Ba town commemorates 143rd Girmit remembrance day
THE streets of Ba town were an array of colours as young men and women amassed in their traditional Indian attire, costumes and floats, marching through town in honour of the 143rd Girmit Remembrance Day.
Exactly 143 years ago on May 14, 1879 the Leonidas sailed into Levuka Harbour.
On board were the first allotment of indentured labourers brought from British India to work the economy of the British Crown Colony of Fiji.\
While officiating at the event held at the Ba Multipurpose Bure recently, the Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations and Youth and Sports Parveen Kumar said the treatment of the first lot of workers intended for the plantations of Fiji, was not one of welcome, but one of quarantine on the small island of Yanucalailai, near Levuka.
“Indeed, it marked the beginning of the harshness of Girmit, which forced them to call the period “Narak” or hell,” Minister Kumar said.
He said the arrival of the Leonidas marked the beginning of a trade in indentured labour that was to change the shape of our history in these beautiful islands.
“We must remember that apart from the economic reasons for the Girmitiyas being brought to Fiji, there was the important consideration that the Girmitiyas were to allow for iTaukei to be made exempt from such enforced labour on the plantations,” he said.
He said it is well documented by early Governors like Gordon and Thurston among others and historians that the migration of Girmitiyas in Fiji was to safeguard the iTaukei and to stop their decline in population.
“During the past two years, we have seen how the COVID 19 pandemic has affected our lives and sadly killed hundreds of Fijians, and millions worldwide. In the same manner, but on a local level the measles epidemic of 1875 was estimated to have led to the death of between 40-60,000 iTaukei. This along with wars, negative European influences like alcohol, and other diseases, led to a marked decline in the iTaukei population that would last well into the 1900s.”
He added that this relationship is on a very strong personal level – as it the story of the survival of a race of people. Despite the enforced nature of the means, the end result was that the Girmitiyas played a crucial role in arresting the population decline of the iTaukei, and no doubt their economic contributions also contributed to the continued growth of the iTaukei into a strong, stable and proud indigenous society.
The Telecom Fiji Limited (TFL) was the major sponsor of the event.