A Sketch of Colonial Umkomaas

A sketch of colonial Umkomaas

by Duncan Du Bois

HE uMkhomazi is the second charging five shillings for wagons and largest river on the KwaZulu- sixpence for foot passengers.3 The TNatal South Coast. The river first vast majority of Fynn’s customers came into prominence in correspondence were local Africans, as apart from initiated by Theophilus Shepstone, the isolated mission stations south of the Secretary for Native Affairs, in 1851 uMkhomazi, there were only three when he proposed the establishment permanent white settlers in the district of a “black kingdom”, as he termed – Bunting Johnson, John McKenzie it, south of the uMkhomazi. With his and John Higham.4 The presence of locations policy proving difficult to crocodiles in the river underlined the implement, he envisaged that as many need for a ferry service as in 1853 a as 50 000 Africans would follow him missionary, Reverend J.A. Butler, to the area south of the uMkhomazi if was attacked while crossing the the colonial authorities permitted it. But uMkhomazi on horseback. He suffered his plan was firmly rejected by Natal severe lacerations to his thigh but Governor Benjamin Pine and by the survived the ordeal.5 In 1858 Henry Colonial Office in London.1 Reynolds became the first officially The first official colonial presence appointed ferryman on the lower in the Umkomaas area commenced in uMkhomazi.6 Reynolds also opened July 1853 when Henry Francis Fynn the first accommodation house, as was appointed Assistant Resident it was called, at the drift where he Magistrate in the Lower Umkomaas operated his ferry.7 After his death in division in what was then Durban 1862, it traded as the Drift Hotel and County.2 He was also the first to was managed by his widow, Georgina operate a ferry at the drift on the river for more than 40 years.

The turning point in the history of the South Coast in later years.14 A few the South Coast came in 1857 when miles beyond the uMkhomazi, Joseph the newly elected Legislative Council Landers established Renishaw estate decided to promote the development on the uMphambinyoni river. Thus, the of the coastal areas by inviting nucleus of the sugar fraternity evolved applications for Crown land grants. in the Umkomaas district. Dissatisfaction with the existing Byrne land grants and news of the success Travel and transport of sugar on the coastal belt prompted The uMkhomazi river, however, many to take their chances and make posed a serious challenge to travel a fresh start south of the uMkhomazi and transport. In reporting on his tour 8 river. Following the proclamation of the South Coast in 1861, Mercury in the Government Gazette on the editor John Robinson described the opening up of Crown land grants, there challenge the uMkhomazi posed to the was a flurry of interest and by 1859, traveller as follows:15 according to Robert Mann, there were 93 colonists in the coastal area between The road wriggles along the steep 9 hillside in its descent to the river. the uMkhomazi and Ifafa rivers. …The declivity which has to be In what the Natal Mercury termed overpassed is corrugated and serrated “the southward extension of the cane after the fashion of most Natal hills… enterprise”,10 the allocation of land sheer precipice plunging down on the grants to the new planters seems to one side and a stony cliff wall shooting have been something of a lottery. up on the other. Soil types, the nature of the terrain When the Arbuthnots trekked to their and transport access were factors new home on the uMzinto river, Jane 11 which were glossed over. Instead described the uMkhomazi valley enthusiasm abounded especially over as a “precipice” which resulted in the success of the first sugar planter in “breakdowns, misadventures, delays the district, John McKenzie, of Craigie and much anxiety”.16 Frustration with Burn estate on the uMkhomazi river the difficulty in accessing the region where he had settled in 1855. A sample beyond the uMkhomazi resulted in the of his sugar was described as “equal first public meeting of the new residents to the best quality from Mauritius”. held on 24 March 1860. A petition He had invested £5 000 in a mill and signed by 37 colonists implored the employed a Mr C. Peddie who had had Government to address the issue.17 But long experience in sugar manufacturing 37 years would pass and many more 12 in the West Indies. McKenzie’s petitions would be compiled before a mill was the first one to be erected bridge was built over the uMkhomazi. south of Isipingo. His experience Out of this exasperation an innovative and status earned him the title “king solution germinated: river port shipping. 13 of Umkomaas”. In 1858 Captain In 1856 Captain Patrick Maxwell, a Patrick Maxwell founded Canonby seafarer of some 20 years’ experience, estate which also bordered on the claimed that after examining the uMkhomazi. In 1860 he was joined by mouth of the uMkhomazi, it ought to Lewis Reynolds whose name became be navigable by vessels of up to 60 both prominent and synonymous with tons.18 So positive was the feeling that

