Portraits of Colonial
Natal, recently launched at Adams Musgrave Branch, is a collection of
scholarly essays by Dr Duncan Du Bois. His previous books are: Sugar
and Settlers: A history of the Natal South Coast 1850-1910 and Labourer or Settler? Colonial Natal’s Indian
Dilemma.
At a time when a leading politician’s career has been
blighted because she made objective
remarks about the legacies of colonialism, the publication of Portraits of Colonial Natal provides a
wide-ranging account of pioneers, places and prejudices without fear or favour.
Comprising 12 chapters, the book balances settler
enterprise, initiatives and hardships with accounts of discrimination and human
rights abuses. It also includes a ground-breaking study of Joseph Baynes as a
pioneer in the liberalisation of race relations.
Anecdotal detail gleaned from colonial newspapers and
unpublished correspondence in the Pietermaritzburg Archives revives bygone
times and characters in focusing on travel and transport and settler nodes such
as Umzinto and Umkomaas.
Two chapters focus on the experiences of Indians. One
examines the abuse of indentured labourers; the other charts the evolution of
prejudice against Indians as settlers and entrepreneurs.
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