Lecture Access

This lecture will be available to view until 1 June 2026

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OVERVIEW

Watch on Demand | Online Lecture

Perched on a mountain ridge in West Bengal and overlooked by Kanchenjunga, Darjeeling is a hill station moulded by climate, colonial influence, and labour. 

Its elevation and cooler climate attracted British officials looking for a break from the hot plains, leading the East India Company in the early 1800s to establish it as a seasonal retreat, later calling it the “Queen of the Hills.”

Darjeeling’s prominence grew internationally after Britain relinquished its monopoly on Chinese tea exports. Successful experimental plantations on nearby slopes turned it into a major global tea centre. This growth depended on a diverse workforce from the eastern Himalayas, including Nepali speakers and Sherpas, whose descendants became notable in mountaineering and Himalayan exploration.

In this lecture, Judy Tenzing explores Darjeeling’s complex history- from colonial planning and plantation economies to local customs, migration, and the stories that continue to define the town’s identity.

LECTURER

Biography

Judy Tenzing is a historian with a passion for all things South Asian – India, the Himalaya, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Judy has a degree in South Asian History as well as post graduate qualifications in secondary teaching. She has taught at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Continuing Education, U3A, COFA, the Jane Austen Society and more – offering courses in the histories, cultures, textiles and faiths of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Taiwan and Myanmar. Judy led her first tour for Academy Travel in 2012 and has been a regular leader since then, accompanying groups to India, Myanmar, Bhutan, Taiwan, Japan and Sri Lanka.

Judy Tenzing

Historian