Umkomaas railway bridge and mill 1914 shipping on the uMkhomazi would a partial rival to the port of Durban.21 become a reality that an advertisement But those thoughts were short lived. placed by Robert Acutt in 1859 for a Following her third entry of the river farm just south of the uMkhomazi in August 1861, the Natalie was described it as being “contiguous to the severely damaged and lay stranded site of the proposed port and harbour at the river mouth until January 1862 at the mouth of the Umcomaas”.19 when engineers managed to repair The initiative to establish shipping on her sufficiently to return to Durban. the uMkhomazi came from Messrs Re-commissioned and renamed the McArthur, Muirhead and Company Congune, her coastal service excluded of Durban. They purchased a 63 ton the uMkhomazi.22 vessel, the Natalie. With a draft of Although Peter Paterson, the Colo- only five-feet and four inches, she was nial Engineer, pointed out that winds, thought suitable for the task.20 tides, currents and sandbanks pre- On 25 March 1861, the Natalie sented “serious, although not insur- became the first ship to navigate the mountable obstacles to navigation” of entrance of the uMkhomazi. The the uMkhomazi, the dire need for an implications of her voyage were alternative means of transport tended significant: in terms of distance to blind opinion as to the realities of it meant an ox-wagon journey to attempting river shipping. Conse- Durban, which could take up to five quently, the Natal Government au- days, could be reduced to a few hours thorised the construction of a stone and realise a saving of £2.10s per ton. breakwater on the south side of the So optimistic was the Mercury about river. By December 1861, one hundred the uMkhomazi’s prospects that it feet in length had been laid.23 In 1862 claimed Port Scott was set to become a further £4 000 was voted to improve

Natalia 45 (2015) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2015 A sketch of colonial Umkomaas the river mouth by blasting rocks in inhabitants of the South Coast with the entrance.24 Interest in the prospects the lack of bridges and proper roads, of the district was such that Gover- despite submitting petitions urging the nor John Scott embarked on a tour of Government to address their plight, the South Coast in September 1862, underlined the earnestness of those the first by a governor to that part of involved in establishing the Alexandra Natal.25 But despite the efforts made Shipping Company. The Government to improve the river entrance, no call- evidently shared that concern because ers followed the Natalie. In September in November 1874 it endorsed a loan 1864, the Albion paid a single visit to of £3 000 to the Company as well as a the uMkhomazi. After loading sugar, subsidy of ten shillings per ton on cargo strong winds delayed her departure for shipped to or from points on the South several days.26 No other ships ventured Coast.32 But once again a promising into the uMkhomazi for the rest of the initiative came to naught. Wagon decade and by 1868, the so-called har- transporters reduced their charges by bour works at the river mouth were in 25 percent resulting in several sugar a derelict condition.27 planters opting for the cheaper overland By the 1870s thinking on route, thereby dealing the Alexandra river shipping had become more Shipping Company a setback. By the circumspect. After inspecting the river end of 1875 the company was sold and mouth in 1872, the Surveyor-General, subsequently liquidated.33 Apart from Dr P.C. Sutherland noted that until one call to Scottburgh by a new ship, the settlement at Umkomaas grew in the Somtseu, in 1878,34 there were no size, there was no urgency to expend further callers to either the uMkhomazi further resources on developing the or to Scottburgh for the rest of the river mouth.28 Prospects brightened in decade. Twenty years on, the travel 1873 when Mr T.N. Price of Durban and transport woes of settlers beyond sent the Anthony Musgrave to the the uMkhomazi remained unchanged. uMkhomazi. The ship entered the river Umkomaas’s experience as a river on 8 August, discharged fourteen tons port enjoyed a brief revival in the early of cargo and took on 30 tons of sugar – 1880s before it was finally terminated. the equivalent of fifteen wagon loads.29 Following the successful deployment The Anthony Musgrave made another of the Somtseu to Port Shepstone in three visits to the uMkhomazi before 1880, five calls to the uMkhomazi she was wrecked at the mouth of the were made in 1881.35 When the river in November 1873 and officially Somtseu’s schedule was disrupted abandoned in February 1874.30 after she had to undergo repairs, the However, the loss of the Anthony Mercury’s Umkomaas correspondent Musgrave produced two positive complained that “the Somtseu is badly developments: the Government wanted here.”36 However, the risk allocated £1 500 to improve access to involved in negotiating the mouth of the river mouth and local stakeholders the uMkhomazi resulted in it being formed the Alexandra Shipping abandoned as a port of call. The last Company in a bid to promote regular occasion that a ship called there was coastal shipping.31 in December 1883.37 From 1886 The ongoing frustration of the until it ceased operation in January

