Bygones and Byways

WHO'S WHO IN THE FAMILY TREE?

2011-08-09T01:22:00.000+02:00

Uncle and aunt - your parents’ brothers and sisters.
Niece and nephew - son and daughter of your brothers and sisters.
First cousin (aka cousin, full cousin) - children of your parents’ brothers and sisters. You and your first cousins have one set of grandparents in common.
Double first cousins (aka double cousins) - if a pair of brothers marries a pair of sisters, their children are not only first cousins, they’re also double first cousins as they have both sets of grandparents in common.
Second cousin - you and the children of your parents’ first cousins are second cousins. You share at least one common great-grandparent. Your child and your first cousin’s child are second cousins.
Third cousin - you and the children of your parents’ second cousins, are third cousins and you share at least one great-great-grandparent. And so on for fourth, sixth, etc...
First cousin once removed - a relationship that is removed, is one that exists in two different genealogical generations. Your father and his brother may have been born 20 years apart, but they are still of the same generation. Your parents’ first cousin, is your first cousin once removed. The child of your first cousin is also your first cousin once removed - your grandparent is that child’s great-grandparent. You also carry on with second cousin once removed, third cousin once removed, etc...
Grandaunt and granduncle - the sisters and brothers of your grandparents.
Great-grandaunts and great-granduncles - your great-grandparents’ sisters and brothers.
In-laws - family by marriage. Your spouse’s parents, spouses of your siblings and spouses of your spouse’s siblings. Your sister’s husband is an in-law, but none of his siblings are. Your husband’s sister’s husband is your in-law, but none of his brothers are.
Affinity relatives - your spouse’s blood relatives, the in-laws that are biologically related to your spouse.

MAZAWATTEE TEA COMPANY

2011-08-09T01:17:00.001+02:00

Many South Africans will recognise the name Mazawattee. It was found on tin cans in Granny’s kitchen.

John Boon DENSHAM, age 36 years in the March 1851 Plymouth Census, was a chemist and druggist. By 1860, John had moved to London, where he became a partner in a tea import company run by Charles LEES. They renamed the company Lees & Densham. By 1873, John’s three eldest sons (Edward, Alfred and Benjamin) had joined the business and the name was changed to Densham & Sons. The youngest son, John Lane, joined a few years later.

John Lane travelled around the south of England selling his father’s tea. When his father died, John Lane became a full partner and was responsible for advertising. The first change he made, was to the company name. He wanted an exotic name that would stand out. After spending some time in the Guildhall Library, he chose the Hindu word maztha (meaning luscious) and the Singhalese word wattee (meaning garden of growth). He combined the two to form the famous Mazawattee. He then commissioned an artist to paint “The old folks at home”, a painting of a smiling, bonneted and shawled grandmother having tea with her grand-daughter. The painting soon became well-known and the tea was referred to as “Granny’s tea”. In 1891, the company’s name was again changed to the Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company and in 1899 they expanded into the coffee, cocoa and chocolate business.

John Lane’s health was deteriorating and in 1904 he handed over directorship to a Mr. McQUITTY. In March 1906, John Lane rushed back from India to save the company from bankruptcy, firing McQUITTY. With the outbreak of WWI, the price of tea was raised and it became too expensive for the ordinary person. In 1915, Henry ADAMS, the American representative for Mazawattee, was on honeymoon and travelling on the Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German submarine. This was the last straw for the ailing company and John Lane decided to start a factory in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. His wife accompanied him to Port Elizabeth. His health remained poor and when he heard that his youngest son had died in the War, he worsened. He died in 1918.

Alex JACKSON who did much to promote the company's products succeeded John Lane DENSHAM. One of his advertising ploys involved a team of 4 zebras that had been trained to pull a wagon - shaped like a tea box and driven by khaki-clad African drivers. The Depression of the 1930s knocked the company hard. During WWII, Joseph Alexander DENSHAM, John Lane's eldest son, headed the company. When Joseph died, so did the company.

Today, Mazawattee tin cans are collector’s items, along with any other Mazawattee memorabilia. In South Africa, many reproduction tin cans are easily obtainable - with the famous painting “The old folks at home”.
Source: Story of Mazawattee Tea by Diana James

STARTING CHILDREN ON THE ANCESTRAL TRAIL

2011-08-09T00:55:00.000+02:00

Genealogy has been seen as a hobby for those who have retired and have nothing better to do with their time! It has also been seen as a rather boring hobby because it involves history.

Fortunately, events such as the television series Roots (based on the Alex Haley book) and the blockbuster film Titanic, launched renewed interest in one’s background. Today, genealogical society meetings are attended by people of various age groups, not just retired folks. Some schools also use family trees as a teaching aid in history classes. To keep this going, it is important that your children know what you are doing and why you are doing it.

Here are some fun ideas to get the youngsters involved:
* Celebrate an ancestor’s birthday: pick an ancestor that had something in common with your child e.g. a hobby, the same birth month, same names, etc... Find out what you can about this ancestor. Get background information about what life was like in that period. Do all of this with your child and end it off with a birthday cake.
* Pass on a family recipe that you got from your parents or grandparents. Make the time to cook or bake it with you child, talking about the person who gave you the recipe.
* Plot your ancestors on a large map. Mark each place where your ancestors once lived. It could show the countries or the towns. Each time you find another place, mark it together. Display the map where the children can see it.
* Visit a toy museum. Children find it interesting to see the toys that their ancestors played with.
* Make a family time-line. Help the child gather facts and stories about his/her parents, grandparents, etc... Collect photographs (or photocopies) of these people. Let the child write or type out the findings, a page for each person. Paste each photo on a sheet, label the sheet with the person’s details and tape the facts and stories to the bottom of the photo sheet. Hang the pages, in chronological order, with pegs on a line that you’ve put up. Make historical markers (like a bookmark), write an historical, local or world, date and event on each one. Hang these markers in the appropriate spaces in-between the photo pages.
* Create a family time capsule. Each family member places an item of his or her choice in the capsule. Make up lists of the family’s friends, favourite things, teachers, jobs, etc... and place them in the capsule. Store the capsule in a cupboard and one year later, repeat the project, this time adding the past year’s items and lists.
* Play family trivia. Especially suitable for times like Easter or Christmas when families tend to gather. Each family member writes a question on a piece of card. Make the questions by using Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. E.g. “Who was afraid of the tooth fairy?, “What item was brought from England with our ancestor”, “Where was the house with the yellow door?”, etc... Questions could be about amusing stories, interesting careers, etc... Keep the cards in a box and follow the rules of Trivial Pursuit! You can write the answers on other cards, so they can be passed on one day.

DE VILLIERS / PAMA NUMBERING SYSTEM

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South Africa uses the De Villiers genealogical numbering system in all standard reference works. The system was devised by the South African genealogist, Christoffel Coetzee DE VILIERS, and first used in published works in the 1890s. The system was later revised by Dr. Cor PAMA.

Everyone has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, and this number doubles in every following generation...

Do you have all your ancestors?
2 parents
4 grandparents
8 great-grandparents
16 great-great-grandparents
32 great-great-great-grandparents
64 great-great-great-great-grandparents
and so on and so on...

In De Villiers, “a” is the South African progenitor of the family.
His children are numbered chronologically as “b1”, “b2”, etc...
His grandchildren are “c”, his great-grandchildren are “d”. etc...

The “b” denotes the second generation of the family in South Africa, “c” the third, “d” the fourth, etc...

Many South African families today have already reached “j” - 9th, “k” - 10th, and “l” - 11th generation down from the original settler.

SOUTH AFRICAN SURNAMES

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The Dutch East India Company recruited soldiers, sailors and workers from many other places besides Holland. Many of these recruits were from neighbouring countries, especially Germany. Today, this can still be seen, especially amongst the Afrikaans people, in surnames such as Wagenaar, Smit, Meyer, Kruger, Hofmeyr, Schutte, etc... President Paul Kruger used the umlaut in his surname (Krüger), a very German custom.

South African surnames have their origins in countries such as Norway, France, Russia, Ireland, Greece, Scotland, Lithuania, India, Malaysia, Belgium, Indonesia, Switzerland and many others. Truly “one world in one country” or the “rainbow nation”!

Remember that surnames were often incorrectly spelt and even changed in early records and there can be various spellings of a particular surname. The surname Coetzee has many variations including Koetzee, Kotze, Coetzer, Coetze and Koetsee. This can create havoc when following an individual’s paper trail! Even first names have this habit. The French surname of Retifs became Retief, Pinard became Pienaar and Lombards became Lombaard.

When surnames started becoming popular, many were derived from occupations. Schoeman was a shoemaker, Vorster or Foster was a forestry worker, Muller was a miller, Pelser was a furrier, Kruger was the keeper of the krug or inn, Potgieter was a pottery caster and De Klerk was a clerk. A Portuguese surname that is today common in the Afrikaans people is Ferreira (meaning a blacksmith).

Place names were another favourite when it came to surnames in the beginning. In Afrikaans the word “van” means “of” or “from”. The van der Merwe’s take their surname from a river in the south of Holland, the Merwede. The surname van Keulen is “from Cologne” in Germany. Van Rensburg is also in Germany. France has also contributed to South African surnames, some being Delpierre, Terreblanche, Marais, du Toit and du Plessis.

The Italians brought the Pisanie surname, meaning one from Pisa. The English surname of Cory, is believed to be derived from the town of Cordy in Lincolnshire.

Most slaves at the Cape were given names by the slave-traders or their owners. Slaves owned by the VOC often retained versions of their real names, usually misspelt by the officials, such as Sao Balla, Revotes Kehang or Indebet Chemehaijre. Privately owned slaves were generally called Anthony, Jan, Pieter, Anna or Catrijn. Biblical names like Titus and Rachel were also given. Others were named after the months of the year especially April, September and October. Slaves’ first names were often followed by their place of origin, as in Paul van Malabar (Paul of Malabar) or Lisbeth van Bengalen (Lisbeth of Bengal). Those slaves born in the Cape usually had van de Kaap (of the Cape). Those whose first names proved difficult to pronounce were given new names, either after their owner (Jan, Anthony...) or after mythology (Apollo, Adonis...). Using the calendar months was another common naming custom and surnames like September still exist today. With the abolition of slavery in 1835, many of the slaves kept their given names.

