eric Rosenthal verwys in sy boek South African Surnames op bl. 109 as volg na Michiel Oberholster: “Even to-day, far over a century later, the personality of Michiel remains the subject of controversy among historians. Many of his contemporaries violently disliked his policy of conciliation…”

Ek het eendag aan ‘n vrou wat saam met my gewerk het genoem dat ek van Michiel Oberholster afstam. Haar reaksie was iets in dier voege: “Ek stam ook af van hom. Hy was mos ‘n perdedief en het wapens gesmokkel met die Basoeto’s!” Tydens my besoek aan Fauresmith het ek met ‘n ou dame gesels wat ook ‘n afstammeling is van hom en ook sy het aan my genoem dat Oberholster en sy mense deur sommige mense as verraaiers beskou is. Ek vermoed dat die beskouing van Oberholster as wapensmokkelaar en perdedief moontlik sy oorsprong gehad het tydens die hoogbloei van Afrikaner-nasionalisme (waarteen ek nie in beginsel enigiets het nie – ek is immers ‘n lid van die Voortrekker Jeugbeweging!), toe dit nie sou mode gewees he tom te sê dat jy ‘n nasaat van die lojalis MA Oberholster was nie.

Sy goeie verhouding met die Koloniale regering was waarskynlik een van die belangrikste redes waarom hy na die moord op Retief deel was van ‘n 13-man Kommissie wat deur die Engelse regering Natal-toe gestuur is om te gaan ondersoek instel na die omstandighede van die Voortrekkers. Die latere President Boshoff van die Vrystaat was nog ‘n lid van die Kommissie. Erasmus Smit verwys in die verband na o.a. Oberholster se teenwoordigheid in die Trekkerlaer waarvan hyself ook deel was.

Reg of verkeerd – Michiel Oberholster was nie ‘n bakleierige soort mens nie. Toe ek dit aan Louis Roux – by wie se gastehuis ek en Malan in Fauresmith oorgebly het – noem, het hy dadelik aan my genoem dat die Oberholsters wat hy ken saggeaarde mense is.

Tannie Annatjie van Deventer – nasaat van Michiel – het vir my vertel van haar gelowige voorouers – hoe hulle bv. ook besonder goed met hulle werksmense omgegaan het. Daar was bv. haar Oupa Jorsie (hy het soos King George gelyk en die bynaam George het toe verander na Jorsie!) wat diep gelowig was en o.a. verskeie geestelike geskrifte nagelaat het.

Op my vraag wat die familie oorvertel het oor Michiel Oberholster het sy gesê: “Hulle het gesê hy was ‘n baie goeie mens gewees…”

Oor haar oupagrootjie – Blinde Oupa en kleinseun van Michiel het sy gesê: “My pa het ook gesê hy was ‘n baie, baie goeie mens.”

Oor haar Pa het sy gesê: “Ja nee en hulle was nie opstandige mense gewees nie…As iemand kom koop het by hom – hy sou nie – bv daai man wou 5 pond ‘n os hê – ten minste betaal – en my Pa wou miskien 6 pond gehad het – en daai man sal hom vat vir 5 pond – pa sou nie stry oor ‘n prys nie.”

Blinde Oupa, kleinseun van Michiel Oberholster het volgens Tannie Annatjie van Deventer se Tante Mev. Anna Erasmus ook “vertel van nomadiese boesmans verskuil in bome teen nagtelike vangs deur leeus. Later, met gebare taal, is hulle aangelok. Een het die naam van Martha gekry, maar sy het haar kinders klein opgehang aan die boogsnaar as hulle te lastig is. Een het tog los gekom deur die Kommandant (nota: dit is Michiel Adriaan Oberholster) en sy naam was Koelman. Hy was die metgesel vir die Oupa agter die trop skape.”

Die volgende word ook vertel deur Mev. Anna Erasmus (die persoon wat die “staaltjie” aan Mev. Erasmus vertel het was ook blinde Oupa of dan kleinseun van MA Oberholster. Hy was Mev. Erasmus se Oupa): “Ook die staaltjie van Kommandant Oberholzer wat op ‘n skiettog ‘n gewonde swartman met ‘n maagwond deur ‘n renoster toegedien, se lewe gered het. Hy het dit met skoon water gewas en sy nekdoek om die liggaam gebind. Baie lank daarna het die bantoe al wuiwende met die doek op die plaas aangekom!”