1893, shipping from the beach at the North Barrow, the uMkhomazi river mouth of the uMzinto river eased the separating the two proposed townships. transport plight of sugar farmers in the In 1865 some 39 land lots were put Lower uMkhomazi district. up for auction in South Barrow.40 No development took place on the north Social development bank of the river. Reference to the Although, as will be seen, Umkomaas settlement as South Barrow ended was the first settlement on the South officially in 1924 in terms of Provincial Coast to acquire town board status, it Ordinance No. 6 which proclaimed the was not the first to enjoy an official town town as Umkomaas. planning proposal. That honour belongs An early indication of social to Scottburgh. In 1859 the Surveyor cohesion was the formation of the General’s office produced a sketch Umkomaas Rifle Club in February of the proposed village of Scottburgh 1860. Prominent members were replete with the very street names it Alexander Brander, John Higham and 41 bears today – Scott, Arbuthnot, Gallwey, Alex McLean. Rifle clubs were seen Airth, etc.38 But as a village Scottburgh as essential to establishing a grass did not develop until the early twentieth roots defence system in the Colony century. After Umzinto, Umkomaas was which was sparsely settled by whites the only other significant settlement and in which the African population in Alexandra County, as the area was was estimated as in excess of 100 000. named officially from 1865.39 On the In terms of Ordinance 11 of 1855 the Surveyor-General’s map, Umkomaas establishment of Volunteer Corps was 42 was referred to as South Barrow and officially promoted. Reports in the

Pont over the Umkomaas River

Mercury in 1863 and 1864 noted that the Umkomaas Rifle Club had had successful shooting competitions at Canonby estate which were followed by convivial social occasions.43 In 1862, Reverend Arentz Tönessen established the first church in Umkomaas but when he left the area in 1876 it stood empty for want of a pastor.44 In 1864 a temporary building was erected for a public school in Umkomaas. Henry Carter was the schoolmaster.45 In 1866, at the height of the recession which devastated Natal’s economy, the school was reported to be in decline with only eight pupils registered compared to nineteen in 1865.46 By 1862, Umkomaas enjoyed a thrice-a-week mail service. However, some residents complained of the Nelson after she re-married), on the inconvenience which resulted from north bank of the uMkhomazi. The the location of the post mistress, Mrs Commission on the re-organisation Georgina Reynolds (later known as of the postal service recommended

