Girmitiya’s’ – Sugar Field
Girmitiyas”, or Indentured Labourers, is the name given to the Indians who left India in the middle and late 19th Century to serve as labourers in the British colonies, where the majority eventually settled.
The arrival of the first group of indentured labourers in Fiji on May 14, 1879 on board the first ship – Leonidas has played a major role in the country’s major economy, the sugar industry. Between 1879 and 1916, around 60,553 Indian indentured labourers were recruited and brought to Fiji to work in sugar cane plantations owned and managed by the Colonial Sugar Company of Australia.
Girmityas were selected by the British at that time as India was under the British rule.
The poor and illiterate people were largely targeted from around the Indian villages as they were renowned for their hardwork and were highly skilled in farming.
As they started work in Fiji they would start as early as 3am before break of dawn as some had to leave early for distant farms. They were required to work for 12 hours Monday to Friday and five hours on Saturdays and their daily wage was not less than 1 shilling per day for men and 9 pence per day for women.
Sugar became the principle export of Fiji from the early 1880s and over the years, the sugar industry has started the prime force in the development of Fiji’s economy.
Till to date, cane farmers who are descendants of the Girmit system still make huge contributions to the sugar industry.
The history of girmitiya in Fiji is not only for the descendants of the girmitiya, but for all Fijians.
Descendants should be proud of their forefathers and these Girmityas should be looked upon with gratefulness and consideration, as through their blood, sweat and tears they laid the foundation of Fiji’s progressive future and economy.
Sugar industry has strong ties with Girmit era and its descendants contributed heartedly toward the prosperity of Fiji sugar Industry.
The hard labour working conditions, wisdom and the resilience are admirable at all times.
The seer and dedication has made the country progressed to a diverse and united nation. Source: Sugar Cane
Council