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Fiji Indians urged to pay homage to their Girmitya ancestors
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The Fiji Times » Opinion: One of the greats
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Dr Sakul and Bhawna Kundra
17 May, 2021, 7:20 pm
Girmitya at a banana plantation in Fiji. Pictures from INL Archives
MAY 14 1879 is a landmark day for the Fiji indentured labourers that has been explained in the scholarly book of Brij V. Lal’ Chalo Jahaji: on a journey through indenture in Fiji.
The book stated, Leonidas, the first immigrant ship, cleared port on 4 March, 1879, there were 498 people on board: 273 men, 146 women, 47 boys and 32 girls. 60,945 individuals between 1879 and 1916’ found a new home and became free settlers after indenture emigration ceased.
These immigrant ships made 87 voyages to Fiji carrying more than sixty thousand indentured adults and children to the islands (Lal, 2012). These labourers were known as Girmitiyas and this day is celebrated by many as Girmit Day or Girmit Remembrance Day. The inclusion of these indentured labourers in a new land across the globe has been a contentious issue raised in diaspora studies.