South End Museum, Walmer

A visit to the South End Museum etches deep into the minds and hearts of the guest. This museum immerses one into the lives, cultures, challenges, tragedies and victories of those that experienced Apartheid at its most intense.

The experience starts on entry into South End, where the Wild Fig Tree, Hindu Temple and Muslim mosques stand out amidst the everyday hustle and bustle of the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The building that houses the museum was, itself, a prominent and important structure. Situated right on the shore, this was a key position since fishing was such an integral part of the South End community
The entrance hall is peppered with photos of old South End as well as the some of the people who made up the diverse community. Sidney Prince is the tour guide and gives the commentary in English. He grew up in the old South End and is ideally suitable to provide visitors from all over the world with a first-hand perspective of the world and the suburb at this crucial time in South African history.
South Africa has been home to a large Indian community since November 1860 when a number of indentured Indian labourers were brought from India to work in Durban. Not all Indians arrived under these conditions; some were merely ordinary passengers seeking a better way of life while others were ‘special servants’ – people with a particular skill for which they had been specially sought out and recruited on behalf of a particular employer. However, the majority were indentured labourers who worked on sugar plantations, railroads, etc... They started to spread out across the country and records show that there were already Indians living in Port Elizabeth by 1890.