NAMING PATTERNS

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A careful study of naming patterns can sometimes lead to great discoveries. This is no longer true with later generations but it certainly pays once you are researching circa 1940’s and earlier. In South African genealogy, the Afrikaans community adhered to tradition longer than any other group. The common naming pattern in South Africa was:

First son named after the father’s father
Second son named after the mother’s father
Third son named after the father
Fourth son named after the father’s eldest brother
Fifth son named after the father’s second eldest brother or the mother’s eldest brother
First daughter named after the mother’s mother
Second daughter named after the father’s mother
Third daughter named after the mother
Fourth daughter named after the mother’s eldest sister
Fifth daughter named after the mother’s second eldest sister or the father’s eldest sister

Later children were then named after remaining uncles or aunts. Thereafter, the names of the children’s great-grandparents would be used.

THE SINGLE IRISH WOMEN - KENNAWAY GIRLS

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In 1855, Sir George GREY, High Commissioner in South Africa, tried to get British military pensioners to immigrate to South Africa and settle in British Kaffraria. The scheme failed to draw enough immigrants and was replaced with a plan to bring out soldiers of the British German Legion, which was being disbanded at the time. This scheme brought out 2 362 men in January and February 1857, disembarking in East London. When the Indian Mutiny broke out, more than half enlisted for further service in the British Army, and only 981 settlers were left in British Kaffraria in 1858.

Few of the men were married. The British thought of sending out young Irish women as prospective brides. They selected about 100 women between the ages of 18 and 35 who were living in the Union Workhouses. A few English artisans and their families were also selected to assist in taking care of the single women during the voyage. A few Irish agricultural families and about 20 more Irish single women from the ordinary population were also recruited. They were to sail on the Lady Kennaway, but just before sailing, some of the Irish women realised that there might be no Catholic priest where they were to be settled and they withdrew from the scheme. The vacant places were filled with immigrants from the general population. The Lady Kennaway sailed from Plymouth Sound on Saturday, 05 September 1857, with 231 immigrants. Of these, 153 were single women, while 42 were artisans, their wives and children. A baby was born during the voyage. The ship arrived in East London on Friday, 20 November 1857.

A committee of clergymen and businessmen had been formed in King William’s Town in September 1857, to distribute the immigrant women as soon as possible after they had landed. At the same time sub-committees of ladies were formed in East London and King William’s Town to meet the immigrants on arrival, to arrange accommodation and assist them with advice. Interested parties in King William’s Town were invited to register their applications for servants. In Grahamstown, a committee had also been established to receive and arrange employment. The King William’s Town committee arranged for accommodation in the Pensioner Village for the women. Further accommodation was arranged in East London so that the immigrants could be housed for the duration of their stay at the port. A Catholic priest met them in East London as they disembarked. The immigrants waited until the last of the party had disembarked on 23 November, before they set out on the next leg of their journey.

Four women were immediately offered employment in East London. Two women found husbands and were married at once, one being Fredericka SCHULLE, the only German girl in the party, who had been recruited from Middlesex. The other woman married the local police constable. None of the artisans chose to remain in East London at that time. On 24 November, ox-wagons set out for King William’s Town, carrying the married people. On 26 November, the single women left by ox-wagon and stopped at Fort Pato for breakfast. The soldiers of the 73rd Regiment had prepared two rooms for them and a breakfast. They arrived in King William’s Town that same evening. The hiring commenced the next day and continued for one week, with 79 people being employed in King William’s Town. Another 22 were employed or married at Line Drift, Peddie, Alice or Wooldridge and about 61 artisans and labourers, including their families, also found work in these places. Fifteen women who had not found employment by the 12 December, and the remaining immigrants set out for Grahamstown, arriving two days later. In the meantime, four women had returned to the committee in King William’s Town because of misunderstandings about their employment. On 4 January 1858 another seven were sent to Grahamstown and the committee in King William’s Town was closed. The exact figure of immigrants who found employment in British Kaffraria and Grahamstown is impossible to ascertain as the statistics given in various documents contradict one other, but 6 women eventually settled in East London, between 78 and 93 found employment in King William’s Town, and between 70 and 84 were sent to Grahamstown. Of the artisans and their families, none remained in East London, between 46 and 68 settled in King William’s Town, and about 16 went to Grahamstown.

The 153 unmarried women did not all marry the German soldiers, nor did they all find employment. The German soldiers had hardly settled down, generally made poor farmers, and were mostly interested in enlisting for military action. The women are also known as the Kennaway Girls. The scheme was not a successful one and eventually Sir George GREY brought out 1600 Germans to British Kaffraria in a more successful scheme in 1858.

LADY KENNAWAY PASSENGER LIST
A list of unmarried women (surname, first names, place of origin and age) who arrived in East London, South Africa on 20 November 1857 on-board the Lady Kennaway.

Anderson, Sarah. Armagh. 20
Armstrong, Eliza. Dublin. 30
Barrett, Maura. Dublin. 19
Barry, Bridget. Meath. 20
Blakeney, Deborah. Dublin. 18
Blakeney, Mary Ann. Dublin. 21
Blykes, Mary. Armagh. 23
Borbidge, Ann. Dublin. 18
Boulger, Jane. Dublin. 28
Bradley, Susan. Donegal. 24
Bradner, Margaret. Dublin. 28
Branagan, Eliza. Dublin. 22
Breen, Margaret. Dublin. 18
Bright, Margaret. Kildare. 24
Brophy, Catherine. Tipperary. 20
Bullin, Ellen. Cork. 18
Burke, Bridget. Dublin. 25
Byrne, Ann. Dublin. 23
Byrne, Catherine. Kilkenny. 20
Byrne, Johanna. Dublin. 19
Campbell, Mary. Armagh. 19
Caughlin, Margaret. Armagh. 19
Chapman, Harriett. Cork. 20
Clark, Jane. Dublin. 25
Clarke, Anne. Donegal. 26
Clarken, Ellen. Fermanagh. 18
Collins, Mary. Dublin. 20
Collis, Kate. Dublin. 32
Connor, Catherine. Clonmel. 18
Corcoran, Jane. Dublin. 18
Corrin, Susan. Dublin. 21
Cox, Catherine. Fermanagh. 21
Caffrey, Eliza. Kildare. 19
Cullen, Jane. Dublin. 23
Cummins, Bridget. Kildare. 19
Curry, Margaret. Dublin. 18
Dalton, Mary. Dublin. 21
Daniel, Margaret. Clonmel. 20
Day, Mary. Dublin. 23
Demsey, Sarah. Dublin. 17
Donaldson, Jane. Monaghan. 20
Donaldson, Prudence. Monaghan. 19
Donohue, Margaret. Clonmel. 28
Dool, Jemima. Derry. 19
Doran, Bridget. Clonmel. 18
Doyle, Margaret. Dublin. 24
Doyle, Maria. Dublin. 26
Doyle, Mary. Dublin. 21
Dunn, Eleanor. Dublin. 24
Finlay, Maria. Dublin. 18
Fitzroy, Johanna. Dublin. 23
Flanagan, Anne. Tipperary. 20
Flanagan, Mary. Tipperary. 18
Flora, Bridget. Dublin. 25
Fulham, Harriet. Dublin. 19
Gaffney, Jane. Meath. 20
Gallagher, Catherine. Tyrone. 21
Gallagher, Margaret. Dublin. 24
Garry, Anne. Meath. 21
Glascott, Judy. Clonmel. 18
Cogen, Mary. Dublin. 30
Goodwin, Ellen. Dublin. 20
Grace, Kate. Dublin. 21
Graham, Ellen. Dublin. 25
Hall, Maria. Dublin. 20
Hanrahan, Catherine. Kilkenny. 23
HaNrahan, Johanna. Kilkenny. 21
Hefferty, Mary. Donegal. 21
Henderson, Jane. Derry. 27
Henry, Selina. Dublin. 23
Hinds, Sarah. Armagh. 23
Hughes, Charlotte. Dublin. 19
Hunter, Mary. Antrim. 23
Hyland, Honor. Clonmel. 18
Jones, Mary. Dublin. 30
Kane, Matilda. Tyrone. 18
Keane, Esther. Dublin. 25
Keating, Mary. Kilkenny. 25
Keegan, Susan. Dublin. 20
Kehse, Mary. Dublin. 20
Kelly, Charlotte. Dublin. 19
Kerr, Rose. Armagh. 31
Lacy, Elizabeth. Dublin. 18
Lavenny, Judy. Galway. 19
Lawrence, Jane. Cork. 20
Lee, Catherine. Dublin. 20
Lee, Nora. Dublin. 20
Leekey, Elizabeth. Antrim. 21
Lodge, Dora. Dublin. 27
Maher, Anne. Kildare. 20
Mann, Mary. Clare. 21
Mannsell, Anna. Tipperary. 18
Mannsett, Mary. Dublin. 21
McAlendon, Anne. Dublin. 19
McAlister, Margaret. Armagh. 20
McBride, Jane. Fermanagh. 27
McCafferty, Bridget. Donegal. 22
McCafferty, Margaret. Donegal. 20
McDonnell, Mary. Donegal. 27
McEvitt, Isabella. Dublin. 19
McGuigan, Jane. Tyrone. 18
McGuire, Johanna. Dublin. 18
McIleen, Margaret. Dublin. 17
McItee, Ann. Dublin. 19
McNamara, Fanny. Dublin. 18
McNamara, Isabella. Armagh. 31
Merrigan, Anne. Dublin. 22
Merrigan, Eliza. Dublin. 20
Milton, Anne. Wicklow. 24
Moore, Mary. Dublin. 18
Mullin, Olivia. Dublin. 26
Murphy, Anne. Dublin. 23
Murphy, Bridget. Limerick. 19
Murphy, Mary. Limerick. 26
Myles, Isabella. Donegal. 21
Neale, Honor. Kilkenny. 27
Neary, Mary. Kilkenny. 30
Neill, Margaret. Tipperary. 19
Norton, Anne. Dublin. 23
Norton, Ellen. Dublin. 25
O’Neal, Catherine. Kildare. 26
O’Neill, Anne. Dublin. 26
Phillips, Mary. Antrim. 26
Power, Susan. Dublin. 27
Purss, Harriet. Middlesex. 15
Read, Jane. Dublin. 18
Robinson, Sarah. Dublin. 19
Ryan, Judith. Tipperary. 18
Schulle, Fredericka. Middlesex. 29
Shea, Mary. Clonmel. 18
Sheeran, Mary. Fermanagh. 18
Singleton, Eliza. Dublin. 21
Slavin, Sarah. Fermanagh. 20
Smith, Mary. Dublin. 18
Sullivan, Margaret. Dublin. 26
Tago (or Tays / Teys), Catherine. Donegal. 24
Talbot, Anne. Dublin. 28
Taylor, Elizabeth. Armagh. 21
Tobin, Mary. Clonmel. 18
Toole, Mary. Dublin. 28
Walsh, Elizabeth. Kilkenny. 23
Warren, Mary. Dublin. 18
Waters, Maria. Dublin. 19
Weir, Ellen. Antrim. 19
Weir, Mary. Antrim. 24
Welch, Sarah. Clonmel. 24
Whelan, Anne. Dublin. 27
White, Margaret. Clonmel. 18
White, Mary. Kildare. 21
White, Mary. Donegal. 20
Winstan, Maria. Cork. 20