(Top) Canon Tönessen and (above) St Bride’s church

Natalia 45 (2015) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2015 A sketch of colonial Umkomaas that Mrs Reynolds should establish a underline her request, she pointed out locked receiving box at a safe place on that she owned the ferry by virtue of the south bank.47 the fact that it was built by her late Umkomaas society’s first taste of husband and that it was larger than the music and the arts occurred in April one which the Government supplied. 1874. Described as a “rich and rare In a further bid to promote her cause, treat” that afforded “gratifying proof she referred to a petition which was of social advancement”, an audience circulating in Lower uMkhomazi of 70 gathered on the premises of a in support of her application for the new store owned by a Mr Price for an posts. Her request was granted and her evening of song and dance and a recital appointments confirmed on 9 and 17 by the “Umkomaas Amateurs”. 48 On April 1862, respectively.53 Georgina 19 May 1875 the school room was remained post mistress of Umkomaas the venue for an evening of dancing for over 30 years, retiring in the attended by 60 residents.49 early 1890s. After marrying Nicholas Nelson, she gave up the post of ferry- Georgina Nelson (15 November keeper. In March 1865, his appointment 1825 – 9 March 1911) as ferry-keeper was confirmed.54 The Colonial society undoubtedly afforded Nelsons owned and managed the Drift 55 opportunities for women to fulfil roles Hotel four miles up the uMkhomazi for which they would not have been until Georgina retired in 1904. She was eligible in their home countries. The noted for her convivial role as hostess. frontier nature of vast areas of Natal, The hotel was a popular destination for 56 such as the Lower uMkhomazi, and honeymoon couples. the multi-tasking roles required within Georgina spent her last years at settler families in order to survive,50 Dalfrey cottage in Umkomaas. She were one of the reasons Victorian was in good health until a week before attitudes to women were moderated. her death when she tripped over a rug The civil lists in the Blue Books show and broke her thigh bone. Unusually that over a 20-year period at least for a woman at that time, her funeral six women were employed as post was attended by a very large number of mistresses while many more were people and she was accorded a black- employed in schools. One of these was bordered obituary column in the Natal Georgina Reynolds, her married name Mercury headed “A pioneer colonist at the time of her appointment in April of Natal”. Usually only the obituaries 1862 at Umkomaas.51 The death of her of prominent politicians or clergymen husband, Henry, on 18 January 1862, such as Bishop Colenso received black posed a crisis for Georgina and her six border embellishment. Her obituary children as her family would no longer noted that kindness and willingness to have the benefit of his income of £36 help the sick were the hallmarks of her 57 per annum as ferry-keeper.52 character. In informing the Colonial Secretary Regarding the role of women, it is of the death of her husband and noting of note that women managed three that he had also served as postal clerk, of the four hotels in Umkomaas in Georgina asked if she could be granted 1905. They were: Mrs Williams at the “continuance” of those offices. To Umkomaas Hotel, Mrs Salmon at the

Rand Hotel and Mrs Humphreys at Moreover, of critical significance was Humphreys Hotel.58 the discovery in 1878 of substantial coal deposits in Northern Natal and the Economic stagnation Government’s absolute commitment 63 By 1870, Umkomaas, as the gateway to expedite the rail link to that area. to Alexandra County and the rest Thus, while a spate of bridge building 64 of the South Coast, found itself just took place in that region, the watery as much hamstrung by the lack of divide of the uMkhomazi remained infrastructure development as the rest of unbridged. the region. Investors were not attracted By 1889 no fewer than 14 petitions because of the lack of proper roads and had been submitted since 1871 by the most crucial of all, a bridge over the residents of Lower uMkhomazi re- 65 uMkhomazi. The Surveyor-General’s questing a bridge. Colonial engineer report for 1870 for townships laid out Albert Hime proved the greatest obsta- by the Government confirmed that. Of cle to these requests. He routinely cited 660 acres available on the south side of the financial condition of the Colony the uMkhomazi, only 38 erven had been and the engineering challenge which sold. Despite offerings of 700 acres in the uMkhomazi posed or he simply Scottburgh, and 4 400 acres in Port denied that the absence of a bridge Shepstone, no sales were recorded.59 constituted any drawback to economic 66 Following his second tour of the progress south of Umkomaas. A great South Coast, Mercury editor John ally of the South Coast’s infrastruc- Robinson remarked that “if the district tural needs was John Robinson in his is to make any progress at all”, a bridge roles as Mercury editor and as colonial over the uMkhomazi was essential. In legislator. He consistently supported motivation, he argued that the “traffic appeals for a bridge over the uMk- would provide a revenue more than homazi. In 1891 he castigated Hime sufficient to cover the whole cost of the for having “shamefully neglected” the bridge.”60 Enthusiasm for the project infrastructure needs of the South Coast was such that John Bazley of Ifafa and harshly dismissed Hime’s excuses 67 made a model of the bridge which he about the “state of finances”. exhibited at Black and Baxter’s store Exasperation with the situation in Umzinto.61 A sum of £5 000 was boiled over on 31 January 1893 when placed on the Estimates of 1872 and a meeting, which was noted as the was still there in 1874. But no bridge “largest and most influential”, was held materialised. A petition presented to in Umzinto concerning the “intolerable 68 the new Governor, Benjamin Pine, state” of the uMkhomazi drift. During in 1873, pointed out that the absence the 1892 Council session Hime had of a bridge was a “great obstacle to finally conceded that a bridge would the progress and prosperity” of the be built and that his preference was for County.62 But officialdom seemed one that served only a railway rather deaf to the pleas and petitions of the than a dual purpose road/rail bridge. South Coast. Other issues such as the But the actual realisation of this bridge Langalibalele affair and the Anglo- would depend on the construction of Zulu War relegated the region in terms the railway. In 1892 no plans existed of the colonial Government’s priorities. to extend the line south of Isipingo.

