The Plantation - Di Morrissey [61]
‘You just get on with day-to-day living and don’t think much of the past,’ said Shane. ‘Anyway I don’t believe men, in general, worry too much about family and people far away.’
‘Well, I’m here and I’m curious,’ said Julie. ‘Where is great grandmother Charlotte buried?’ she asked as they walked back to the car.
‘In England. She spent a lot of time there and as she got older she preferred to be there. Apparently Charlotte hated the heat of Malaya and Eugene loathed the cold weather,’ said Shane. ‘We have other family over in the UK as well that we don’t see much of either.’
Julie shook her head. ‘I came to find out about my grandmother and my great aunt, and now I realise there’s a whole family tree I’ve never climbed.’
The entrance to Utopia plantation was impressive. It was not just the massive timber archway, flanked by tall trees, the landscaped gardens and high fence smothered in a solid scarlet wall of spiky bougainvillea that caught Julie’s eye, she also saw the chimney and roof of a large factory plant and what looked like office buildings in the plantation grounds. The Indian sentry at the boom gate snapped a smart salute as he waved them through.
‘This is the administration block, and over there are the research and development buildings, the seed nursery and staff area. The processing plant, refinery and factory are down that way and what we call the town centre is also over there,’ said Shane.
‘Town centre?’ said Julie. ‘This is a whole town?’
‘There’s a Hindu temple, staff shop, bakery, the school, as well as a medical clinic. There’s also the recreation and sports area, including an indoor badminton court. And down by the river we have also built shophouses,’ said Peter, adding, ‘We have six thousand people working here.’
‘We’ll show you around tomorrow. We brought you in by the front entrance to give you a sense of the place. Normally we come in over the hill the back way through the jungle reserve, it’s quicker,’ said Shane.
‘The family compound is on the original holding and separate from this, but it’s only a fifteen minute drive away,’ said Peter.
Julie was silent as they drove past buildings, rows and rows of oil palm divisions, and then through the housing estate of neat white, identical, two-storey terrace homes set in blocks of four.
‘They’re very neat and modern,’ said Julie, quite surprised.
‘Yes, things have changed since grandfather and great grandfather’s day,’ said Shane. ‘Providing a stable and supportive community has been a way to get the best from our workers. We have a lot of the women working for us, too, in the laboratory and plant nursery. Others work as cleaners and shop assistants, all kinds of things.’
‘They’d hardly need to leave the estate,’ said Julie, thinking that while it appeared rather paternalistic, almost colonial, the conditions probably suited the workers as much as the owners. ‘I see quite a lot of people own cars,’ she commented, seeing small cars under carports in some houses.
‘Yes, since Malaysia started producing its own car, the Proton, more people can afford to own one. So we’ve had to add carports to a lot of houses,’ said Shane.
‘Slim River is close by here and is quite a large market town,’ said Peter. ‘Utopia’s not as isolated as it looks.’
‘Times are changing, though. As the younger generation receives a better education and goes to university and that sort of thing, the young don’t want to come back here to work. They prefer the towns and cities and the opportunities there. Now most of our field workers come from Indonesia, not India,’ said Shane.
Peter continued, ‘However, what we would like to do is to provide an opportunity for those with an education to work here, as their parents did, but as staff in the offices, supervisors in the factories, working in R&D, that sort of skilled work. I guess that these changes to the plantation staff and the old family connections are inevitable, just a natural development.’
They finally arrived at the main house, which was set at the end of a narrow red dirt lane. The