The following artisans and their families were also on board (surname, first name, occupation, place of origin, age in ( ):
APPS, George. Carpenter. Surrey. (31). Wife: Mary (28). Children: Sarah (7), Jane (6)
BERRY, John. Labourer. Galway. (30). Wife: Catherine (24). Children: Mary (2), John (1)
CARRALL, Patrick. Farm Servant. Monaghan. (22). Wife: Catherine (24). Child: Owen (infant)
CHRISTMAS, Frederick. Carpenter. Middlesex. (32). Wife: Eliza (31). Children: Samuel (8), Harry (5), George (3)
CLARKSON, Charles. Carpenter. Middlesex. (28). Wife: Emma (24). Child: Eliza (infant)
CLARKSON, William. Carpenter. Middlesex. (35). Wife: Charlotte (25). Children: William (3), Louisa (3), Mary (1)
COBURN, James. Farm Servant. Tyrone. (22). Wife: Ann (18)
COOPER, William. Carpenter. Essex. (23). Wife: Sarah (23). Children: Eliza (2), Ruth (infant)
HICKEY, Richard. Labourer. Middlesex. (21). Wife: Margaret (23)
HOVENDON, John. Farm Servant. Dublin. (42). Wife: Bridget (35)
KNOWLES, William. Labourer. Antrim. (25). Wife: Eliza (22). Child: Lilly (2)
LEEKEY, Peter. Labourer. Middlesex. (26). Wife: Elizabeth (23)
LOCKHART, John. Bricklayer. Middlesex. (36). Wife: Mary (36). Children: John (18), Edward (2)
PHILPOT, Edgar. Carpenter. Middlesex. (26). Wife: Susan (23). Children: Susan (5), Anne (1)
PURSS, Charles. Bricklayer. Middlesex. (40). Wife: Harriet (44)
RAWLINSON, Charles. Carpenter. Middlesex. (24). Wife: Catherine (20). Child: Samuel (1)
REED, Thomas. Carpenter. Middlesex. (31). Wife: Mary (28). Children: Thomas (9), Elizabeth (7), William (5), Emma (3), Emma ? (infant)
REID, John. Carpenter. Middlesex. (27). Wife: Harriet (25). Children: Martha (4), Eliza (2)
SMYTH, Gerald. Labourer. Antrim. (20). Wife: Mary (26)
SYMONS, William. Carpenter. Middlesex. (42). Wife: Anne (26). Children: William (Carpenter, 17), John (Carpenter, 15), Harry (Carpenter, 13), Mary (11), James (7), Rebecca (5), Robert (3), Samuel (infant)
WOODHOUSE, William. Farm Servant. Armagh. (23). Wife: Eliza (24). Child: Robert (infant)
Source: “Nominal List of Emigrants on Board the Lady Kennaway, Plymouth, 05 September 1857” and “List of Immigrants forwarded to Grahamstown Immigration Commission, 05 January 1858” in Cape Archives Depot.

FAMILY REUNIONS - HOW TO PLAN ONE

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An enjoyable way of sharing your genealogical information and learning more is by organising a family reunion. Family reunions come in all shapes and sizes, and happen all over the world. It can be a huge or small gathering, lasting a few hours or several days. They can be held as a once-off event, annually or every few years. Many are held in the same location each time, while others are held in a different location each time. No matter what kind of reunion you choose to have, the focus is on bringing the family together to celebrate and share their roots. Planning should start a year ahead for large reunions, and 6 months ahead for smaller reunions.

FIRST CONSIDERATION
The first consideration is the family members - their ages, where they live, financial resources, disabilities, etc... If you want to include everyone - young, old, rich, poor, locals, out-of-towners - then the most popular type of reunion is a picnic or braai (barbecue) in a park or on a family farm. This is also the cheapest and easiest to plan. Consider your family’s background and interests, try to include them as part of the reunion. If they are outdoors people, plan outdoor activities. If the family is interested in the family heritage, meet at a family farm or other historical place. Organize tours that include places of significance to your family. More family members will attend if they see that the reunion will be interesting to all.

MAKING CONTACT
Call a meeting in person or by phone of family members interested in getting together. Form a reunion committee - who will do what. One person should be in charge of the address list and the correspondence as well as any finances. Another person will organize accommodation and catering. Another person can be the entertainment planner. Choose a date, place and theme. No date and place will suit every family member but by planning far enough in advance, members can make better arrangements. If the reunion is at a hall, resort, etc... make sure it is available for your chosen date. The chosen place should have or be near extra accommodation for longer reunions or for those members who will travel from far. Pool your address books together and make a list of all relatives you know about. Write a letter/email telling them about the reunion (date, place, time, who to contact...), enclosing a copy of the address list and asking them for any other addresses that have been left out. Ask for donations or take a collection at the reunion to help cover costs. Advertise in area newspapers, popular national magazines (in reader’s letters section) and genealogical publications. As your planning progresses, you can send out a monthly 1-page letter to all concerned, keeping them up to date and interested in the reunion.

ACTIVITIES OR IDEAS TO INCLUDE
Ask family members to bring their photo albums to display at the reunion. An activity can be the writing of dates, places and names on the back of the photos. This will save many hours for future researchers.
Create a family crossword puzzle, or a family trivia game with question and answer cards.
Make a display area for photo albums, books, memorabilia, etc...
Fashion parade by family members of the clothing worn by their ancestors.
Demonstrations of the way things were done in the old days (quilting, butter churning, bread baking, calligraphy...).
Clean family cemeteries or gravestones. Let children make gravestone rubbings that they can frame later.
Attend a family memorial church service in memory of past ancestors. Children can be helped to light candles for them.
Buy a plain white tablecloth. Let each family member present at the reunion trace his or her hand outline with a fabric marker pen on the cloth. Inside each hand, write that person’s name and date of birth. In the centre of the cloth, reserve space to write the reunion date and place. Keep this as a family heirloom.
Make a wall-size display of a tree and each person can write his or her name and birth date on a paper leaf. Pin the leaves on and then keep them for the next reunion, when you should add the new members’ leaves.
Record interviews on audio or video tapes with the older family members present.
Have each person complete a family group sheet, which you can add to the family’s genealogical research.
Make name tags for each person attending or print names on a family reunion T-shirt. The names should be big enough so that they can be read in a photo.
Take plenty of photos.
If you have published a family history book, you can sell copies at the reunion. Create a family recipe book, which can be sold to cover costs of reunions.
Serve foods from the countries of origin in your family.
Have certificates made for the oldest relative attending, the youngest relative, the relative who travelled the longest distance to attend, the longest married couple, the most newlywed couple, the person who most resembles the common ancestor, etc...
You could also have small prizes for various people such as:
- most newlywed couple: a family recipe book
- youngest attendee: a baby bib cross-stitched with “I’m a future ancestor”
- largest family: a His & Hers braai apron with braai tools
- grandparent with the most grandchildren: a calendar with all their birthdays on
- who is pregnant: a small potted tree to plant for adding the next branch of the family tree
- thank the reunion organizer: each family member signs a guest book with his or her name, address, who came with and a short thank you note
Plan fun activities for the children. Try old games like egg-and-spoon races, sack races, three-legged races, tug-of-war, etc...

AT THE END
Compile a newsletter or video to commemorate the reunion. Include names, photos, stories, etc... and send one to each family who attended. If the family is in agreement, you can start planning the next reunion. Update all your genealogical information with facts gathered at the reunion. Maintain the new friendships formed.

CHRISTMAS IN EARLY CAPE TOWN

2011-08-09T00:06:00.000+02:00

What was Christmas like for our ancestors in bygone days? For starters, there was no Christmas shopping rush! Before 1859 Christmas celebrations in Cape Town were rather low-key.

The English ship Dragon was in Table Bay on Christmas Day in 1607 and its sailors carved one of the earliest English post office stones. Jan VAN RIEBEECK made no mention of Christmas celebrations in his diaries, but he did note that he gave each of his men a tankard of Spanish wine for the New Year. His successor, Zacharias WAGENAER, noted that on 25 December 1662, Christmas was celebrated by hearing God’s word twice. The week before Christmas in 1705 saw stormy weather and on Christmas Day there was a huge rainstorm. In 1713, the south-easter blew at hurricane force on Christmas Day, with the English ship, Great London, anchored in Table Bay, signalling for help. The Castle did not reply and 19 sailors rowed to the shore to get an anchor and cable. On their way back, they were blown out to sea and never seen again. On Christmas Day in 1769, the first horses sent to India from the Cape left on-board the ship Duke of Kingston bound for Madras. In 1849, Mr. DONALDSON, owner of the Round House, offered his place for Christmas celebrations with skittles, quoits and pigeon shooting.