Exacerbating the situation, Hime unanimous support of every member stated that the survey for the line from of this House”.72 By the end of July Isipingo to Umkomaas “may not be 1894, the Umzinto Railway Bill had carried out for years to come”.69 Then become Act 28.73 At the same time, nature once again demonstrated that the Robinson ministry took over the the South Coast was a hostage to its operation of the pont on the uMkhomazi moods. Heavy rains in January 1893 and reduced its charges by a third.74 made the uMkhomazi impassable. By March 1895 the survey work Wagon traffic was held up for two was complete and tenders were called weeks before it was safe to use the for. Messrs Middleton Bros, a firm pont.70 with Canadian railway experience Frank Reynolds, chairman of were awarded the £93 000 tender.75 the 31 January meeting, described One of the outcomes of the survey the Government’s failure to build was that for reasons of construction a bridge over the uMkhomazi as and economy, the railway would run “a monument of shame”. After along the seashore. Thomas Murray in several speakers had castigated the his capacity as Minister of Lands and Government, the meeting resolved on Works had anticipated such a routing an unusual step: it decided to forward and predicted, very accurately as the grievances of Alexandra County things turned out, that “the beautiful directly to the Secretary of State for spots along the seaside in a few years Colonies in London, the Marquis time will develop into favourite of Ripon. The implication of this, seaside resorts”. as the Mercury reporter stated, was Umkomaas obviously represented that “not a single man there believed a key station in the extension of the that any redress could be obtained line which reached only as far as the from the Government”.71 There is north bank of the uMkhomazi while no record of such a despatch having engineers busied themselves with the been forwarded to the Secretary of construction of a bridge across the State. Moreover, the Governor would river. The bridge required fifteen spans not have taken the embarrassing step each 55 feet in length.76 Excitement at of doing so at a time when Natal the prospect of the rail link was rife was on the verge of embarking on a on the South Coast. Predictions as to responsible government dispensation. when the line would reach the various points on the coast were a staple part Railway of conversation. Mid-1896 was seen Supportive of the South Coast’s as the time when the line would reach infrastructural needs in the years Park Rynie. It was speculated that the prior to the onset of responsible extension to Port Shepstone could be 77 government, John Robinson, as Natal’s expected some time in 1897. But such first Prime Minister (1893-1897), was hopes were dashed. Labour shortages instrumental in ending the region’s and the scourge of rinderpest, which isolation by his swift promotion of decimated livestock herds and, as a Bill (No. 37) to extend the railway a result impacted negatively on ox- from Isipingo to Umzinto. As he stated wagon transport, affected the pace of 78 at the time, the Bill “ought to have the rail extension.

On Monday, 22 February 1897, 60 the sports entertainment held on the dignitaries filled the first two passenger grounds near the railway bridge on coaches that made up the first train to the 1903 Easter Monday holiday.84 steam from Durban to the north bank of But the popularity of Umkomaas as the uMkhomazi.79 Work on the bridge a destination for holiday-makers and over the uMkhomazi took several day-trippers served to highlight its more months to complete so that it shortcomings in terms of its lack of a was exactly seven months later that the proper water supply, sanitation and the first train passed over what had been a need to harden its main thoroughfares. watery barrier to colonial transport for The establishment of a town board over 40 years. On 1 December the first was seen as the solution to those train reached Park Rynie. A journey issues. Throughout 1904 efforts to from Durban that previously could promote acceptance of the need for a take a week by ox wagon was reduced town board were made.85 Consensus to four hours.80 But it was not until was finally achieved in June and an 5 May 1923 that a motor bridge was appropriate resolution was forwarded opened across the Umkomaas river, as to the Governor.86 On 19 January 1905, it came to be called in post-colonial seven members of the Umkomaas times. 81 Town Board were elected.87 John Stennet was the first town clerk. Progress through new commerce Umkomaas became the first settlement The coming of the railway ended the on the South Coast to have town board isolation and detachment of the South status. Coast and integrated it with the rest The benefits of the board were of the Colony. It also brought a new soon evident. By November 1907 the commerce – tourism and the hospitality bathing area at the beach had been business. Under the hotel section of secured with stanchions and torpedo the Business Directory published in netting, thereby preventing bathers the Mercury, apart from Durban and from being swept out into the surf upcountry establishments, the only in a backwash. As a report noted, other hotels advertised were those on “Umkomaas depends entirely on the 88 the South Coast.82 TheMercury’s “Man sea and the river for its charm”. in the Moon” column on 16 April 1898 Another accolade for Umkomaas was lavish in its praise of Umkomaas appeared in the Mercury on 20 January as an attractive holiday resort. In an 1906 when it was described as “the election speech in Umkomaas in 1901, Scarborough of Natal, the queen of Frank Reynolds remarked that before watering places”. Further evidence the coming of the railway, Umkomaas of its growth manifested itself in had been “a wilderness”. But since the erection of 12 street lamps, the 1897 it had blossomed as a community clearance of brushwood from four comprising between 30 and 40 houses.83 miles of streets and the provision of As the gateway to the South Coast, latrines for Africans. Before the end of by 1903 Umkomaas was described as 1907 more street lamps were erected, “a favourite watering place of Natal”. a sports field was in the process of An estimated 500 visitors attended preparation and a landing stage for pleasure launches on the foreshore

