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GUYANA CHRONICLE Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Industrial museum on the cards By Vanessa Braithwaite AS Region 10 celebrates 100 years of bauxite mining, the centennial committee yesterday hosted a ceremonial launching of the observances, which will climax in October. The launch was held at the site that is earmarked for the construction of an industrial museum, which should be
completed by October. The site is located at the railway which the trains traversed transporting the bauxite from the mines to the processing plant. Present at the launch were members of the centennial committee, including Horace James, Chairman; former President and Prime Minister and Guymine employee Samuel Hinds;
––as Region 10 launches bauxite centennial former Minister of Public Works and Guymine employee Robeson Benn; Mayor of Linden, Carwyn Holland; Deputy Mayor Waneka Arrindel; Regional Chairman Renis Morian; General Manager of Bosai, Eric Yu; members of the old bauxite employees body, and many other stakeholders in Linden. BAUXITE MINING Mr. Horace James told the audience that the ceremony is just a prelude to greater things to come, and the aim is mainly to educate the students of Linden on the significance of bauxite mining and the role it played in the development of the town and the country. “It is important that people know that bauxite mining started in October 1916, and the history and the role that bauxite played in the development of Linden, of Guyana, and (in) World Wars 1 and 2,” he said. James posited that bauxite mining can be deemed responsible for Linden being developed into a community and later a town. Without bauxite, Linden would not have even been occupied.
“This area would have been like other settlements along the Demerara River, other than for bauxite; but this town was established as a company town,” Mr. James noted. Former bauxite worker and history enthusiast Winslow Paris performed a dramatic poem, illustrating his days at the bauxite company and the way many persons migrated to Linden to be in the employ of the then bauxite company. At that time, he said, bauxite took care of the entire country, and even though there is a decline in bauxite mining, Lindeners are still surviving, as they are a contented people. EARLY DAYS Bauxite mining started in 1916 when a Scotsman, George Bain Mackenzie, came to Linden and observed bauxite in the soil. He fooled the residents, giving them the impression that he wanted to plant oranges. After his death, other expatriates came and commenced bauxite mining in the community of Three See page 13