The Cape Argus was the first newspaper to wish its readers a Merry Christmas on 24 December 1859. In the same issue, Sefton PARRY, owner of the Cape Town Theater, announced the first Christmas pantomime in South Africa - The babes in the woods. That year the weather was “blazing, flaring, scorching, nose-blistering, red-hot”. The week prior to Christmas Day, the paper carried only two Christmas adverts, one suggesting French flower vases as gifts and another offering Westphalia hams for the Christmas meal. A fattened pig cost 30 shillings, a suckling pig cost 9 shillings and a chicken was 1 shilling. A turkey was 4 shillings and 6 pence, and 100 oranges could be bought for 7 shillings. Robert GRANGER had a grocery store on Castle Street and had just received a shipment of white rice from Calcutta. He also had Lancashire hams, Irish butter, Havana cigars, whisky, and cheeses from England and Holland.

In December 1864, the main attraction in Cape Town was a ride on the new Wynberg railway. The then world’s largest ship, Great Eastern, was in Table Bay on Christmas Day in 1869 and Cape Town residents were allowed to visit the ship. Christmas in 1871 saw diamond diggers from Griqualand spending their holidays in Cape Town. They gave their friends champagne parties and treated everyone that crossed their paths. That year also saw Christmas trees for sale in the shops. A Mr. LONG, shopkeeper, had the following advertisement up: “Oh Pa! Oh Ma! Do go and pay Mr. Long a visit and buy me some toys - they are so fine, so unique, and so instructive. Oh do dear Pa! We will be such good children hereafter”. Some things don’t change with the passing of time!

RARE ART FIND HITS JACKPOT

2011-08-07T23:03:00.003+02:00

A private art collector of East London hit the jackpot when an untitled oil painting depicting a Pretoria landscape with the Union Buildings in the distant background, turned out to be one painted by Pieter Willem Frederick WENNINIG, considered a South African master. The painting is thought to have been completed in 1915. In November 2010, it was sold for R1 225 400 by Strauss & Co Fine Art Auctioneers and Consultants in Johannesburg. It was the highest paid for a painting by the South African artist. The high price was helped by the painting's catalogued sales from when it was first sold in 1919. Wenning’s paintings are very rare.

Pieter instructed Johannesburg auctioneer Ernest LEZARD to auction more than 30 of his paintings and drawings in February 1919. He was at the time under financial pressure, as his wife, Johanna Hillegonda BENNINK, required serious surgery. She underwent the operation, but died on 23 February 1919.

The sale was not a success, with almost a quarter of the works remaining unsold. The untitled Pretoria work was sold for £15 at the time, reputedly then the highest price paid for his painting. It was bought by Gordon Campbell TOMLINSON. Gordon was born on 06 October 1887, one of 13 children. He became an attorney and author, and played a leading role in the second Afrikaans language movement. Together with Prof. J.J. SMITH and Dr. Tobie MULLER, he published the periodical Ons Moedertaal which later merged with Die Huisgenoot. He spent most of his life in Vredefort. Shortly after buying the painting, he arranged a small local exhibition of his collection and presented a lecture. The painting was now sold by a Tomlinson descendant.

Pieter was born in The Hague, Holland in 1873 to a family with artistic associations, one or other member had been either a practicing artist or a dealer in artists' materials. He developed a passion for painting from an early age; the availability of art materials from his father’s shop and contact with his cousin Ype Wenning, a well known Frisian painter, were contributing factors. He had never studied art formally. After school he took a job at the Dutch Railways, where his language fluency saw him working as a foreign correspondent, and giving him an opportunity to travel to Europe and England. In the Great Railway Strike across the continent in 1902 and 1903, Peiter joined the strike at Dutch Railways, which led to the strikers dismissal. Pieter's marriage to a young widow with two children added to his responsibilities. After finding work with H.A.U.M. de Bussy, Holland’s largest publishing firm, he was offered a transfer to South Africa to work as bookkeeper in the Pretoria branch, arriving in South Africa in 1905.

In 1909, after working mostly in water colour and pen and ink, he was able to work in oils when a friend and neighbour, Professor JANSE, gave him his first colour box and brushes. In 1910, De Bussy’s decided to expand their business, and started selling art materials. Pieter was put in charge of this new department, where he met many of the artists active in Pretoria. While he was working daily in De Bussy’s Bookshop he used every available free Wednesday afternoon and Sundays to go out painting. It often took him about an hour to cycle out to his chosen sites where he would work furiously, sometimes till after sunset, before packing up and cycling back into town. De Bussy’s opened an office in Johannesburg between 1912-1913, and Pieter was appointed as manager of the art department. In 1913, he was sent by De Bussy’s to the Cape, where he met D.C. BOONZAIER and forged a friendship that would last until his death. In 1916, after fellow artists had collected money for him, he spent three months in the Cape, painting. It was in the autumnal and wintry Cape that he was happiest and most productive. By this time, he had left De Bussy’s and was working at Van Schaik's Bookshop, who gave him the three months off. Later in 1916, another fundraising effort saw Pieter go on an a second extended trip to the Cape. For the next five years, he lived mostly in the Cape, interrupted by short visits to his family, and trips to Lourenco Marques and Zanzibar. Between 1916 and 1919 he painted between 300 and 400 oils, though it was still not making him much money. His health had taken a turn for the worse, yet he was often seen canvas in hand, trudging through the rain, looking for subject matter to paint. During his last visit to the Cape in 1920, he felt sick and finally gave up painting in bad weather, only painting in good weather. By mid-1920 he was seriously ill and on one he collapsed and was discovered in the evening and helped home by passers-by. He was moved to a hospital soon after, and from there taken back to Pretoria by his son, where he was admitted to the Zuid-Afrikaanse Hospitaal. He was feverish and coughing violently, until eventually he passed away on the evening of 24 January 1921.

XHOSA MUSEUM

2011-08-07T21:45:00.000+02:00

The Sukume Museum and Xhosa Cultural Centre is a community-based tourism centre that showcases Xhosa culture. The history of the Walmer Township (known by the locals as known Gqebera) is on display, as well as histories of Xhosa personalities. It was opened in 2010, under the Jerusalem Ministries, a non-profit and public benefit organisation in Walmer. The ministry runs projects aimed at improving the lives of Walmer Township residents.

JOUBERT HOUSE IN MONTAGU

2011-08-07T21:33:00.001+02:00

Joubert House in Long Street, Montagu is a house museum depicting the country lifestyle of the 1850s. It is the oldest dwelling in Montagu. The house was built by then 22-year old Pieter Gideon JOUBERT for his parents from sun-baked bricks and clay, in what was then called Agter Cogman's Kloof. His father, also Pieter Gideon, was the town’s first Justice of the Peace. The wallpaper in the Ken Birch room is unique, being specially printed in the Netherlands from a sample of the original that was found in the room. The peach pip floor in the kitchen and pantry was laid according to a the old local method. A small room houses a large collection of toys from bygone days, including some individually numbered handmade porcelain dolls. The dolls costumes are historically correct, including underclothing and leather shoes. On 25 January 1981 the house was almost lost after a devastating flood. The Montagu Museum trustees and Ken BIRCH helped fund the restoration. The house was declared a national monument in 1975 and was re-opened on 14 October 1983 by State President Marais VILJOEN. There is an indigenous medicinal plant garden behind the house. The museum has been researching and recording the oral history and traditional uses of medicinal plants, in the Montagu district, passed down by the Khoikhoi, San and early farmers. A book, Herbal Remedies of Montagu Museum, was published, and the garden is often visited by foreign botanists and pharmacologists. Dirkie JOUBERT, daughter of Pieter who built the house, wrote a book, Crab Soup and other stories, in which she relates how she began gardening with herbs, helped by a local Khoi who brought herbs from the surrounding mountains for her to use.

OLD PHARMACY STILL EXISTS

2011-08-07T21:00:00.000+02:00

Johan and Ursula BRESLER bought the Robb & McLees Pharmacy in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, in 1998. They have kept many old pharmacy items, including a 101-year-old prescription book. The first prescription filled at the pharmacy is dated 1903, the year the pharmacy was started by two Scots, David Wallace ROBB and John Prentice MCLEES. They are both listed as Chemists and Druggists in the Government Gazette dated 29 January 1915, both qualifying in the UK in 1900. David's address is given as 414 Paisley Road West, Ibrox, Glasgow, Scotland; whilst John's is Middelburg, Transvaal. John registered as a Chemist in South Africa in 1903 and David in 1905. John was married to Edith Ann MITCHELL. She passed away in 1928. John died in 1962, and had married three times - first to Edith, then Harriet Helen TRACEY (died 1958), and lastly to Magdalena Petronella DU TOIT. David died in the Cape Province in 1931. Bottles containing various old remedies, are still to be seen in the pharmacy. The prescription book lists each prescription filled, along with the person's name. Most of the early prescriptions were for stomach ailments and skin problems. The Scots kept two large glass bottles, one red and one green. When there was a contagious disease in town, the red bottle stood in the window to warn the residents. Once the disease had passed, the green bottle was placed in the window.

EAST LONDON SEAMEN IN WWII

2011-08-06T23:38:00.000+02:00

Alan HARRIS is trying to create the most comprehensive record of Est London servicemen who died in World War II, something he started working on 11 years ago. He has photographed war memorials in the Border area for a number of years. He would like to make contact with all living relatives of the 44 East London seamen who served on-board Royal Navy ships in the war. He hopes to build a history of the servicemen with pictures and biographical information. He also wants to include information about the engagements in which they lost their lives, the area where they were stationed, the ships they were on or the regiments they belonged to. As an example, the ship HMS Neptune, a cruiser based in Simon’s Town, went down in the Mediterranean, north of Tripoli, on a mission to intercept transporters carrying Panza tanks. They sailed into a minefield and struck a mine. They then tried to reverse out of the minefield and struck another mine. The ship went down quickly, and of the 764 crew on-board, only 30 survived the initial sinking. However, by the time an Italian cruiser rescued them, only one man was still alive. None of the six seamen from East London who were on-board survived. The incident in 1941 was also New Zealand’s biggest loss of servicemen in any single engagement in WW2. They lost 150 personnel. One of the East London servicemen on-board was Signalman Cecil RANKIN, who attended Cambridge High School before enlisting in the Royal Navy. His father, Freddy, was a typesetter at the Daily Dispatch and the first president of the Typos Bowling Green. One of the bowling greens is named after Cecil.