Dit is natuurlik so dat nie net die lede van een van mens se geslagslyne ‘n invloed op jou lewe het nie. Dit wat Tannie Annatjie en Louis Roux oor die Oberholsters vertel het, het my egter tog laat dink aan wat ek gehoor het ‘n Amerikaner op ‘n keer by ‘n byeenkoms te UWK gesê het: nl. dat dit wat jy in jou lewe doen nog tot op die vyfde geslag na jou ‘n wesentlike invloed het. Ek aanvaar dit is deur navorsing bewys waarin waarskynlik bevind is dat dit in sommige gevalle op meer en in ander gevalle op minder as vyf geslagte betrekking het.

Dit beteken natuurlik ook nie dat ons gevangenes is van die gevolge van ons voorouers se dade en waardes nie. Ons het elkeen ‘n vrye keuse en daar is natuurlik baie voorbeelde van mense wat hulle ontworstel het aan die negatiewe invloed wat hulle voorgeslagte se dade en waardes op hulle as nageslag gehad het.

‘n Opmerking oor die karakter van Michiel Oberholster waaraan ons baie waarde kan heg kom van Andries Stockenstrom, op ‘n stadium o.a. Landdros van Graaff-Reinet. Dit is bekend dat hy en die Oosgrensboere nie altyd langs dieselfde vuur gesit het nie. In die volgende aanhaling uit sy outobiografie rig hy hom aan o.a. die grensboere se groot kritici in Engeland:
“It is most unjust to charge the colonists en masse as cut-throats, and as being adverse to the amelioration of, and good understanding with the aboriginal tribes. It is the fashion to associate everything that is barbarous, brutal and cruel with the ‘African-Boer’. If my object had been to gain popularity with any one set of men, then I would have adopted a more partial course than I did. But as I do not mean to cajole either friend or foe I neither hesitate to say that if a wise and efficient system had been adopted… the majority of citizens, English and Dutch, would have given it their most cordial co-operation. I never found them in the aggregate hostile to any plan which would ensure protection for themselves as well as their black neighbours … A thousand times have such men as Van Wyk, van der Walt, Pretorius, Oberholzer, Joubert and others (whom before some of you, it is hardly safe to call human) spoken to me with the utmost warmth and sympathy of the dangers and injustice of taking the property of the boarder tribes, the doubtful alternative to which our wavering policy occasionally drives us. I have often found more human feelings and good sense in these men and the like, than I am disposed to give some of their defamers credit” Vir meer inligting hieroor sien by STORIES op my webtuiste by www.gendata.co.za

Handtekening van Michiel Oberholster

Stephanus Hofmeyr is op 3 Junie 1839 gebore. Hy was die eerste buitelandse sendeling van die NG Kerk en het in die vroeë 1860’s met sendingwerk begin in die Soutpansberg-gebied. Die groep onder wie hy gewerk het, het onder leiding gestaan van Michael Buys, een van die seuns van die bekende Coenrad Buys (1).

Oor sy tyd in Bredasdorp waar hy waarnemende klerk was vir sy pa wat die landdros was het hy die volgende gesê: “Ik was een voorpaard van den Duivel, en bewandelde den breeden weg des verderfs met alle mijne krachten.” (2) Aan die einde van 1858 is hy na sy Oom in Prins Albert “om boerdery te leer”. Ek haal aan uit W.L. Maree se boek Lig in die Soutpansberg: “Hy het weer begin om sy Bybel gereeld te lees en soggens en saans te bid. Op reis met die ossewa het hy selfs saans by die wa vir die bediendes godsdiens gehou, en as sy oom van die huis af was het hy tuis die huisgodsdiens gelei. Hy sê hy het vroom geword en is gerespekteer, maar hy het diep gevoel dat hy met sy vroomheid verlore gaan, omdat hy onwedergebore was. In 1861 tydens die herlewing is in daardie distrik ook met bidure begin.

