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A series of postage stamps in commemoration of the arrival of the first indentured Indian labourers to South Africa 151 years ago has been launched here.
In partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture, the Department of Communications and the South African Post Office, two stamps have been launched with a further two sets to be launched next year.
The stamps feature a sketch of the S S Truro, the ship that brought the first indentured labourers for the sugar cane plantations in Natal province from India in 1860, and photographs of passengers coming ashore on the Port of Durban.
There are also pictures of sugar cane cutters to serve as a poignant reminder of the extreme hardship and endurance of the early labourers from whom most of the 1.4- million South Africans of Indian origin are descended.
The Truro left (the then) Madras and anchored in Port Natal on November 16, 1860, to start off the arrival of thousands of Indians until the last ship, the Umlazi, in 1911.
The launch incorporated an inter-faith prayer as well as the unveiling of two memorial slabs at the suburb of Belvedere, about 30 km north of Durban, so named after the second ship that brought labourers from India.
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