Alan, whose father served in WWII, still needs information and pictures on the following seamen:
Roy AINSLIE, son of George and Kate, on HMS Cornwall, buried in Simon’s Town. John Robinson AUSTIN-SMITH on HMS Gloucester.
Cecil BOARD, son of William and Annie, buried in Simon’s Town.
Herbert Charles GERAGHTY, son of Christopher and Florence, on HMS Gloucester. Raymond HARRIS, son of Frederick and Lily, buried in East London.
Cedric KRETSCHMER, son of Edward and Rosanna, on HMS Duchess.
Douglas Edward MORROW, son of Thomas and Agnes, on HMS Dorsetshire.
John George MOSCOS on SS Ceramic.
Clifford SCOTT, son of William and Edith, on HMS Jaguar.
Jack VORSTER, son of Mrs M.E. VORSTER of Cambridge West, on HMS Hermes.

Anyone who can help Alan can call him on 043-7343092 or 0760408398 or e-mail: alanandirene@telkomsa.net

KOOS SAS' POSTCARD

2011-08-06T23:19:00.000+02:00

Tertius ARCHER, of the farm Pedroskloof in Kamieskroon, is a fundi on Namaqualand history. He has collected old books and other items and photos from days gone by. He owns an original postcard with a photo of Koos SAS' lifeless body - which was sold by the then Namaqualand ACVV to raise funds. The photo was mass printed as postcards and sold to raise money for the ACVV, a Christian women’s organisation.
Koos, a Khoisan, lived a nomadic life in the Montagu area in the early 1900s, allegedly stole sheep and was often caught by the local constable Tonie SWANEPOEL. After Koos murdered his employer Danie (Boetatjie) BOTHA, the son of a Stellenbosch church minister, he was arrested in Touwsrivier. Danie ran a farm stall on the farm Hoek-van-die-berg near Montagu. Before his day in court in Worcester, Koos escaped and hid in Namaqualand. On 06 February 1922, Koos was in Droodaap, about 45 km north of Pedroskloof, where a policeman, Jurie DREYER, recognised him from a police file photo. When he approached Koos, he ran away. Jurie tracked him and shot him on 08 February. His body was taken to Springbok, where a posed photo was taken of Koos by the local church minister Willem STEENKAMP's son. This photo was used by the minister for the ACVV postcard. Steenkamp later exhumed the body and took the skull to America where he went for studies. When he returned to the Cape, he gave the skull to Prof. Hercules BRINK of the University of Stellenbosch. It eventually ended up on display in the Montagu Museum, where David KRAMER saw it, prompting him to write a song Ballade van Koos Sas in 1983.

HISTORIC ROUND HOUSE IN CAMPS BAY

2011-08-06T22:30:00.000+02:00

The Round House restaurant in The Glen, between Cape Town and Camps Bay, is the oldest surviving building in Camps Bay, possibly built in 1786. It was originally built as a small round guards house that served to protect against enemies entering Cape Town from the Camps Bay side. Since the 1840s it has been used as a lodge, tea room or restaurant. The historic double-storey building suffered fires twice - one in 1860 and one in 1923 - and was left forsaken for many years. In the centre of the building, you can still see the gun cupboards where Lord Charles SOMERSET kept his firearms when he used the building as his hunting lodge. The restaurant was used as a ballroom in the 19th century. One of the outbuildings, a flat roofed house, was converted into a dwelling about 1860, it was used as an annexe to the Round House Hotel. In 1957 this became a youth hostel called Stan’s Halt, named after Stanley SENNEY who lost his life climbing Table Mountain. His father helped restore the building in his son’s memory.

From 1814 to 1817 it was owned by Jan Carel HORAK who used it as a livestock farm. He was the grandson of Jan Andries HORAK, a magistrate in Swellendam. Lord Charles SOMERSET, Cape Governor from 1814 to 1826, used it from 1817 until 1823 as a hunting lodge to shoot lion, leopard and buck on the slopes of Lions Head. He changed the rondawel to a double-storey. In 1837 it is believed that HORAK had to sell after which the building was used as a restaurant, tearoom and hotel. It was very popular in Victorian times and had two large ballrooms. With the new road (Lady Smith’s Pass, later renamed to Kloof Road), the Round House was turned into an hotel offering skittles, quoits and pigeons for sportsmen at 1s 6d a pair. The hotel with dance hall and amusement resort was run from 1849 by Mr. M. DONALDSON. A fire in 1860 destroyed the thatched roof, leaving the walls intact. The owner of the tearoom at the time was Thomas William Langley TITMUS but the proprietor was Edmund TILLEY, who had insured it for £300, and opened an hotel in Stellenbosch instead. Thomas was in the Royal Field Artillery. Edmund married Sophia Dorothea EXTER on 14 Nov 1849 in Cape Town. By 1863 the Round House was back in business under a new owner, Mr BRAZIER. Edmund TILLEY was back again in 1895 and on 23 December had been granted the land above the Round House. By 1901 H. TILLEY was the owner of the Round House Hotel, possibly Edmund's son as Edmund died in 1901. Two years later John KELLY took over. In 1904 the Cape Town City Council bought the property and leased it out. Mr D.J. WATSON was the proprietor of the tea room. In 1923 Thomas William Langley TITMUS again leased the property. After the second fire, the building had to be rebuilt - only the original walls and gun cupboards remaining. A plan of the area known as The Glen was found in the National Archives in Cape Town and dates back to 1881. In June 2008 The Round House Restaurant re-opened and is now one of Cape Town’s most exclusive restaurants.

PORT ELIZABETH'S FIRST TRAMLINE FOUND

2011-08-06T21:06:00.000+02:00

In June 2010, a piece of Port Elizabeth’s original tramline was unearthed next to an old condemned bridge at the bottom of Brickmakerskloof by an excavator digging a channel for a new sewer line. An undamaged 2m long piece was donated to the Bayworld Museum. The tramline was part of the link between the Brickmakerskloof tram sheds and the main shed near the mouth of the Baakens River. The piece was found about one metre below the surface. Possibly after the 1968 flood, the level of the roadway was raised by about half a metre to keep vehicles safe and dry. As trams were no longer in use, the rails were tarred over. James BRISTER, who owned a furniture business and later became Mayor of Port Elizabeth, was involved in starting the public transport system in early Port Elizabeth.

The Port Elizabeth Tramway Company Act was passed by the Colonial government on 11 September 1878. Five horse-drawn tram cars were brought in from the United States of America and the service started operating on 14 May 1881. The first line ran from Market Square to Adderley Street, and took 25 minutes. A ticket cost sixpence first-class and threepence second-class. On 22 February 1888, the line was extended to Prince Alfred’s Park (the present-day Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium). In 1895, Parliament passed an Act allowing the municipality to construct an electric tramway and the Port Elizabeth Electric Tramway Company was registered on 09 May 1896. Ten trams were ordered from the JG Brill Company of Philadelphia, USA. Electricity to power the trams was provided by a power station. The first electric tram in Port Elizabeth was driven on 16 June 1897 from Market Square to Prince Alfred’s Park. Two weeks later the company put their 26 horses, stables, smithy and residences in North End up for sale/rent. On 04 July 1897 a double-decker tram was tested up Russell Road. A new single-decker tram was also successfully tested. The journey started at the power station, to Walmer Road, then to Prince Alfred’s Park in North End. The route was opened to the public on Tuesday, 20 July 1897 and the trams Port Elizabethans until the last car returned to the tramways building on 17 December 1948.
Source: Port Elizabeth - A social chronicle to the end of 1945, by Margaret Harradine.

LARGEST RUGBY MEMORABILIA COLLECTION IN SOUTH AFRICA

2011-08-06T19:55:00.000+02:00

Barry NAUDE has built up a rugby museum on his farm, Driekoppen, in Hanover, Free State. It is South Africa's largest collection of rugby memorabilia, including books, jerseys, ties, photographs and badges. In 1974, at the age of 10 years, he started collecting rugby memorabilia and making scrapbooks from articles in newspapers and magazines. He has more than 1000 rugby books. More than 200 rugby jerseys, 200 ties and 30 jackets are also on display. In 1995 the North-Eastern Cape Rugby Union closed down and Barry became the keeper of its memorabilia. Most of the items on display have been donated. Barry and a friend, Hannes KOTZE, are working on making the Test Programmes from 1891 to 2009 available in book form. They also want photos and/or signatures of all the 814 Springbok players for the book. Visitors are welcomed by appointment (this is a working farm). The farm is just off the N1 south of Hanover. Contact details: Mobile No. 0823177655 / 0832348779 or barrynaude@webmail.co.za or jmk@intekom.co.za

TITANIC MEMORIAL CRUISE

2010-08-21T16:33:00.000+02:00

Relatives of passengers on the Titanic will re-trace the ocean liner's fateful journey across the Atlantic on a memorial cruise to mark 100 years since it sank in 1912. The Balmoral will leave Southampton 08 April 2012, bound for New York. A special ceremony will be held at wreck site the exact time the Titanic sank on 15 April 1912. The cruise is organised by British firm Miles Morgan Travel.

The last survivor of the Titanic, Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean, died in May last year, aged 97. She was nine weeks old when the Titanic hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage, drowning 1,517 of its passengers and crew.

For the South African connections to the Titanic, see a previous article I wrote

STORMS COLLAPSE OLD BUILDING

2009-06-14T20:34:00.001+02:00

Recent heavy rainfall in Cape Town saw part of the 110-year-old Junction Hotel in Junction Road, Salt River collapse. The double-storey building was built in October 1899. A row of annexed houses behind the hotel, known as the Blue Buildings, collapsed. They were on the City's list of buildings to be demolished. The white-painted hotel still stands, although it is shut close and barred. The Blue Buildings were used by staff of the old hotel as accommodation.