Stephanus het hom steeds meer oor sy eie toestand bekommer.” Die herlewing verwys na die herlewing wat na die Worcester-konferensie van 1860 uitgebreek het. In April 1862 kom hy kragdadig tot bekering terwyl hy in die stookketel op die plaas werk. Hy beskryf dit as volg: “Terwijl ik zoo stond, zeide ik ,Ach Heer, wat zal ik doen, ik heb alles geprobeerd en niets helpt, ik kan niet meer bidden of weenen, krijg tog voor mij jammer’. Op dat oogenblik, bliksemsnel was het asof de hemel en mijn hart tegelijk opensprongen. Een gloed van liefde verwarmde mijne ziel. Ik zeide„Wat is dit ? Is dit de liefde van den Heere Jezus ?’ Alles in mij zeide : ,Ja, dit is wat gij al zoo lang zoekt en dat de Heer van eeuwigheid voor u gevoeld heeft’. O welk eene liefde gevoelde ik tot den Heiland. Het was asof ik door duizend vuren naar Hem zou kunnen loopen. Ik was aan brand van liefde. De tranen barstten mij uit de oogen. Ik nam den trechter weg, zette de spon op het spongat, bracht den ledigen emmer naar zijn plek en riep : ,O, dat ik toch een hoogen berg kon beklimmen en de geheele wereld toeroepen en verzekeren, dat de Heer Jezus zondaars lief heeft!’ ” (3)

Oor ‘n herlewing wat in die 1870′s op die sendingstasie uitgebreek het en wat ook versprei het na die blankes in die omgewing word as volg vertel in Lig in die Soutpansberg: “Weenende kwamen de meeste kinderen in, velen der grooten konden zich niet meer bedwingen. Daar er hoegenaamd geene kans was een woord te spreken, gingen de geloovigen allen op hunne knieën, om in stil gebed den Ontfermer te vragen toch die bittere smart te stillen, door de ware vertroosting van denzelfden Geest, wiens werk het is te slaan en te heelen. Lang bleven wij op onze knieën. Wij liepen de schare door; waar wij konden spraken wij. Doch het meerendeel scheen niet eens te weten dat wij met hen spraken. Twee of drie uren was ik getuige van eene droefheid bij sommigen, zoo als ik nog niet van eene gehoord heb … Eindelijk stond ik op. Ik ging naar de kinderen, vraagde hoe het met hen ging. Sommigen zeiden : wij hebben den Heere Jezus gevonden, anderen, wij hebben onze harten aan den Heere Jezus gegeven. Ik zeide: ,Kinderen! als gij waarlijk uw hart aan den Heiland gegeven hebt, gaat dan uit, dankt Hem voor die genade, bidt Hem om u vast te houden’. Nu ging er eene kleine schare uit…Na eenigen tijd kwamen de kinderen weer binnen. Nu begonnen zij te zingen . . . Lang, zeer lang, bleven wij dien heugelijken avond in Gods huis. Niemand had lust het te verlaten. Wij waren aan den drempel des hemels”

VOETNOTAS

1. Coenraad Buys was ‘n agterkleinkind van die Franse Hugenoot Jean de Buis en sy vrou Sara Jacobs. Sara Jacobs was ‘n dogter van my stamvader, Pierre Jacob, wat ook ‘n Franse Hugenoot was. Sy eerste 9 kinders het hy gehad by ‘n blanke vrou Maria van der Ros (van der Horst) en hulle het ‘n groot nageslag. Op 7 Desember 1812 trou hy in Swellendam met Elizabeth, ‘n Swart vrou. By haar het hy vier kinders gehad. Hy is o.m. as volg beskryf: “An early Boer settler in the northern regions and a man of many parts.” (P Joyce: The South African Family Encyclopaedia, p. 101.) Hy was skynbaar 2.13 m lank, baie intelligent, en het o.m. deelgeneem aan die Graaff-Reinet-opstand in 1798, die Griekwas gelei in ’n aanval op die Tswanas en hom saam met sy Xhosa-vrou in Noord-Transvaal gaan vestig. Sy nasate woon vandag nog op Mara-Buys, sowat 50 km wes van Louis Trichardt. Ná sy vrou se dood verdwyn hy uit die rekord-boeke en het hy na bewering nog verder oos uitgewyk en met ’n Goanese vrou getrou by wie hy ook kinders gehad het.