Natalia 45 (2015) Copyright © Natal Society Foundation 2015 A sketch of colonial Umkomaas of the river had been built. The first valley in the Umkomaas district where motor launch, the Victoria, made its he worked as a blacksmith. He later appearance on the river.89 By 1910 purchased 425 acres of land close to two other launches, the Fly and the the uMkhomazi and grew tobacco and Swift, were also active on the river.90 cane. Dasrath Maharajh completed a The river was apparently navigable for five-year indenture contract in 1870 eight miles until the first rapids were with J.J. Crookes. He then worked reached.91 for 15 years in Hull valley renting Umkomaas’s municipal budget land from Rambachan on which he for 1909/1910 makes interesting grew vegetables and fruit.96 A report reading: 92 in the Natal Witness in 1877 noted Revenue: licences £109; rents £47; that Indians were fishing in the mouth rates £200. Total: £356 of the uMkhomazi and supplying the Expenses: wages and rations £144; local market. However, the report sanitary £30; lighting £1; insurance remarked that the distance from £3; PO Box £1; advertising £10; clerk Durban prevented their enterprise 97 £50; contingencies £87. Total: £356. from being “a profitable occupation”. While white settlers took pride in the No other settlement on the South Coast growth of Umkomaas, they exhibited enjoyed that type of governance. intolerance towards the “intrusion” After the hall burnt down in of Indian settlers. Disdain towards December 1909, the new one was Indians as settlers had been a reality scheduled to be opened on 10 June since the early 1880s across colonial 1910. A telephone service was Natal. Just weeks after Natal entered expected by late 1910.93 the Union dispensation in 1910 a petition was launched in Umkomaas Indian community against the issuing of further trading Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed’s licences to Indians. “Great indignation study entitled Inside Indian Indenture was expressed locally” when a has only two references to Indians trading licence was transferred from a in Umkomaas.94 One concerned a European to an Indian whose premises labour complaint by sugar planter J. were situated within half a mile of local Parkin of Hull Valley estate in the white storekeepers.98 Unfortunately Lower Umkomaas district in January such sentiments prevailed far into the 1908. The other reference was to the Union years and beyond. entrepreneurial success of an Indian named Moonsamy Govender. After Endnotes completing his period of indenture, he 1 Shepstone to Pine, 9 December 1851, Encl., bought land in the Umkomaas district Despatch No. 12, 50; Guy, J., Theophilus 95 Shepstone and the forging of Natal, and grew sugar and tobacco. (Scottsville, 2013), 209-210. The “Umkomaas Area Annals” 2 Pridmore, J., ‘Diaries and Despatches: The make reference to two other Indians. life and writing of Henry Francis Fynn (1803- B.C. Rambachan was 14 when he 1861), and Henry Francis Fynn Junior (1846- 1915), Kleio, 36, 2004,136. came from India as an indentured 3 CSO 74, No. 27, 29 December 1854. labourer to Umzinto. After serving his 4 CSO 96, No. 217, 12 August 1857. indentured contract he moved to Hull 5 Natal Mercury, 3 February 1853.

