14 MAY 1879

The arrival of the Leonidas

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What we know

  • The ship Leonidas arrived at Levuka on 14 May 1879 carrying the first indentured labourers from India.
  • Cholera and smallpox broke out on the voyage, and the passengers were held in quarantine before going to the plantations.
  • Later ships landed their passengers at the depot on Nukulau Island near Suva.
  • 14 May is remembered in Fiji as Girmit Day.

The story

The Leonidas arrived at Levuka on 14 May 1879 with the first Indian indentured migrants to Fiji. Illness during the voyage and quarantine on arrival made the passage more difficult still.

Over the following decades, further ships brought men, women and children. Surviving emigration passes preserve names, family connections and places of origin. Behind the totals were individual lives, hopes and separations that no shipping statistic can fully explain.

Pictures in this chapter

Sources

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This chapter’s text is awaiting cultural and historical review. Pictures keep the credit and licence of the collection that holds them.