2. Maree, W.L.: Lig in die Soutpansberg, Voortrekkerpers, 1962, bl. 62 3. Maree, W.L.: Lig in die Soutpansberg, Voortrekkerpers, 1962, bl. 62 4. Maree, W.L.: Lig in die Soutpansberg, Voortrekkerpers, 1962, bl. 81

Ek was op Dinsdag 1 Junie op besoek aan Pietermaritzburg. Dit was my eerste besoek aan die stad en my vierde besoek aan Natal. Ek het van die geleentheid gebruik gemaak om die Geloftekerk te gaan besoek. Naas die Kerk is daar op die terrein o.a. ook ‘n huis wat aan Andries Pretorius behoort het (dit is daar herbou) asook ’n moderne NG Kerk gebou. Met my besoek aan die kompleks het ek in meer as een opsig ervaar dat die kompleks ‘n vergange era verteenwoordig. Nie net omdat die Groot Trek lank gelede plaasgevind het nie, maar ook omdat een van die Voortrekkers se belangrikste strewes – dat hulle en hulle nageslag vry moes wees – deur die geskiedenis ingehaal is. Die feit dat die Kerk in die middel van die stad geleë is en die terrein aan een sy met ’n besige straat begrens word en aan nog ‘n sy deur ‘n groot taxi staanplek, versterk die gevoel. Nie dat ek hiermee wil sê dat alle volke onafhanklik hoef te wees nie.

Ek het o.a. die volgende bande met die Groot Trek: My voorname, Daniel Malan, het sy oorsprong by Daniel Johannes Malan wat in ca 1775 gebore is en ‘n neef van Piet Retief was; nog ‘n neef van dieselfde Daniel Johannes Malan is saam met Retief vermoor en nog twee neefs het by Italeni gesneuwel. Dan was Pieter Daniel Jacobs, Voortrekkerleier uit Beaufort-Wes, ‘n kleinneef van my voorouer Willem Daniel Jacobs (geb. ca 1804). Pieter Daniel Jacobs was een van die Kommandante wat onder Andries Pretorius aan die Slag van Bloedrivier deelgeneem het. Ons stam verder direk af van Michiel Adriaan Oberholster (skoonpa van Willem Daniel Jacobs) wat na die moord op Retief saam met nog 12 ander mans deur die Engelse Natal-toe gestuur is. MA Oberholster was die leier van ‘n klomp trekboere wat hulle al voor die Groot Trek in die Suid-Vrystaat bevind het.

Alhoewel ek reeds as kind gefassineer was deur die geskiedenis van die Groot Trek, het bostaande inligting eers onder my aandag gekom nadat ek reeds begin werk het.

Die aspek van Genealogiese Navorsing (of die opstel van ‘n stamboom soos wat dit in die volksmond bekend is) wat my die meeste interesseer is die instrument wat dit bied om geskiedenis vir veral kinders en jongmense lewendig te maak. Nie dat ons almal ewe veel in Geskiedenis hoef belang te stel nie, maar ek glo dat voordat ‘n mens jouself as beskaaf kan beskou jy darem ‘n minimum belangstelling in geskiedenis moet hê!!

In die verband het ‘n dame met die van Wepener jare gelede vir my vertel dat haar laerskooldogter geen belangstelling in geskiedenis gehad het nie. Op ‘n dag vertel sy vir haar Pa dat sy van die bekende Louw Wepener (wat in ‘n geveg met Basoeto’s gesneuwel het) in die skool geleer het. Haar Pa vertel toe aan haar dat Louw Wepener een van haar voorsate was. Sedert daardie dag het sy nie net in haar voorsate se geskiedenis belanggestel nie, maar het sy ook ‘n belangstelling ontwikkel in Geskiedenis as vak.

Ek het per geleentheid vir ‘n groep kinders wat lede was van die Voortrekker Jeugbeweging gevra wat hulle belangstelling in Geskiedenis is as hulle dit op ‘n skaal van van 0 – 10 sou moes plaas. Een van die seuns het gesê dat sy belangstelling op twee lê. Ek het toe vir hulle gevra hoe groot hulle belangstelling sou wees as ek aan hulle sou kon bewys dat van hulle voorouers aan die Groot Trek deelgeneem het. Hy het toe gesê dat sy belangstelling dan na vier uit tien sou opskuif.

