The collection contains the working and research papers of Iain Edwards.

Mr S.B. Bourquin was a senior official in the municipal Native Administration Department in Durban from 1950 onwards, becoming Manager and then Director of this Department during the 1950s. He later became Chief Director of the Port Natal Administration Board and retired in 1979. S.B. Bourquin was also a Commandant of the Durban North Commando Group 10.

To a large extent dealing with Emergency camps, such as Cato Manor, Moroka, Benoni, following removals.

Notes on the Ecological History of the St. Lucia Lake and Environs, by W.D. Wearne, Technical Officer, Natal Parks, Game and Fish Preservation Board. Edited, revised and with summary by P.G. Stewart. For St. Lucia Lake Commission of Inquiry, September 1965.

Photographs numbered Photo 1-23, were taken between the 1920s-1960s, and are describing amongst others:
High tide below 'Angler's Arms'; the 'Sugar loaf' Mapelana; Rev. L.O. Feyling's donkey wagon crossing the lake at 'Ndlelanendlovu'; 'Ndlelanendlovu' crossing from Mt. Tabor Mission Station; Trigsurvey Photo No. 54738 of Job 117 of 1937, Umfolozi river flowing into Estuary; Trigsurvey Photo No. 9370 of Job 400 of 1957 at Umfolozi river; Trigsurvey Photo No. 2271 of Job 442 of 1960; towing boat by oxen wagon through the Mapelana forest; from 'Ndleleanendlovu' crossing to the Estuary township; dead and dying fish at Estuary; view up the Narrows from the 'Angler's arms' site; Estuary mouth taken from 'Long Island'; Msunduzi river, south of Estuary.
Also included two maps, numbered 2 and 3 (map no. 1 is missing):
'Plan of township and farms laid out by Boers in the neighbourhood of St. Lucia Bay, 1883-84';
'Natal Harbour Dept. Zululand coast surveys. Survey of mouth of Umfelosi river and entrance to St. Lucia Lake, January 1905'

The unit was primarily tasked in quelling township riots, and resorted under the command of the SADF's Natal Command. During the State of Emergency in the 1980s, this commando was tasked with protecting strategic facilities. S.B. Bourquin held the position of a Commandant at the Commando Group 10.

Including amongst others: Memoranda issued by the Natal Command; compilation of guiding documents, including "The hearts and minds of people": A basic approach to psychological warfare, with special reference to the Blacks. An envisaged role for Commandos. by Cmdt. S Bourquin, DWD, Officer Commanding, Durban North Commando. Classified 'Restricted' to 'Confidential'

Containing amongst others: "Guerrilla Warfare: a method", Ernesto Che Guevara, published by Foreign Languages Press, Peking 1964 (copy), 23 pages; Guerrilla Warfare, issued by The army Gymnasium, undated; Camp training program, August-September 1967; "Guerrilla Warfare", Che Guevara, published by Press New York 1961 (copy), 127 pages

The grandson of an indentured labourer, Ramgobin led the re-launch of the Natal Indian Congress in 1971 - first started by Gandhi in 1894 - and was a founding national office bearer in the United Democratic Front, one of the six activists to sit-in at the British Consulate in Durban in 1984, and Accused number 1 in the `Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial - along with Albertina Sisulu, Rev Frank Chikane and others - of 1984 and 1985. Banned and also later placed under house arrest for periods totalling seventeen years, in 1994 he became an African National Congress Member of Parliament, elected in South Africa’s first democratic general elections. In this collection are personal letters from the Consulate and as an imprisoned detainee and treason trialist. Included in the documents are crucial new material on the NIC and the UDF, the return of the ANC in the post-1990 period, and material from his secret state security file. This material offers the informed reader crucial new insights into the dynamics of anti-apartheid politics in the crucial period leading up to both Feb 1990 from then until April 1994. (Book Summary)