(Left) The first Chinese Labourers arrive on the Rand. The train trip from Durban to the Rand took 27 hours. (Right) The East Rand Propriety Mine boarding house.
A total of 34 shiploads of Chinese labourers were despatched to South Africa, the journey between north China and Natal ports taking approximately 30 days by chartered steamship. A second journey by train to the Transvaal mines took 27 hours.
Early usage of postcard (from LUIPAARDSVLEI, 22/12/1904) showing the arrival of the first group of Chinese miners on the Rand
The first contingent of 1 055 Chinese workers was allocated to the East Rand Propriety Mine (see postcard). They were recruited on three to four year contracts. By December 1904 the total of Chinese miners on the Rand had risen to 27 222, with workers being distributed to 62 mines on the Witwatersrand, from Springs on the East Rand to Randfontein on the West Rand. They were housed in compounds separate from the Black workforce, in large brick buildings surrounding a central courtyard.