Rob Wright
1949, July
These gentlemen seated on a bench outside a government office in Suva in July 1949 were members of the Sikh community who had come to Fiji during the years of indenture.
[Fiji in the Forties and Fifties, pl. 29]

Book illustration, based on gelatin silver print
Private collection of Ginnie Marlow
Used with the kind permission of Ginnie Marlow and Thomson Pacific Ltd.
 
This photograph is included in the book "Fiji in the Forties and Fifties" Photography by Rob Wright, Text by Sir Ian Thomson, Edited by Peter Thomson (Thomson Pacific Ltd., 1994, ISBN: 0473027402)
 
Accompanying text in book:
 
"These gentlemen seated on a bench outside a government office in Suva in July 1949 were members of the Sikh community who had come to Fiji during the years of indenture. The indenture system had been terminated as far back as the year 1917. Those who wished to return to India were offered free repatriation, but in 1949 decided to terminate those arrangements because it believed that sufficient time had elapsed for people to avail themselves of the offer. These men were some of the last to exercise their option."
 
LL/20234