Ek vertel toe aan hulle van bostaande verbintenisse wat hulle vriend, my jongste seun, met die Groot Trek het. Na ‘n uur se gesels oor hierdie stories en ek ook vir hulle breedweg vertel het hoe om genealogiese navorsing te doen, het dieselfde seun gesê dat sy belangstelling nou op ses uit tien staan. Met behulp van die Genealogie kan ‘n mens dus bewys dat Geskiedenis nie dood is nie – ons voorouers en hulle broers, ooms, neefs en niggies het deelgeneem aan belangrike en minder belangrike historiese gebeure of geleef in die tyd toe dit plaasgevind het.

Dit dan ook waarom my besoek aan die Geloftekerk nie net tot my as Afrikaner gespreek het nie, maar ook omdat my eie vlees en bloed asook na-familie van sommige van my ander voorouers aspekte van die Groot Trek beleef het.

Die osswa waarvan ‘n foto hierby aangeheg word het behoort aan die Voortrekker Albert Smit wat dit tydens die Groot Trek gebruik het. Dit is in 1824 in Victoria-Wes deurene P van der Spuy gebou. Dit is na bewering die tweede oudste ossewa in Suid-Afrika.

Borsbeeld van Sarel Cilliers wat in die Geloftekerk is.

<

Foundering of the Teuton Wreck off Quoin Point

The RMS Teuton had sailed from Plymouth on August 6th, 1881 at 2pm and Madeira on August 10th, 1881 at 11pm.  She arrived in Cape Town on August 29th, 1881 at 6am. After leaving Table Bay on the evening of August 30th she struck an object off Quoin Point, between Danger Point and Cape Agulhas, on the south coast of South Africa at about 7:30 in the evening.

Over 200 lives lost

SIMON’S BAY, August 31, 9 o’clock p.m. Since the wreck of the Birkenhead, no such appalling loss of life by shipwreck as that of the Teuton has been known along the shores of South Africa. I have taken the utmost care to get at the truth, but no single narrative could yet be written which would be strictly accurate. I deem it best, therefore, to give you several stories as they were taken down from the lips of the survivors. The Quartermaster who was on the bridge with the captain declines to say anything until he is examined by the proper officials, but it is questionable if his evidence will throw any new light beyond the narratives unreservedly told by the others. The account given by Mr. Kromm is the most clear of any. He says that before they went down to dinner he was watching the coast, and thinking he had never been so close to it before. The Captain had a few minutes’ conversation with him, and strangely they talked of the wreck of the Waldenrian along that deceptive coast.

When the ship struck, the Captain only said, “Hallo!” and rushed on deck. Mr. Kromm’s story follows. How he escaped is one of those marvellous incidents which, until they occur, are deemed impossible. He could not swim a stroke; he was hampered with an overcoat, and yet he struggled and floated until he secured a bit of wreckage. His watch stopped at a quarter to eleven o’ clock, and from that fact he arrives at the exact moment when he jumped from off the poop of the ship into the water. The boatswain says that the boats hovered around the spot where the ship went down until daybreak. Mr. Kromm is quite clear that the boats commenced to move slowly – something like half an hour after, and he remarks there was nothing to remain for. The moonlight night enabled them to see around, and, with the exception of small wreckage, there was nothing floating about. The boatswain says he was on the forecastle half an hour before the ship struck, and he saw no land, and adds that perhaps he did not see it because it was not his duty to look out for it. He did not see land afterwards, because he had too much else to do.

The men are perhaps careful to be on their guard against carelessly saying something which may be misconstrued and cause trouble hereafter. Mr. Kromm is very clear and empathetic. His opinion is that the captain, confident in the fact that his ship having watertight compartments held on too long, and that when they gave way, it was too late to save the passengers. He points out that the ship had been settling down by her head from the time she struck, and if after the first hour the passengers had been placed in the boats they could have been towed until the necessity for the ship’s abandonment became evident. The order on board is said to have been admirable. There was not an order given which was not obeyed. Mr. Kromm bears out the boatswain, who says that a few minutes before the ship took her final plunge, there was no water in the engine-room. The captain is said only to have left the bridge when it gave way. I am not so certain that the bridge was carried away, for if it had been it would most probably have been floating with the wreckage.