UNEARTHING BURIAL GROUND

2009-06-14T20:00:00.002+02:00

A genealogical research trip has unearthed a burial ground for indentured Indian labourers, on land which is part of the new King Shaka International Airport in KwaZulu-Natal. Retired Tongaat teacher Tholsi MUDLY and her uncle, Arumogam (Billy) GOVENDER, made the discovery on Inyaninga Estate while trying to trace the graves of her grandparents and great-grandmother. Today the land is co-owned by Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) and Dube Tradeport, and was bought from sugar company Tongaat-Hulett. It is believed that about 50 indentured labourers are buried there. Tholsi's family graves are marked with iron rods as there were no tombstones. Her great-grandmother came to South Africa in 1898. Tongaat-Hulett was originally based in Tongaat, and was founded in 1892 by Sir Liege HULETT.

HOUT BAY CASTLE FOR SALE

2009-06-14T19:13:00.005+02:00

Hout Bay's landmark Lichtenstein Castle, high up on Karbonkelberg, is up for sale for a mere R31.5-million. Cape Town businessman Reynier FRITZ, who was well-known in advertising circles, first saw the 12th-century Schloss Lichtenstein in Stuttgart, the land of his ancestors, and decided to one day replicate it in Hout Bay. He was able to start building his dream in 1986 and 12 years later it was completed. He eventually turned it into a guest house before he died there. Sometime after his death, his widow, Christine, sold it to an overseas buyer. The main hall has carved beams, a vaulted wooden ceiling and leaded stained-glass windows. The castle has 12 en-suite bedrooms, a library, banquet hall for 140, and a conference centre for 40. Other luxuries include a swimming pool, a helipad, and a natural waterfall.

OLD COLONIAL BUILDING BLAZE

2009-06-14T18:25:00.000+02:00

A fire has caused extensive damaged to the 109-year-old Colonial Building at 241 Church Street, Pietermaritzburg. The Msunduzi Municipality Fire Brigade were unable to put out the fire because their equipment was below standard. Firemen battled for almost half-an-hour to get three of the four fire engines started before responding to the call - even though the Fire Brigade is only about 500 metres from the Colonial Building. Two fire engines from Umgungundlovu District Municipality were brought in to help. Msunduzi Municipality Fire Brigade took almost two hours to start fighting the fire. The brick building, with its colonnaded frontage, was completed in 1901 and housed departments of the Colonial government. The building is being renovated to house the offices of the Master of the High Court, while the adjoining Magistrate's Court is being renovated for civil, maintenance and domestic violence courts. GVK-Siya Zama Building Contractors has a two-year contract to renovate the building, which has stood empty and vandalised since 1997. It was designed by architect William Henry POWELL who entered a competition for its design in 1894, winning £100 for his design. The foundation stone was laid in 1887. William died in 1900 before the building was completed. Besides housing the Colonial government offices, over the years it has also been home of the Deeds Office, the Surveyor General’s Office, the Natal Museum, and the Small Claims Court. In 1998 the KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Council found that thieves had stolen copper sheeting from the roof, the cast aluminium staircase capping, tons of lead lining from the toilets and all the cast-iron Victorian fire hearths.

TRAMWAYS BUILDING TO BE RENOVATED

2009-06-14T17:19:00.002+02:00

The historic Tramways Building in Valley Road, Port Elizabeth is to be refurbished and turned into an entertainment hub. The tender to redevelop the building was awarded to Pambili Developments (Pty) Ltd. The historic landmark is the first state-owned property to be released on a 40-year lease basis for private development in the inner city. The building was erected in the 1800s and over the last few years became a decaying and derelict eyesore. Since the tender was awarded, the project has been hit by various snags and work has not yet started.

MEMORIAL TO HORSES LOST IN WAR

2009-06-14T16:46:00.004+02:00

Weston Agricultural College near Mooi River, KwaZulu-Natal, recently unveiled a memorial to horses, mules and other animals killed in military service, particularly during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902. The land on which the college stands today, Weston Farm and Weston Common, was the site of the British Army’s Remount Depot from 1899 to 1913. The depot was also used during the Bambatha Rebellion of 1906. Thousands of British Army horses arrived at Weston Remount Depot to be broken in and/or to recover from the weeks-long sea and train journeys that brought them there. The memorial was the idea of the college's farm manager, Warren LOADER, a military history enthusiast, and Jeanine TAIT, the school’s history teacher and museum curator. It is designed in the shape of a horseshoe and mounted by an obelisk-shaped monument created out of old horseshoes found on Weston’s farmlands. The structure is topped off by a bronze statue of a horse made by a Weston old boy, Kim GOODWIN. There is a Wall of Remembrance with plaques commemorating the animals. A box containing some bones of horses buried on Weston Farm was sealed within the Wall of Remembrance.

Port Elizabeth also has a memorial to the horses who died in the Anglo-Boer War, as can be seen in these two photos.

MURDER ON THE DURBAN CASTLE

2009-06-13T20:27:00.006+02:00

The Finest Type of English Womanhood, by Rachel Heath, is set in the 1940s. In 1946 Laura Trelling (17) of Sussex, meets Paul Lovell and she sets off for South Africa. Here she meets Gay Gibson, whose heart is set on becoming a star. Gay hailed from Birkenhead, before also heading off to South Africa. The two young women meet up in Johannesburg, where Laura is exposed to Gay's wild life of parties. After Laura's marriage ends and Gay's scandalous behaviour becomes too much, they arrange to return to England. During the sea voyage Gay disappears. The novel is based on the real-life "porthole murder" trial of 1948. The real Gay was described in the court case as "one of the finest types of English womanhood, physically, mentally and morally".

Rachel Heath was born in Bristol in 1968. She studied Drama and English at Hull University, then worked in publishing in London. She lives in Bath with her husband, a screen-writer and their three children. This is her first novel. She lives with her husband, a screen writer, and their three children in Bath. This is her first novel. She knew the story of the Porthole Murder. Her grandparents and mother went to live in Johannesburg after World War II, where her grandfather worked for the SABC and knew the real Gay GIBSON.

James CAMB (31), aka Don Jimmy, was a First Class steward on-board the Union-Castle Line vessel "Durban Castle" which sailed between South Africa and England. He was born in Lancashire on 24 December 1916. His first job was in a shoe factory, like his father. When World War II broke out he joined the Merchant Navy. After the war he joined the Union-Castle Steamship Line as a galley boy. In May 1946 he made his first voyage on the "Durban Castle". He was married to Margaret and they had a daughter. The family lived in Clova Street, Thornliebank, Glasgow.

On 10 October 1947 the "Durban Castle" set to sail at 4 p.m. from Cape Town for the 14-day voyage to Southampton, with 1300 passengers of whom 57 were in First Class, including the auburn-haired actress Gay GIBSON (21). She was born as Eileen Isabella Ronnie GIBSON and had appeared in a number of plays as part of her duties with the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service. Her last film role was as Lorna, a fight manager's girlfriend, in "Golden Boy", a South African production. Her biggest hit was in "The Man With a Load of Mischief" opposite former British boxing champion Eric BOON. Her ticket was allegedly paid for by Charles SCHWENTAFSKY, one of her many admirers. He was born in Austria and had arrived in South Africa via Kenya.

Gay was born in Jamalpur, India, in June 1926, where her father was working as a blacksmith for the East India Railway. In 1943 she joined a tap-dancing group, the Top Hats Gay Dancing Company, in England. She took name Gay as her stage name. After the war, she sailed on the "Carnavon Castle" for South Africa with her mother Ellen (aka Daisy) to join her father who was already living in Durban. After arriving in Durban, Gay joined a theatrical company there before moving to Johannesburg.

On 18 October, off the coast of west Africa, Gay was reported as missing. The ship's captain, Captain Arthur PATEY, ordered the ship to search the waters, believing that she'd fallen overboard. His investigation found that the night watchman had reported that the service bell of Gay's First Class cabin, number 126, had been pushed several times in the early hours of 18 October. He responded and when the door opened slightly, he saw James, who quickly closed the door and said everything was in order. James denied being in her cabin. He drew attention to himself when, for the rest of the voyage, he wore a long sleeve jacket when short sleeve uniforms were commonly worn. He claimed that the scratches on his arms were from a heat rash, after he was examined by the ship's physician, Dr. Anthony GRIFFITHS.

When the ship docked in Southampton, police officers went aboard. James was questioned by Detective Sergeant QUINLAN. He said that Gay had invited him to her cabin that night and he had brought her a drink. He claimed they had sex but that she suddenly stiffened, then went limp and he noticed she was foaming at the mouth. He tried first-aid, and this was when the night watchman knocked on the door. Afterwards, James pushed the body through the porthole. On 29 March 1948, James was tried for murder. People who'd known Gay in South Africa were at the trial. Mike ABEL, an actor who'd worked with her, testified she'd had fainting fits in his presence. Henry GILBERT, an actor-producer, and his wife Dr. Ina SCHOUB, testified that Gay suffered from asthma. James was found guilty of murdering Gay and sentenced to death. An appeal was filed and during that time, the House of Commons was debating capital punishment. It was decided to commute all capital sentences still pending to life terms. After his trial, several women came forward with stories of being attacked by James on previous voyages. Gay's body was never found. Doubts about James' guilt remain to this day.

James was paroled in September 1959 and released from Wakefield Prison. Prior to his release, he was a star prisoner, working as a garage storekeeper in Dewsbury and returning to prison each day. After his release, he changed his surname to CLARKE. He had divorced Margaret and took a job as a waiter in Radcliffe. Soon afterwards he married a barmaid who had a young daughter. In 1967 he was convicted of attacking a 13-year-old girl. He was placed on a two-year period of probation. He went to Scotland where he worked as a head waiter in a restaurant. Shortly afterwards he was charged with sexual misconduct with three school girls. His parole was revoked and in 1971 he returned to prison. He was released in 1978 and went to live in Leeds, taking a job as a waiter at a golf club. He died of a heart attack at the club's bar on 07 July 1979, always having denied murdering Gay.

HISTORY MEETS TOURISM

2009-05-20T19:31:00.007+02:00

Today, Le Petit Fillan is a tranquil haven in the centre of Sandton but it was once part of three large farms in the area. One of the farms was owned by the GILFILLAN family after World War II. The farm was a dairy farm supplying milk and cream. This elegant and beautifully decorated house was recently opened as a luxury guest house, after suffering a serious setback in October 2008 when a fire almost destroyed the dream. It was given a French name as the French school, Ecole Jules Verne is behind the guest house.

