GOOGLE does not make someone an instant historian. That’s the view of Duncan du Bois, who has just released the book Sugar and Settlers: A History of the Natal South Coast 1850-1910.
Based on research he did for his doctoral thesis at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Sugar and Settlers offers the reader a regional study of the South Coast during the colonial era.

His book begins with the settlement of Isipingo in 1850 and traces the southwards movement of the frontier, initially to the Mzimkulu River as settlers established a sugar-based economy.

It also examines the difficulties of travel and transportation as settlers repeatedly petitioned the colonial government to erect bridges over the 26 rivers which traverse the coast between Reunion and Port Shepstone.

“History is vulnerable to exploitation and propaganda,” the Durban-based author told festival goers at the inaugural Ramsgate Literary Festival. “To get the context is vital, especially when you are attempting to see where your story fits in.”

Du Bois consulted about 1 500 volumes of information, some of it 165 years old, to write his book. The documents included letters, reports and petitions, some of which had not seen the light of day since they were filed away.

“Most of them were handwritten, and that writing was disappearing, so it was challenging,” he said. “It is understandable when you consider that they used goose quills to write with.

“[But] it was also a pleasure and a privilege to handle these documents and to bring them back to life by quoting them.

“Bringing information like this to a wider audience is what history is all about … history gives you a perspective of where you have been.”

In Sugar and Settlers, Du Bois unpacks the issues and events that coloured the lives of the South Coast pioneers, including the role of missionaries, fears of a Zulu uprising, labour and capital constraints, fauna, flora and the environment, the role of women, education, governance and infrastructural developments, such as the coming of the telegraph and the eventual construction of the South Coast railway.

Transportation is one of the main features of the book and among those profiled in this regard are the Aiken brothers and William Bazley, who helped open the Mzimkulu to navigation.

From 1880 to 1902, small ships plied between Durban and Port Shepstone, often also servicing Umkomaas and Umzinto Bay.

Sugar and Settlers also deals with the effects of colonialism on the indigenous African population, as well as the discriminatory experiences of indentured and settler Indians.

It includes a detailed case study of the human rights abuses that occurred on the Umzinto sugar estates of the Reynolds brothers, Frank and Charles.

Meticulously researched, Sugar and Settlers, published by SunPress Media, is a must for those interested in South African history.

The book can be ordered through the website: http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/Sun-e-Shop/Product-Details/tabid/78/ProductID/425/Default.aspx

An e-book version is available using the same link.