It is certain the captain did not leave the bridge until the steamer was certainly foundering. He probably left it when the watertight compartments gave way, and the rush of water into the ship decided her fate. The Teuton had six compartments. The bow compartment is said to have been dry, and it is thought that the ship must have struck on the port side of the second compartment, and the noise after the striking was a ripping, tearing noise as if the plates were being torn asunder. The carpenter and the boatswain were both on board the ship when she went down, but I cannot find there is any truth in the story of the captain being seen in the water. There are of course some heartrending stories, and they are simply told – shorn of all elaboration – in what follows. That of Miss Ross is a very touching one, and perhaps all the more so because of the belief that her parents are not drowned. I must not trespass longer on the skill of the telegraph clerks who have so courteously assisted me tonight; and I must not forget on behalf of the survivors to thank the good people of Simon’s Town for all their hospitality and kindness, and …….yet a ward or two about poor Manning, – one of the most unassuming, most careful, and kindly skippers that ever trod a ship’s deck. How is it that such an unkind fate overtook him? And the gallant fellows who officered the ship and maintained that discipline and order for which the Union Company is famous – how is it that they were not instrumental in saving more life? Can we yet say that all hope of other survivors reaching land must be given up? If, however, no more than those who have landed at Simon’s Bay live to tell the story, I am much inclined to think that the foundering of the Teuton will remain for all time as one of the saddest and most strangely unaccounted for of the mysteries of the sea.

The Stories of the Survivors

SIMON’S TOWN, Wednesday evening, 9 P.M. – Mr. Kromm says : – “We left Table Bay with a light S.E. wind, shortly after 10 o’clock on Tuesday morning. Nothing occurred worthy of mentioning until we came off Quoin Point. The evening was beautifully fine. The moon was overhead; the stars were shining; and there was not the slightest sign of fog or vapour. We could make out the land line perfectly, and could see even the sandy shore, which did not appear to me to be more than a mile distant. Suddenly the ship struck without any warning whatever. I do not know who the officer was on watch. It was not the chief officer, for he was sitting with me at the table.

We were just finishing dinner, and were sipping coffee. The captain had the cup of coffee in his hand, and it was shaken out of his hold, so violent was the concussion. The whole table was swept of glass and dinner-ware, and fell on to the port side, which showed us that the ship had been struck on the port side. After striking she shivered, like an aspen leaf, and heeled over to port. There was some little confusion; the women shrieked, and there was a general rush on deck. The pumps were immediately sounded, and it was found that the fore-compartment was leaking. The order kept on deck was admirable, and officers and men vied in their efforts at soothing passengers.

The boats were slung out board, and they were all ready provisioned with biscuit and water within half an hour of the ship striking. The passengers were all ordered on the poop, and were told to sit quietly until they were ordered off to their respective boats. The doctor was in charge of the passengers on the poop. All this time the ship was settling down by the head gradually. Volunteers were called for from amongst the passengers for the pumps, and they assisted freely. After striking, the ship’s head was put round to the westward evidently with the hope of reaching Simon’s Bay. There was a little south-east wind with a little jobble of a sea on. It was between a quarter-past seven and half-past seven when the ship struck, and up till half-past ten the vessel kept on her way, and everything was orderly on board. At half-past ten the ship’s head was so down that her stern was out of water, and the screw was of little use. The Captain now gave orders for the starboard waist lifeboat to be lowered, and the women and children to be put in, which was done, the boat being lowered and the women and children handed into it. The ship was then hardly moving, for her propeller was out of water, and was no longer any use to her. The engines were stopped, and steam was gradually being blown off. The starboard quarter boat, which had already been lowered, was ordered alongside to receive passengers, and that was the first time I heard Captain Manning’s voice.