6 CSO 106, No. 112, 27 July 1858. 32 Natal Government Gazette, Vol. XXVI, No. 7 CSO 105, 11 May 1858. 1500, 10 November 1874; Natal Legislative 8 Morrell, R., From Boys to Gentlemen: settler Council, Votes and Proceedings, Vol. XXII, masculinity in colonial Natal 1880-1920, 1874, 439. Shipping from the beach at (Pretoria, 2001), 26. Scottburgh had come to be regarded as a 9 Mann, R.J., The Colony of Natal, (London, safer and surer way of beating the hazards the 1859), 79-80. uMkomazi mouth posed. This was emphasised 10 Natal Mercury, 10 June 1858. by Captain G. Walker of East London who was 11 Hocking, A., Renishaw – The Story of the engaged to examine beach shipping prospects. Crookes Brothers, (Bethulie, 1992), 41. He did so by swimming out through the surf 12 Natal Mercury, 9 September 1858; 10 June to the backline waves at Scottburgh to prove 1858. the ease with which cargo could be sent out 13 Osborn, R.F., Valiant Harvest: the founding on surfboats to a waiting vessel. See: Natal of the South African Sugar Industry, (Durban, Mercury, 27 May 1874. 1964), 298. 33 Natal Mercury, 26 January 1875; 22 January 14 Ibid., 304-305. 1876; 12 April 1877. 15 Natal Mercury, 9 May 1861. 34 Natal Witness, 25 June 1878. 16 Arbuthnot, J., Autobiographical Sketch, 35 Natal Mercury, 13 January, 14 March, 19 (Arborville, 1897), 17. April, 5 and 17 May 1881. 17 Natal Mercury, 5 April 1860. 36 Natal Mercury, 7 September 1881. 18 Natal Mercury, 4 July 1856. 37 Natal Mercury, 15 December 1883. The ship 19 Natal Mercury, 17 November 1859. was the Zulu. 20 Government Notice, No. 123, 1861. 38 CSO 111, No. 53, 16 March 1859. Governor 21 Natal Mercury, 28 March 1861. A detailed Scott approved the plan on 29 March 1859. account of colonial river port shipping on the 39 CSO 229, No. 1647, 21 August 1865. The South Coast was published in the 2011 issue County was named after the Princess of Wales. of Natalia. 40 Natal Government Gazette, Vol. XVII, No. 22 CSO 137, No. 1459, October 1861: Report 980, 14 November 1865. on loss of steamer Natalie; Natal Mercury, 41 Natal Mercury, 16 February 1860. 21 January 1862. 42 By 1904, there were 62 Rifle Associations 23 Select Document No. 28, 1862, 15, 21, on record. See: Natal Legislative Assembly, presented to the Legislative Council on 15 Votes and Proceedings, Vol. LX11, 1904, xiv- June 1863.The Natal Blue Book for 1862, C17, xvi;xix. reported that £582 nine shillings and eight 43 Natal Mercury, 10 July 1863; 12 July 1864. pence had been spent on the improvement of 44 Umkomaas Annals 1828-1980, edited by the mouth of the uMkomazi. A Warner, p. 76. MS FED, Killie Campbell 24 Natal Mercury, 5 September 1862. Manuscripts, 55070; Natal Mercury, 1 25 Natal Mercury, 26 September 1862. February 1876. 26 Natal Mercury, 1 October 1864. 45 Natal Mercury, 2 February 1864. 27 Natal Mercury, 12 November 1868. 46 CSO 254, No. 1577, 23 April 1866. 28 CSO 426, No. 2403, 7 December 1872. The 47 Report of the Postal Service Commission, Natal Blue Book for 1872, H2-3, recorded Document No. 6, 1863, 4, 13 May 1863. £222 in the Public Works budget for work on 48 Natal Mercury, 14 April 1874. the entrance to the uMkomazi. 49 Natal Mercury, 27 May 1875. 29 Natal Mercury, 12 August 1873. 50 Beall, J.D. “Class, race and gender: the 30 Natal Mercury, 16 September, 30 October, 20, political economy of women in colonial 22, 25 November 1873; 17 February 1874. Natal,” (MA thesis, University of Natal, 31 Natal Blue Book, 1874, H4; CSO 511, No. 869, 1982), 115; Gordon, R.E. (ed.), Dear Louisa: Alexandra Shipping Company, Limited. In History of a pioneer family in Natal 1850- 1865 a petition presented by Robert Arbuthnot 1888 (Cape Town, 1970), 168. and signed by 29 inhabitants of Lower 51 Natal Blue Book, 1862, M22. uMkomazi, requested aid for the formation 52 £36 was the standard annual income ferrymen of a “Coast Shipping Association”. Nothing received from the colonial Government. There came of the matter. See: Natal Legislative were thirteen official ferrymen in Natal at the Council, Votes and Proceedings, Vol. XII, time. Natal Blue Book, 1866, M28. 1865, 241, 26 July 1865.

