A ground-breaking ceremony was today held for a memorial to be built on the beachfront of South Africa's coastal city of Durban, the spot where a boat carrying the first Indian indentured labourers arrived in 1860.
The ceremony was led by Willies Mchunu, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal Province, which is home to about two-thirds of South Africa's 1.4 million citizens of Indian origin.
He was joined a by a number of local Indian leaders.
"By working towards the erection of the monument, we are expressing our deep appreciation to our fellow brothers and sisters from India who unequivocally declared South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal in particular, as their preferred place to live in," Mchunu told the local media.
"We remain indebted to the Indian indentured labourers for their contributions, especially in terms of establishing the agricultural potential of KwaZulu-Natal, making it a world-renowned region of the sugar industry," Mchunu added.
Plans for the monument started in 2010 as part of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Indian settlers, but were delayed through administrative procedures regarding the funding requirements of almost 5 million rands.
The 342 people who arrived on the ship Truro after an arduous trip from India in expectation of a promised better life mostly endured suffering at the hands of sugarcane barons, slaving away from dawn to dusk.
But most of them and thousands of others who followed for the next four decades opted to make South Africa their new home rather than return to India at the end of their indenture contracts.
Coming together to build mosques, temples and schools from their own funds despite apartheid-era restrictions on their movement, the indentured labourers and a separate merchant class of settlers who spread across South Africa ensured the survival of Indian culture, language and religion, which is continued by their descendants today in a democratic South Africa.
One of the most famous Indians to reach South Africa was young lawyer Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who was brought to South Africa by a businessman to fight a lawsuit against a family member.
Gandhi stayed for two decades, starting off his lifelong fight against discrimination through his 'Satyagraha' before returning to India to lead his people to independence from the colonial British rule.
Gandhi's granddaughter Ela still runs the Phoenix Settlement started by him, while other descendants are also proud South Africans engaged in community work, such as his great granddaughter Kirti Menon in Johanensburg.
The first phase of the 1860 Heritage Museum in Durban has also been completed, with a permanent exhibition called The Story of Indenture 1860-1911.
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