ABSTRACT
Asia has been a source of labour supply for South Africa since the seventeenth century. Chinese labour also made a major contribution to the long-term structural transformation of the gold mining industry. The direct association of indentured labour with the burgeoning mining industry of South Africa was significantly enlarged by the exploitation of extensive gold deposits of payable ore on the Witwatersrand in the Transvaal after 1886. The resultant shortage of labour in the gold mining industry led ultimately to the decision to turn once again to Asia, this time to import Chinese miners on three year indentures. Recruiting, shipping and employment practices were affected to such an extent that the use of Chinese labour in the Transvaal gold mining industry marked a major development in the history of the use of indentured labour within the British Empire. Chinese labour made a major contribution to the absolute growth of the labour force.