He said “Why don’t you hurry up and get the boat alongside”. He had no sooner the words out of his mouth when the ship gave a dip, and in less than a minute she appeared to make a somersault. I, seeing this, made a jump overboard at her port quarter. I could no swim, but I was fearful of being carried down by the suction, and I hoped to be picked up by the port quarter boat, which had been lowered some-while. I struggled about, and at last came across a teak-wood casing using for covering the iron bollards on the deck. I tried to get on to it, but it kept revolving, and it twice threw me away from it. I, at last, however, got a good grip of it in position and must, I should think, have held on to it from twenty minutes to half an hour. I then saw, at a short distance, one of the boats showing a light. My cries for help brought them to me in about five minutes, and I was taken into the carpenter’s boat. We succeeded in taking three men off a boat which was bottom up.

The other boat came alongside us and we divided passengers and ….. about, and picked up, I think, five people. We heard few cries. The bulk of passengers must have gone down in the ………. The bulk of the passengers were on the poop, when the ship went over, head down, the passengers must have been precipitated into water, and they must have gone down in suction. She went down like a streak of lightning. I would not have believed it possible that that vessel could have gone down so suddenly. There was a loud crashing of timber, an escape of steam, a wild rush of water, and the Teuton was out of sight. We only saw some wreckage float about. I fear – indeed, I am almost certain – that the boat with the women and children in it was fastened by a rope to the vessel or did not ……….. the vortex. The moonlight enabled us to see everything distinctly. We could not see anything of the boat with the women. We heard no cries, ………. after pulling around the spot for half-an-hour ………….. course of the two boats was made for Simon’s ……….., steering for the Cape of Good Hope. The boat crew pulled all night. The men were most orderly and well behaved, and did everything they could. Sail was got on the boat at daybreak. There was then a fresh breeze and an ugly jobble of ………. which compelled us to keep baling. We had double-reefed sail during the forenoon, but as the wind freshened another reef was taken in, and even then we found she had as much sail as ……….. could carry.

We got up to Cape Point, and were about five miles off from it at between, ……………… should say, eleven and twelve. We over…… ten or twelve miles in mistaking the entrance to Simon’s Bay, and but for this we should have been earlier in Simon’s Bay than we were. The carpenter’s boat, which was a better sailor than ours, and had made a direct run ………. the Bay, arrived there first. In fact, she ran out of our sight altogether. There were crowds of people on the wharf as we came up to it, and the greatest kindness was shown to us all. We had to be lifted out of the boats for we were so cramped with sitting and with cold that we could not move.

The boatswain states: “I had reported all the boats swung out to the chief officer, as usual, and we went below to get his dinner. I had hardly got to the forecastle when the ship struck. The pumps were sounded and set to work, but they could not keep the water down. All the boats were lowered and provisioned by 9 p.m., and everything ready to pass the passengers in which there was a sudden crash, and the ship immediately sank …. first. I was carried down by the ship, and ………….. rising caught hold of a spar, and was afterwards picked up by the carpenter’s boat. There was not the slightest confusion on board. The ship sunk most suddenly. I think the forward bulkhead must have given way. The last I saw of the captain was on the bridge, which, with the wheel-house, deck-house, and funnel, seemed to go at once. No one thought she would sink as fast as she did. We reached Simon’s Bay at about 2 p.m.”

Miss Ross says: – “I was in the cabin with my mother and father, getting the baby to sleep, when I heard a dull grating sound. Soon after that we were all called up to the deck, when the Doctor and Chief Officer told us there was no immediate danger, and that we were to be calm, as if the ship would sink the boat would save us. I and my mother and father were in the boat when I saw the ship sinking and we were capsized. I caught hold of a spar and afterwards of a barrel, and after floating a little was taken into the carpenter’s boat. A great number of spars were floating about, and I hope papa is saved – he was a powerful swimmer”.

The carpenter says the ship did not strike heavily, but appeared to have struck somewhere on the port side abaft her bow. For some time there was not a drop of water in the engine-room or ……….. compartments. At the time of sinking he was on the gangway platform, passing passengers to the boat which was capsized. The chief officer and supercargo were beside him. He heard the cry of the ship sinking, and before he could gain the deck he was carried below. He remembered no more until he found himself floating, and was pulled into a boat. He took command of the boat, and, with the boatswain’s boat, remained as near as he could judge on the scene until daybreak, but …… not see any trace of debris or hear any cries. At daybreak they saw high land, which they took for Cape Point, and steered in that direction. It turned out to be Hangklip…………

From our Special Correspondent.

From the Government Gazette August 1881