New book on Seychelles’ social history (1839-1902) launched |19 April 2023

Mrs Johnstone with a copy of her book

Seychelles’ social history from 1839 to 1902 is depicted through a newly released book entitled ‘Victorian Seychelles’ written by Seychellois Denise Johnstone.

The 220-page book with around 200 photographs during that same period was launched during a short ceremony last Friday at the National Museum of History in the presence of Mrs Johnstone’s family, staff of the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts as well as those who have contributed towards the publication of the book.

Speaking to local media, Mrs Johnstone said the book has been a long time coming. The writer, who said she has always been passionate about family history, came up with the idea of publishing a social history book at the age of 15 when she was researching her family history at the Seychelles archives. She said looking at names and dates became tedious at one point and thought it would be better to read about how people lived.

“That is where my interest in the social history of Seychelles came about. So far most history books of Seychelles are mainly political history so mine is about social history,” stated Mrs Johnstone.

The former journalist who has also been fascinated by old photos of Seychelles wanted to write a book that would also include those old photographs, but this was a challenge as she could only find a few. Her research took her around the world through archives in Seychelles, Reunion island, United States, England, France, New Zealand and Australia, and she ended up with a collection of some 200 photographs and drawings dating between 1861 and 1902.

The writer said she had wanted to release the book in 2020 to coincide with Seychelles’ 250th anniversary but was delayed due to various challenges.

“The delay was a good thing because I received some photos of great historical significance at the last minute; one is a very rare picture of Seychelles before the 1862 avalanche and a second one that breaks the myth that Gordon Square was filled as a result of the avalanche. I now have a photo taken in 1872 or 1873, which shows the St Paul’s Cathedral with no land in front of it. There was a road and just mud,” stated the author.

Out of the collection, the writer’s favourite image in the book is a drawing depicting Anse Pasquere, Praslin by an Australian artist who came to Seychelles in 1887. Mrs Johnstone said the drawing entitled ‘Laba’, represents everything about the time and the culture.

“You can see people cooking in a pot, the old Anse Pasquere police station and the place where the police officers stayed, there is a pirogue shed, as well as people walking on the beach and some going fishing. There is a takamaka tree, a chicken, a stray dog and a group of women clad in their traditional clothes, who are dancing. It represents everything about Seychelles and its culture,” she said.

This is the author’s third book. The first, ‘The Way We Were’, was published in 1998, and depicted Seychelles between 1894 - 1920.

A second one entitled ‘Réveil Seychellois – Life in Seychelles 1770-1903’ came out in 2010.

The latest and third one was printed by Printhouse Seychelles and the printing was sponsored by the National Arts and Culture Fund of the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts. According to the institute’s secretary general, David Andre, the fund is donated to any person who has a worthy project promoting Seychelles’ heritage. Since the beginning of the year, 2023, six persons have already benefitted.

The book’s price has not been disclosed yet, but the author said this will be done in due course. It  will be on sale as of this week at the National Museum of History shop in Victoria.

Copies of the book were presented to Mrs Johnstone’s parents, Daniella and John Johnstone and her sister Anita, Mr Andre and the principal secretary of the Culture Department, Cecile Kalebi, NACF committee members and others who contributed towards its publication.

Friday’s ceremony also included an exhibition of photographs featured in the book, which will be on display for a month at the National Museum of History. A copy of the exhibition of photographs was presented to the National Museums to enrich their collection and this was presented to the museums’ director, Beryl Ondiek.

Patsy Canaya

Photos by Joena Meme