By Chevon Lim
The Kamuni Creek (Kamuni Creek) is a stream found in in Demerara River. It is located at an elevation of 2 meters above sea level. Kamuni Creek is also known as Kamuni River, which cuts across the left bank of the Demerara River and is flanked on both sides by amazing greenery and rich vegetation .
The Hopetown settlement at Kamuni Creek (a creek more well-known for the present-day Santa Mission and Santa Aratak villages) began in 1865 as an effort by colonial authorities to induce Chinese indentured labourers to remain in British Guiana after their contracts were up.
Many had heard of the Chinese in Trinidad accumulating wealth from engaging in rice cultivation and commerce there, and saw no prospects for this in British Guiana. A Christian missionary in British Guiana known as O Tye Kim (Wu-Tai-Kam), recognised the dissatisfaction among them and devised a plan to encourage them to stay.
O Tye Kim’s solution was to establish a “Christian Chinese settlement” not only to spread Christianity but also to create a place where the former indentured labourers could work and live independently to accumulate their wealth and improve their future prospects.
He petitioned then Governor Hincks for a free land grant at Camoonie (Kamuni) Creek- approximately 30 miles up the Demerara River, and a small loan to establish the settlement on the left bank of the creek, a tributary of the Demerara River.
Enthusiastic about the idea, Governor Hincks granted the request and the petition was carried in 1865.
Immediately, some 25 settlers were taken to the area, and by the end of the year there were about 70 Chinese settlers. Some historians put the original settlers at 12, with about 170 by year end.
The decline of the settlement came soon after. In 1866, just a year after the settlement was created, allegations of improprieties by O Tye Kim arose with regard to the settlement’s accounts and his own financial enterprises.
In 1972 it was agreed by Dr. Alan John Knight, then Bishop of Guyana, who was also the Archbishop of the West Indies, that the land should be leased for 99 years to the Chinese Association.
At its peak in 1874, Hopetown is said to have a population of about 800 Chinese. By 1891 that number was reduced to 240; by 1901 it had dwindled to 198, mostly the old and infirm. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