53 CSO 147, No. 604. Her annual salary was 72 Debates of the Legislative Assembly, Vol. 22, backdated to 19 January 1862. Her petition 489. was signed by 36 locals and endorsed by 73 Natal Government Gazette, Vol. XLVI, No. the former Chief Postmaster of the Colony, 2690, 31 July 1894. William Collins. CSO 144, No. 335, 26 74 Natal Mercury, 20 July 1894. February 1862; CSO 142, 29 January 1862. 75 Supplement to the Blue Book for the Colony 54 Government Notice , No.25, 2 March 1865. of Natal, 1894/95,C31-32. 55 Natal Directory, 1908, 1,109. 76 Supplement to the Blue Book for the Colony 56 Natal Mercury, 1 September 1904. of Natal, 1897, C40. 57 Natal Mercury, 14 March 1911. 77 Natal Mercury, 5 December 1895. 58 Natal Mercury, 11 May 1905. The other hotel 78 Natal Mercury, 10 November 1897. in Umkomaas, the South Barrow, was run by a 79 Natal Mercury, 23 February 1897. Mr Louch .The Umkomaas Hotel burnt down 80 Natal Mercury, 3 December 1897. in 1910. Umkomaas Annals, 137. 81 The bridge cost £38,000. See: SA Sugar 59 Document No. 28, 1870, presented to the Journal, Vol. 7, 1923 p. 463. Legislative Council 7 July 1870. 82 Hotels in Umzinto and Umkomaas were 60 Natal Mercury, 8 August 1871. featured. See for example Natal Mercury, 61 Natal Mercury, 12 September 1871. 30 January, 27 July, 5 August, 13 and 18 62 CSO 448, No. 2008, 20 August 1873; Natal September 1899. Government Gazette, Vol. XXVI, No. 1453, 83 Natal Mercury, 6 September 1901. 20 January 1874. 84 Natal Mercury, 15 April 1903. 63 Governor Henry Bulwer made it clear that 85 Natal Mercury, 15 January, 25 February, 19 every effort should be made to “secure the March, 2 May, 14 June 1904. ` means of our future coal supply”. CSO 646, 86 Natal Mercury, 14 June 1904. No. 2149, 18 June 1878. 87 CSO 1781, No. 715, 24 January 1905. 64 Bridges over the Sundays and iNcandu rivers 88 Natal Mercury, 11 November 1907. were completed in 1883. Bridges were under 89 Natal Mercury, 3 and 31 December 1907. construction over the iGagani near Newcastle, 90 Natal Mercury, 10 January 1910. the Little Sterkspruit near Greytown and 91 Natal Mercury, 17 June 1908. over the Tongaat in Victoria County. Natal 92 Natal Mercury, 2 June 1909. Mercury, 7 July 1883; Natal Blue Book, 1883, 93 Natal Mercury, 8 April 1910. Government FF94. Notice No. 287, 1909 stated that £830 65 Debates of the Legislative Council, Vol. XIII, had been earmarked for telephone trunk 1889, 262-265. connections on the South Coast. 66 CSO 1019, No. 2173, 12 and 15 May 1885. 94 Desai, A. and Vahed, G., Inside Indian 67 Debates of the Legislative Council, Vol. XV, Indenture – A South African Story 1860-1914, 1891, 32-34. (Cape Town, 2010), 167, 344. 68 Natal Mercury, 2 February 1893. 95 Ibid. 69 Debates of the Legislative Council, Vol. XX, 96 Umkomaas Area Annals, 40, 42. 131-134; 147; Vol. XVI, 637-638. 97 Natal Witness, 6 February 1877. 70 Natal Mercury, 20 January 1893. 98 Natal Mercury, 25 June 1910. 71 Natal Mercury, 2 February 1893.