Littlefillan was the name given to smallholdings in the Sandton magisterial district. It was properly named Littlefillan Agricultural Holdings, and was between Parkmore and Morningside. The holdings consisted of 2-hectare plots which originally comprised a small farm commonly known as "Gilfillan's little farm" - derived from the owner's name, Noel Hamish GILFILLAN. The family were part of the 1820 British Settlers. Gilfillan is an old Scottish surname from Fife, derived from the Gaelic "Gille Fhaolain" which means "servant of St. Fillan".

William Frederick Anderson GILFILLAN was born 27 Jan 1796 at Elizabeth Castle, Jersey, Channel Islands, the son of Lieutenant John GILFILLAN and Elizabeth BRIDGES. William was baptised on 20 Feb 1796 at a service attended by the son of King George III, Prince William Frederick , Duke of York, who was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and was on an inspection tour of Jersey Island. William first arrived at the Cape in 1812 as an Ensign in the 60th Rifles. He stayed until 1818 but returned as an 1820 British Settler in 1820, onboard the Zoroaster with Thornhill's Party. His brother, Adam (1800-12 Jul 1874), was also onboard. Because William was still a paid military officer, he does not appear in the official Settlers list. William married Anna Margaret THORNHILL. He became the first Resident Magistrate of Cradock. He died in Cradock on 04 Sept 1855 and was buried at St. Peter's Church Cemetery, Cradock. The couple had 12 children, one being Edward Stockenstrom Lodewikus GILFILLAN born 14 Mar 1838. The family is mentioned by Lucy GRAY in her book, A Victorian Lady at the Cape 18491855. Anna died on 13 Feb 1879 and was buried at St. Peter's Church Cemetery, Cradock.

Edward married Charlotte Maria Louise FLEMMER at St Peter’s Church in Cradock on 07 Sept 1864. Charlotte was born 18 Apr 1844 in Korsor, Denmark, daughter of Dr. Christian August FLEMMER and Betty ABO. Her family immigrated to the Cape in 1852 and settled in Cradock. Edward was a member of the Town Council and served a term as Mayor. He was involved with the founding of Cradock Boys’ High School. Edward died at his home "The Abbey" in Bree Street, Cradock on 20 Jul 1908. The couple had six children, including Douglas Flemmer GILFILLAN born 25 Jun 1865 in Cradock.

Douglas matriculated from Cradock Boys’ High School and decided to become a lawyer, like his father. In those days, no university degree was required. Instead, articles were served and exams written. Douglas did his articles with the Cape Town firm, Reid & Nephew. He had to wait until he turned 21 in 1886, before being admitted as an attorney. While living in Cape Town, he stayed at a boarding house in Moullie Point run by Maria Elizabeth DE JONGH (maiden name VON SCHONNBERG), the widow of Lourens DE JONGH. Here he met one of the daughters, Sophia. When he returned to Cradock in 1886, they stayed in touch. In 1888 he moved to Pretoria where Sophia's brother James had a legal practise. In 1889 Douglas moved to Barberton where he bought a share in the legal practise of Henry CALDERWOOD. He married Sophia agdalena DE JONGH on 10 Apr 1890 in Pretoria. The couple lived in Barberton, where Sophia often played piano at concerts. The piano was a wedding gift from Douglas. While living in Barberton, Douglas founded the forerunner of the Wildlife Protection Society. In 1892 the couple moved to Johannesburg, where their four children were born - Vera Louise, Dagmar Marie, Noel Hamish and Angus Edward.

When tensions started rising between the Boer government and the Uitlanders in 1895, a Reform Committee was formed by Douglas and others, to fight the cause of the Uitlanders. Because of the Jameson Raid, the Reform Committee members were arrested and jailed in Pretoria. They were brought to trial and sentenced to death. This was later reduced to a fine of £2000 pounds. Douglas was released when Sir Abe BAILEY paid his fine. Douglas returned to his legal practice.

In 1898, the family moved to Belgravia, Johannesburg, where they built a house called "Elgin", which cost £8000. In that year, Douglas went into partnership with Richard BAUMANN (later BOWMAN) and so the legal firm of Bowman Gilfillan was founded.

In 1899, tensions rose again and war rumblings were heard. Douglas sent Sophia and the children by refugee train to Queenstown, where they stayed with her sister. When war broke out in October 1899, Douglas left for Pietermaritzburg where he helped form the Imperial Light Horse and became a Lieutenant. He was at the Relief of Ladysmith, and also saw action at Colenso, Spion Kop, Vaal Krantz, Tugela Heights, and the Relief of Mafeking. He was awarded the Queen’s Medal with 4 clasps and ended his service as a Captain.

After the fall of Pretoria, Douglas was appointed a judge of the Special Court for the Witwatersrand. He also served as Magistrate for Germiston and Boksburg. After the war was over, he returned to his legal practice. The family moved back into "Elgin", which had been used by the British Army. Their neighbour was now Lord KITCHENER who had moved into "Friedenheim" next door. In 1908 Douglas was one of the founders of the South African Field Trial Club. Douglas served on the governing board of Jeppe Boys’ High School for many years. The family sold "Elgin" and Douglas and Sophia moved to Parktown before settling in Linden. Sophia died on 08 Jan 1939 and Douglas moved in with his son Noel. Douglas died on 05 Sept 1948 at the home of his son Angus.

Noel Hamish GILFILLAN was born 25 Dec 1902 in Johannesburg. He was educated at Jeppe Boys', Hilton College and the University of Cape Town. After completing his law degree, he was recommended for a position as private secretary to Sir Ernest OPPENHEIMER and spent two years at Anglo American, before setting up a legal firm with Thomas KINNA. He married Ellen Marjorie MORRIS, the eldest daughter of Dr. Frank and Emily MORRIS of Cape Town, in Jul 1928 at St Georges Church, Parktown. Ellen, known as Marjorie, was the daughter of Dr. Frank Mayo MORRIS. He came to the Cape during the Anglo-Boer War and settled in Cape Town where he practised as a medical doctor. Ellen was born in Cape Town and educated at St Cyprian's School and the University of Cape Town. Noel and Ellen had three sons - Brian Mayo, Graeme Douglas and Robin Francis. In 1913, the family lived at 30 Bolton Road, Parkwood. During World War I, Noel served in the South African Air Force. In 1936 he joined his father's practise as a junior partner. Here one of his clients was De Havilland and Noel became an expert in aviation law.

When war broke out in 1939, Noel joined the Imperial Light Horse but was later transferred to the South African Air Force. In 1941 he was sent up North, with the rank of Captain. In 1943, he was allowed to leave the SAAF due to ill-health and returned to Bowman Gilfillan. In March 1946 the family moved to a new home, Littlefillan, a 75-acre farm. Here Marjorie built up a Jersey herd. Noel served on the governing board of Hilton College, was president of the Wildlife Society, and the 1820 Settler Association. He later bought a farm in Dullstroom which he called Elgin, and turned it into a trout farm. In 1967 he retired from Bowman Gilfillan. He died in 1977.

Brian Mayo was educated at Parkview Boys’ School, Parktown High, Hilton College, the University of Cape Town, and Oxford. He became a director at Bowman Gilfillan & Blacklock. He married Jennifer Mary GRIFFITH and the couple had three sons and one daughter. He died on 12 Dec 1984. In 1985 the family lived at Littlefillan.

Graeme Douglas was born in 1931. He was educated at Parktown School, Pridwin, Hilton College and the University of the Witwatersrand. While at Hilton, he became interested in taxidermy and birds mounted by him are displayed in the Hilton School Museum. He played rugby in the Natal Midlands XV, and for the Transvaal under-19s. On 26 Jul 1950 he was killed in a motorcycle accident on Louis Botha Ave, Johannesburg. In 1965 his father donated a rugby field and pavilion to Hilton College, named the Graeme Gilfillan Pavilion.

Robin Francis was born in 1934. He was educated at Parktown School, Pridwin and Hilton College. He played for the Natal Schools rugby team. He started a degree at the University of Cape Town but later changed to a Business Administration course at the Manchester University Institute of Technology. While there he played for Sale Rugby and was selected for a trial for Scotland. Just before the trial he suffered a concussion which ended his rugby career. He worked for Dove Insurance Company, which had been set up by his father. Later he formed Lenagil Investments. He married Bernice BRAMSON and they had four children. Robin died on 09 Nov 2001 in Pietermaritzburg.

MASTER WATCHMAKER

2009-04-18T22:09:00.000+02:00

Deryck NUNES was one of the last remaining master watchmakers in South Africa. He died in George in February 2008 at the age of 68. He originally opened a jewellery shop in Paarl, but after his step-father, Raffaele D‘AMATO, recovered from a serious illness, the family moved to George in 1957. They opened Raffaele d‘Amato Jewellers in York Street, with Deryck's mother, Monica. Raffaele was an Italian immigrant, and was trained at a young age as a master watchmaker. He trained Deryck who eventually had clients from England, Germany and Israel. Deryck and his wife, Marlene, took over the family business and, with their eldest son Michél, a jewellery designer, made Raffaele d‘Amato Jewellers one of the country‘s leading manufactures of designer jewellery and timepieces. Deryck was survived by his wife, children Michél, Juanita and Carlo, and grandchildren Daniel, Sean and Cailin.

HISTORY IN ITALY

2009-04-18T22:02:00.000+02:00

The Italian village of Grizzana-Morundi has named a peace project after South African politician Colin EGLIN (88) in honour of his bravery in World War II. The Colin Eglin Project for Peace honours his service in Italy during the war. The project is aimed at local school pupils, focuses on teaching them the ideals and principles Eglin stands for. Each year the village has liberation celebrations. In 2007 the celebrations took place at the summit of Monte Stanco, where a battle took place in 1945 and troops of the 6th South African Armoured Division captured the strategic mountain stronghold. Eglin took part in the battle. He was also in the battle at Monte Sole, on his 20th birthday, where the 6th Armoured South African division held their ground and took the mountain-hold from German control. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his part in this battle. There is a South African cemetery in Castiglione dei Pepoli.

