Durban - When one walks through the newly developed Cornubia Mall you can’t help but stop and stare at the 112-year-old fig tree that stands grand and tall as a sign of peace and tranquility amid the hustle and bustle of the shopping centre.
The tree, which survived last week’s devastating storm, is believed to have been planted in 1905 when the area was a small sugar estate.
Recalling his memories of the tree, retired teacher Rajmanikkam Munisamy, 89, a former resident of Cornubia Estate, said when he was a child his parents relocated from Sparks Road in Durban in 1936 and he could fondly remembers playing under the tree.
“The area was occupied by the early Indians who worked as cane cutters and field workers keeping the land free from weeds.
The men worked as the cutters and the women and young boys and girls cleared the weeds.”
Munisamy said they earned a princely salary, starting from 13 shillings for children.
“Women earned between 15 to 18 shillings and one pound 10 shillings for men. This was subsidised with weekly rations of mealie meal, mealie rice, dhall and for good measure, cooking oil, salt and rice once a month.”
There were no schools nearby, he said, so the children walked to attend the only school in Mount Edgecombe. They lived on sugar estates, among them Waterloo, Hillhead Flander, Blackburn, Burnside, La Lucia, and the main estate, Mount Edgecombe, because it had the sugar mill.
“Thus the historical fig tree served as a play area for the children. Of course the girls had their own games to keep them occupied.”
Munisamy recalls playing around the tree as a teenager with friends Paras Maharaj, Tommy Chengan and golf pro Paul Lutchmiah.
“Nostalgic? Very much so,” he said. “This 112-year-old tree is the same, in the middle of the modern Cornubia Mall.”
But it was sad, Munisamy said, that only a tree was left to remind the younger generations of life there.
“Our children and grandchildren have no idea at all what we went through, as poor families. Perhaps the government should consider building a school in the area and name it after one of the early residents, to keep the memory alive.”
The chairperson of the Cornubia Estate Ex-Residents Association, Dennis Thulukanam, said he was pleased the mall owners had decided to keep the tree as it brought back good memories.
“Since my father worked for Huletts our family lived on the sugar estate. I remember walking past the tree on my way to getting our family rations and seeing other children play around it.”
Describing the tree as majestic and beautiful, Thulukanam, the POST’s advertising manager, said to some it might just be an ordinary tree, but to former residents it was a piece of their history that was being kept alive.
“The tree is a reminder of how we have grown as a community. From working as labourers toiling in the fields to now having professional careers.”