Sites

Archive Import: An Octagonal gazebo marks the spot of the first sugar mill: L is a replica of the primitive mills used to crush sugar cane in the earliest days of the sugar industry.
History: The memorial garden marks the place where the first sugar mill in South Africa was erected and where the South African sugar industry had its origin. The founder of the sugar industry in Natal was Edmund Morewood, one of the early settlers in Durban. When the Voortrekkers arrived he immediately gained their confidence and supported them in their negotiations with Mpande. In recognition of his services the Government of the Natalia Republic appointed him as harbour- master and superintendent of customs at Durban. After the occupation of Natal by Britain he continued to hold this post for several years but then decided to take up farming. After much trouble he was granted a farm between the Tongaat and Umhlali Rivers by the British Government. He called it ‘Compensation’ because he regarded it as poor compensation for his failure to obtain another farm near Durban which he particularly wanted.Morewood, who had travelled in other parts of the world before coming to Natal, became interested in a kind of wild sugar cane that grew near the coast, called umoba or imphi by the Zulus. He came to the conclusion that where these reeds grew so luxuriantly, sugar cane would also do well. In 1847 a Durban firm, Milner & Milner, was asked to import a consignment of sugar for experimental purposes from the island of Bourbon, afterwards known as Reunion. Morewood took over a part of this consignment and planted it on his farm Compensation, on land which he had prepared specially for it.Morewood was right. The sugar cane did extremely well and by 1852 he had 42 hectares under three different kinds of cane. In 1851 he built his own sugar mill, the first in South Africa, to crush the cane. It was a primitive contraption. He used heavy wooden rollers made from a spar from an old wreck. These rollers were rotated by means of handles worked by four Bantu, while another fed the cane into the machine. From the rollers juice was led by a wooden trough into an iron pot. As soon as the pot was full the juice was strained through a cloth into 45-litre three legged pots and, after the addition of a little lime, boiled until the sugar crystallised out.The process was a tedious one, but in December, 1851, Morewood made his first sugar, and.. in January, 1852, he exhibited it in the offices of The Natal Times where it caused quite a stir. Samples were sent to Cape Town and England and Morewood’s undertaking was visited by several experts. Their reports were optimistic and held out the prospect of a flourishing sugar industry in Natal. In spite of this, Morewood was unable to raise the necessary capital. to develop his undertaking and eventually had to sell his estate. In The Natal Times of 24th December, 1852, a part of his farm Compensation was advertised for sale ; the reason given was ‘the lack of sufficient capital to carry on the manufacture of sugar’. But Morewood’s pioneer work had important results. By 1853 several farmers round Durban had decided to follow his example. At the end of that year M. Jeffels imported the first steam-driven mill and erected it at Isipingo. In 1855 the firm of H. Milner and J. B. Milner who had imported the first sugar canes, built an even larger steam mill and factory on the Springfield estate, and this really launched the sugar industry of Natal.Through the efforts of the Natal branch of the South African National Society the remains of Morewood’s old mill were traced in 1948 and the memorial garden was established with the support of the South African Sugar Association in collaboration with the Hulett family.
Visual Description: Gardens established by the SA Sugar Assoc in 1951 to commemorate the pioneer work of Edmend Morewood
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Condition: Good
Construction Date: 1951
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Catalogue: Peters, 1996, No: NC865, Significance Category: H