Early Rodriguan immigrant in Melbourne.

Rodriguan immigration to Australia peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This story, from the early 1970s, revolves around a newly arrived young man in Melbourne. Being new to Melbourne, the young man arranged to meet a friend of his who had been living in Melbourne for a couple of years so he could be showed the sights. The two friends didn’t own cars and lived in different suburbs so they both arranged to catch a train to the city and meet outside St Paul’s Cathedral. For those that don’t know Melbourne, St Paul’s is located right opposite the main train station (Flinders Street Station) in Melbourne.

On the appointed day the newly arrived man got off the train at Flinders St Train station and proceeded to St Paul’s Cathedral. His friend arrived a little bit late and also proceeded to St Paul’s Cathedral. As he exited the station he noticed his friend sitting on the footpath outside St Paul’s Cathedral. He found this strange as the footpath was a major thoroughfare and was crowded with pedestrians at the time. Although he was sitting on the very edge of the footpath and not in the middle he was still disrupting pedestrians because it was crowded.

The friend, a little bit embarrassed, approached and asked him, “What are you doing? You can’t sit on the footpath and disrupt all these people. Couldn’t you stand on the corner and wait for me?” His friend got up and replied, “I had no choice, I had to wait for you sitting down”. He then proceeded to show his friend the street sign that stated in bold writing “NO STANDING ANYTIME”.

This story almost sounds like a joke but it’s apparently true. Why would a sign relating to cars advise them not to stand, it should just state “NO PARKING ANYTIME”.

Touni Minuit

“Touni Minuit” (English translation – naked at midnight) isn’t a story exclusive to Rodrigues Island. Mauritius also has stories of “Touni Minuit”. The stories from Rodrigues and Mauritius are a little bit different. The stories started in Mauritius, changed a bit, and then migrated to Rodrigues.

I’ll begin with the Mauritian “Touni Minuit”.The story begun after cyclone Hollanda struck Mauritius in February 1994 when the electricity was down and hadn’t been restored to many parts of the island. Rumours swept the island that a woman was menaced by a werewolf in Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius. Yes, a werewolf! Within hours of the first report, sightings and encounters with the werewolf began to multiply. The werewolf was given the name of “Touni Minuit”. He was described as being shiny black or silver and took the form of a naked man and sometimes a dog. Mass hysteria swept the island and the story was reported in the news media. Armed vigilantes started to roam the streets in search of the so called werewolf. As the weeks passed and electricity was restored, sightings of “Touni Minuit” died down. Some people attribute the disappearance of “Touni Minuit” to the killing of black dogs in Pleine Verte by the vigilantes. Basically they assumed he was killed when in dog form.

The “Touni Minuit” story migrated to Rodrigues after the hysteria died down in Mauritius. The Rodriguan version wasn’t reported as being a werewolf. He was described as a naked man that was smeared all over with some sort of black oily substance. The story goes that people would wake up in the middle of the night and they would find “Touni Minuit” in their kitchen eating their food (I’m laughing while writing this as the find this story so hilarious). Some people tried to grab him but he slipped from their grasp due to his oily covering and magically disappeared. Like the Mauritian version, weeks passed and sightings of “Touni Minuit” died down.

Both versions of “Touni Minuit” were reported in Melbourne on the weekly ZZZ Mauritian radio program.

The schoolteacher and the Virgin Mary statue

In the olden days there was a statue of the Virgin Mary located on the hillside in the grounds of Port Mathurin Government School (It may still be there) . I actually have a very old picture of the school children helping build the statue dated from the late 1940s. Back in the days school teachers used to take their students to the statue to pray. Maybe they prayed for good grades! One of these students told me the following funny story.

On this particular day a school teacher took his students to the statue to pray. The teacher in question was Monique Plaiche (sadly no longer with us but very well known as a teacher). As he and his students knelt before the statue and started saying their prayers a man on the roadside by the school yelled out, "Monique!!!!! Arete fer to couyon!! Ca statue la, ciment ca! Levayan ki ti faire ca!".

Kreole --> English translation: Monique!!!! Stop being an idiot!! That statue is cement! Levayan made it. Basically the moral of the story is, "why the hell are you praying to a piece of cement".

The daredevil Rodriguan motorcyclist

A motorcyclist is hospitalised in Queen Elizabeth hospital at Creve Coeur nursing multiple broken bones, cuts and bruised. He is visited by his family and friends. They ask him what happened to him. He replied that he had been riding his motorcycle on a stretch of road near Mont Lubin on a pitch black moonless night. He rounded a corner and he saw the distant glare of two motorcyclist’s headlight. Having a bit of a reputation as a daredevil he accelerated his bike and decided he was going to ride between the two motorcyclists heading his way. As he thundered for the small gap between the oncoming headlights he realised, too late, that it wasn’t two motorcyclists heading his way but a jeep. This jeep was the first and only car on the island at the time. The motorcyclist had no idea and thought motorcycles were the only form of motorised transport on the island at the time.

This story comes from the 1950s and it is a fact that the first car on the island was a jeep and did arrive on the island in the 1950s. That being the case, this story still sounds suspiciously like an urban legend. A few people claim it did occur though but who knows.

Pirates and buried treasure

Rodrigues island has a rich history in regards to piracy and pirates. Laurent Lemoine, the infamous pirate, supposedly hid treasure on the island (Ile Hermitage to be specific). Other sites of supposed hidden treasure include L'Anse Aux Anglais and Caverne Provert. Many have tried to search for the hidden treasure in L'Anse Aux Anglais with no success (including Leon Le Clezio). My Grandfather used to tell the story of holes dug all over the place in L'Anse Aux Anglais when he was a child on the island. Caverne Provert also has an interesting legend regarding buried treasure. The story goes that there is a hidden chain in the "cavern like" formation at the end of the beach. It is said that the chain, if found and followed, leads to hidden treasure. I recall looking for this chain when I was last on the island but I didn't see anything. The cave was full of sand so maybe it's buried under the sand!

To this day no treasure has ever been found in Rodrigues. The closest thing found are old coins dating back 100s of years. There is an interesting story relating to coins which have been found on the island. Apparently the ghosts of pirates come to certain people in their dreams and tell them exactly where the hidden treasure is located and to go off into the night and start digging. Apparently some people claim they have followed through on the dream and they did end up finding old coins but no treasure.

Is there hidden treasure buried somewhere on the island just waiting to be found? The evidence so far suggest there isn't. On the other hand maybe there is treasure but nobody has found it yet.

Lady Broome's account of Rodrigues island

Lady Broome (1831-1911 pictured left) was an author who wrote the book Colonial Memories. Colonial Memories, her last book details her life in the British colonies in the 1800s. Her travel to Rodrigues (late 1800s) is mentioned in the book. Looking at the way she wrote, it does seem rather racist and politically incorrect. Here's a snippet from the book.

"All the men in the settlement had crowded round F. and the priests, so I found myself the centre of a large gathering of the women of Gabrielle, Children were there in numbers, but had no chance of getting near me, and there was always the difficulty of the language. What my smiling jet-black friends seemed most curious about was my "civil status," and that of the other lady. " Madame ou Ma'amzelle ?" was the incessant question to both of us. I singled out one extraordinarily ugly but beaming and big, fat girl to put the same question to, and I can never forget the' droll air of coquetry with which she laid one black finger against an equally black cheek, turned her head aside, and murmured bashfully, "Moi, je suis Modeste.""