Page 57 - 2020 SoMJ Vol 73 No 2_Neat

48 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

immediately south of the fort. The second is further away and to the east of
Morea’s village; this is entitled ‘burial ground’.
On being shown the above map, Peter Charlton, a military historian who
used to live in Malawi, commented that: “the design of the stockade/fort is
unusual: certainly, I have not seen it before. The two triangular bits would have
enabled defenders to enfilade attackers from the sides. Judging by other forts, it
would have been quite small, probably heaped stone at the base about two feet
high with pole stockades. From the plan, it seems to have been an unmanned
defensive position only as there are no apparent buildings inside it…. The fact
that the map shows the kitchen etc outside would seem to indicate there was
nothing inside the stockade. I would guess the permanent garrison (if there was
one) would have been a handful of Sikhs with perhaps some Makua supporters”.
Another description was given by Bell writing in the British Central
Africa Gazette in April 1894: “Fort Anderson is a strong earthwork and stockade
contains a comfortable brick barrack and storeroom and also a strong brick
prison. A guard of six Sikhs occupies the fort and a party of Makua police are in
barracks close at hand. The locality has so far proved exceedingly healthy in spite
of marshy ground in the vicinity”
Writing in the 1950s, Claude Ambrose Cardew recalled a trip he made
to the Fort in 1894 as a newly appointed 24-year-old Assistant District Officer
based at Fort Lister. This trip was made in the company of Gilbert Stevenson, the
Collector who had taken over from John Bell and who was based at the Ruo River
fort. Cardew states “I made one journey along the western face of Mlanje to Fort
Anderson which was then situated on the bank of the Ruo River. Fort Anderson
was a depressing collection of mud and thatch buildings in deep forest on the bank
of the river”. Cardew also recalled going on the Ruo River in Stevenson’s boat.
The Mwinga fort had a very brief life as the District Administrative
Headquarters (1893 – 1896) and during that time the Collectors/District Officers
based there would have spent much of their time at the far end of the district at
Fort Lister since that is where most of the problems were being given by the Yao
chiefs. Being on the Ruo River which connected to the Zambezi, it was on one of
the main routes into the country, and so the fort was in some ways well placed. It
received all the mail – the Post Office was relocated there - but it was not well
positioned to deal with the slave raids, and besides the threat of these quickly
lessened. Plans started to be made to create a new more centrally placed Boma
with the need for the fort on the PEA border falling away. The administrative staff
and military personnel were relocated to Fort Lister where there was more need
for a military presence. By 1896 Fort Anderson had again been relocated, this
time to the area where in the fullness of time Mulanje township emerged. The fort
on the Ruo River was abandoned. (The need for Fort Lister also gradually
diminished and it closed completely in 1903).