GOED FORTUIN VILLAGE AND HOUSING SCHEME
ON THE WEST BANK DEMERARA, GUYANA – A BRIEF HISTORY
by
Lal Balkaran
Early years
Goed Fortuin are two Dutch words that mean ‘good’ and ‘fortune’ or ‘luck’. Other
similar Dutch names in Guyana are Goed Hoop, Goed Raad,
Goedland, and Goedverwagting. One of the islands, Sipora, making up the Mentawai
islands in Indonesia, was named ‘Goed Fortuin’ by the Dutch.
Goed Fortuin village lies on the left bank of the Demerara river and is 3 km or 2 miles from Vreed-en-Hoop. Its geographical
coordinates are 58 12 W (Longitude) and 06 47 N (Latitude).
The village was an old Dutch sugar plantation that started in the early
1800s when 380 sugar estates operated on the coast of the three colonies that would eventually unite to form British Guiana under the British in 1831. With the end of slavery in 1834 an apprenticeship
program was introduced to fill the labour scarcity. However, many apprentices abandoned the sugar estate life after their
apprenticeship stint. This labour shortage coupled with factors that impacted
the price for sugar, caused many sugar estates to be sold at ridiculously low
prices as the owners simply wanted to get out of the business.
Between 1838 and 1846, nineteen sugar estates were sold at such low prices.
In 1846 in particular, Plantations Haarlem (on the West Coast) and Goed Fortuin
were sold for £3,500 and £1,700 respectively. The values of these two sugar estates
during slavery were £50,000 and £35,000. Thus Plantation Goed Fortuin was sold at less than 5% its value when slavery was
in full swing.
In 1829, there were 230 sugar plantations operating in the colony, owned by almost as many owners. In 1900, there
were about 48 estates and in 1958, just 18. Those estates (and there were many) that lacked efficiency and effectiveness of
operations were forced into consolidation to meet strong competition and insecure markets. The
nearby Plantation Versailles stood out and grew by absorbing some of the smaller sugar estates, eventually amalgamating with Plantation Schoon Ord (south of Goed Fortuin) in the early 1950s, after which it came
to be known as Pln. Versailles & Schoon Ord Estate Ltd. Its major shareholder was Joseph (Joe) Vieira, one of the sons
of the patriarch of Pln. Houston, Manoel Vieira (Buller), a pioneer of the sugar industry in Guyana, who was born in 1874 on the West Coast Demerara.
Joe spent almost seven decades in the industry and used his experience and skills to bring much improvement not only to Plns.
Houston and Versailles & Schoon Ord (which his family owned), but to other estates as well throughout the country. His
son, Anthony Vieira eventually took over as the Administrative Manager at Versailles until its closure in 1977.
The People
There was a strong influx of about ten thousand (10,000) Portuguese in the year 1846-47 in the then British Guiana. Most settled in what is now Georgetown. The others settled on the sugar estates along the Demerara River Coast and Bank. On the West Bank, they settled at Vreed-en-Hoop, Plantation Versailles, Pouderoyen, Goed Fortuin and a few other places along the river.
The emancipated slaves, shop owners, and others of Pln. Goed Fortuin settled along the main roadways while the indentured
immigrants from India settled behind the village in a nuclear housing scheme built by the owners of Pln. Versailles and Schoon Ord Estate
in the early 1930s. Later in the 1940s, this was expanded to include the area up to the ‘A’ line, the canal that
separates Pln. Versailles from Goed Fortuin. Thus Goed Fortuin Housing Scheme provided the major labour supply for Versailles estate until 1977 when Versailles was permanently closed.
Goed Fortuin in its heyday had a vibrant community centre and a primary school (which is still there). However, long
gone are two logies that were situated at the very back and close to the sugar
cane fields.
Famous Personalities
Dr Jung Bahadur Singh, father of cultural icon Rajkumarie Singh and Dr Hardatt Singh, was born in Goed Fortuin. The elder Dr. Singh was elected in 1930 to the Legislature at national elections held
that same year.
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