The 'History of Ceylon Tea' project is a tribute to those courageous men of whom Conan Doyle spoke, that the memory of their sacrifice and dedication in creating a great and life-giving industry shall not be dimmed with time.

The Tea Industry of Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka, is the lifeblood of the country today, providing direct employment to over 500,000 people, and producing for the world a beverage that is healthy, refreshing and delicious. It is an imperative for the future of this industry that we shall not forget the past, and those that made history in creating our tea industry.

Ancient and often unique publications which continue to suffer the ravages of time improperly stored in various state departments, are being collected, indexed, repaired and properly housed with the assistance of Dilmah Tea. Those publications where copyright is thought to have lapsed are also being made available online via this non-profit site. In this small way, Merrill J. Fernando, Founder of Dilmah, his family, staff and workers hope to contribute to the preservation of the history of one of the world’s great industries. We apologise for the condition of many of these books, but the years of nationalization have not been kind to the collection.