CORNER STORE HISTORY

2009-04-18T21:39:00.000+02:00

One of East London’s oldest corner shops closed in February 2008 after almost 75 years. Quigney Supply Store was co-owned by Dolly RADLOFF and her siblings Edith and Lee. It was started by their father in 1934. One of the oldest customers was Harry CHOATES (58) who had been a customer for over 40 years.

RESTORING HISTORY

2009-04-18T21:22:00.001+02:00

Port Elizabeth-born and raised Savvas KOUSHIS (48) and his wife Amanda. have restored Grahamstown‘s historic Victorian-style Frontier Country Hotel to its original splendour, a project that cost R6,6-million. The ground floor of the building houses a Nedbank branch. The top floor houses rooms overlooking Market Square, the Cathedral of St Michael and St George, the city hall and two rows of Victorian-style shops. The corner balcony is the one where, in 1947, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England and their daughters stood and watched horse racing around Church Square. Savvas has run hotels and restaurants all over South Africa. He collects antiques and loves history. The Frontier is not his first historical project. He also bought and opened Assegai Lodge near Grahamstown, which was built in 1717 and used as a garrison by the British in 1785.
Savvas was in the news earlier in 2008 when he appealed to a Port Elizabeth township resident who was given an old brass bed by his late father Peter, to return it. The bed was shared by Cecil John RHODES and Neville Ernach PICKERING in Kimberley. The bed is believed to be worth R30 000. Peter was a Port Elizabeth barber who owned College Gents Hairdressers in Russell Road. He bought the enamelled bed with solid brass knobs and wheels, near Kimberley in 1983, not realising the historical and monetary value of the bed. In the 1990s he gave it to some poor people from the township.
Savvas found out that the home of Neville PICKERING was auctioned off in 1983, with all its contents. He died in 1886 in Kimberley. He was hired by Rhodes in 1881 as a secretary at De Beers Mining Company. In 1882 Rhodes had made a will, leaving all his estate to Pickering. After Pickering's death, he made another will in 1888.

JOCK'S STATUE

2009-04-18T20:25:00.003+02:00

In January 2008 the statue of Jock, the famous Staffordshire Bull Terrier that belonged to Sir Percy FITZPATRICK, found a new home at the Johannesburg Zoo. The statue was erected in 1992 in the gardens of the Johannesburg Hospital in Parktown, where Sir Percy's house, Hohenheim, used to stand. It was the same year that the film, Jock of the Bushveld, was made. The statue was commissioned in 1992 by the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust, as part of Parktown's centenary. It was unveiled on 11 November 1992 by the actor, Jonathan RANDS, who played Sir Percy in the film about Jock. A few years later, thieves tried to steal the statue and it was then moved into the hospital's entrance hall. Sally-Ann Fitzpatrick NIVEN, great-grand-daughter of Sir Percy, was at the unveiling of Jock's new spot, together with Flo BIRD of the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust. Jock died when Sir Percy's friend, Tom BARNETT, shot him by mistake. Jock was deaf as a result of being kicked by a kudu, and did not hear Tom the night Tom heard noises in the chicken run. Tom was looking after Jock while Sir Percy was travelling.

A FULL LIFE - CAPT. MEYER BOTHA

2009-04-18T20:10:00.002+02:00

In 1993, Captain Meyer BOTHA, airline pilot and a former race car driver, flew more than 26 000 km from the USA via Singapore to Delareyville, to attend Laerskool Wildehondepan's 75th anniversary celebrations. Captain Botha was a pilot with Singapore Airlines at the time and was on duty flying from Singapore-Los Angeles-Singapore flight. After landing in Singapore, he boarded an SAA flight for Johannesburg, and then drove to Grand Central in Midrand, where he flew his Mooney 020 aircraft to Delareyville. After the clebrations, he flew back to Grand Central, before flying SAA back to Singapore.
Of the six students who were in Standard 6 at the school in 1949, five attended the celebrations - Marais AUCAMP, Gert VAN DER RYST, Alta JOHANSSEN (married SCHOLLY), Meyer BOTHA and Johanna KOEN (married JACOBS). Laerskool Wildehondepan was one of the few operating farm schools left then. Capt. Botha's father was a teacher there. The first teacher was Miss LE ROUX (married DU TOIT), who was a 97 year-old widow and living in Johannesburg in 1993.
In 1997, Capt. Botha visited Killarney Race Track in Cape Town, the scene of one of his accidents in 1972 in a Lucky Strike Lotus 49C car. After the 1972 crash he was treated by the doctor on duty. Dr. Harry WADE, who was still involved in 1997 as a doctor on race days at Killarney. In 1969 Capt. Botha crashed another car at a Formula V race in Daytona, USA. In 1970 he won the Meissner Trophy in Formula Ford racing, racing a Lotus car belonging to Dave CHARLTON (six times SA champion). Capt. Botha started racing 1959 and played a big role in getting Formula V started in South Africa in 1966. His last race was in 1972 in a Formula One race. After leaving SAA in 1986, he flew for Singapore Airlines until July 1997. Jody SCHECKTER (1979 world champ) was runner-up in Daytona this race, and went to the UK as part of Capt. Botha's prize because he could not get leave from SAA. Whe he raced the Lotus car, his race mechanic was Sampie BOSMAN. Sampie's son Stephen later became a GTi race driver and a helicopter pilot.
After finishing school, Capt. Botha joined the South African Air Force. He became the youngest SAAF officer when he was made a 2nd Lieutenant at the age of 17 years, 6 months. He went on to study agricultural engineering at the University of Pretoria, before returning to the SAAF. At the age of 21 he joined SAA and stayed there until 1986.
The life of this interesting man ended tragically in October 1998, when he was shot by two murderers at his home in Mear Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria. He was rushed to the Medforum Hospital where he passed away. Capt. Botha was 61 years old and had retired from flying in 1997. He was in the process of turning his house into a guest house. Capt. Botha was divorced. His son, Retief Botha, was a vet in London, and his daughter Melinda VIAN a medical doctor in Cape Town.

DAD WAS WWII HERO

2009-04-13T22:05:00.001+02:00

Pietermaritzburg businessman Nad PILLAY (57) started looking into his father's family history after his father's death in 1969. What he found was that his father was a World War II hero. He joined the Army when he was 22. Private A.S. (Haps) PILLAY was captured on three times. Nad and his five sisters always wondered about their father's service but he rarely spoke about it. Nad, who lives in Northdale, started looking for letters, pictures and postcards after his father’s death, and compiled an album. Now he wants to find the families of the men who served with his father, so that together they can discover more. His father served in the Cape Malay Corps. He travelled through North Africa and parts of Europe, including Italy, as a member of the South African Military Transport Unit between 1942 and 1945. He was first captured in Libya in 1942 by German soldiers. On another occasion, he was captured at Tobruk and held in an Italian prisoner-of-war camp. He managed to escape again and hid in the mountains for a year, meeting a group of rebels opposed to the Italian-German alliance. He joined them in acts of sabotage throughout Italy. He later made his way through German lines but was again captured. He was held prisoner until the Allied forces invaded Italy. He was once on a ship which was torpedoed in the Mediterranean and was in the water for several hours before being picked up by a cruiser. Haps was awarded several medals, including the Distinguished Service Order, the 1939-1945 Star, the African Service Medal and the War Medal 1939-1945. Nad found that while other black soldiers received a bicycle for their military service, his father received a car, which he used to start a taxi business in Pietermaritzburg. When the Group Areas Act was enforced, Boom Street residents in central Pietermaritzburg were not forced out because of Haps’ military service. However, a few years later, the Group Areas Act was enforced once more and the residents had to move.

PIONEER'S GRAVE CLEANED UP

2009-04-13T21:53:00.000+02:00

The curator of No. 7 Castle Hill, Grizel HART, and Bayworld historian Emile BADENHORST, recently cleaned up Rev. Francis McCLELAND's grave in St Mary's Cemetery in Lower Valley Road after finding it in a bad state of disrepair. His grave was vandalised and decaying under the weeds. Rev. McCleland gave Port Elizabeth St Mary's Cathedral 175 years ago and No. 7 Castle Hill. The cemetary is in a bad condition and not a good place for the many visitors who go to Port Elizabeth to look up their family history. Most of those buried at St Mary's Cemetery had played some significant role in the history of the city, including nine of the Reverend's family members. He was a colonial chaplain who came to Port Elizabeth during the 1820s to minister to the British soldiers in the area. In 1827, he bought the land on which No. 7 Castle Hill now stands for three guineas (three pounds and three shillings). By 1834 he had overseen the building of St Mary's church (later declared a cathedral). He also helped establish many small churches in the area. In 1963 his house at No. 7 Castle Hill became a museum.

NEW MEMORIAL AT DOORNKLOOF

2009-04-13T21:44:00.000+02:00

The Voortrekker Youth Movement recently unveiled a memorial on the farm Doornkloof, to commemorate the 70 years that the movement has owned the historic farm. Doornkloof originally belonged to the Voortrekker leader Sarel CILLIERS. It was sold to the movement by his son, Cor F. CILLIERS for R3 312. The memorial consists of three pillars symbolising the Voortrekker belief - faith, hope and love. At the same time, the 140 year-old Cilliers family Bible, which was in a provincial museum for 37 years, was returned to the farm's museum.

SAVING OLD GRAVES

2009-04-13T21:37:00.001+02:00

The old graves in the Paarlberg were recently visited by the Het Gesticht committe in Paarl, and found to be in a bad condition. The graves are those of the Zion Church and Bethel Congregational Church parishes that used to be in Paarl West. Het Gesticht is working on plans to preserve the graves. Some of the graves are those of Hendrigks HENTY, Frank Mickel ADONIS, Jason S.B. ADAMS, Jacob Salmon ADONIS, W.F. GRIFFIN, Sophia Christina DISMORE, Jacobus A. STEENKAMP and C (?) ADAMS. If anyone can help with more information, please contact Rev. Dries ERWEE on Tel: (021) 872 9381.

OLD FARM AUCTIONED OFF

2009-04-13T21:31:00.000+02:00

The historic farm which surrounds the Cango Caves outside Oudtshoorn was recently up for auction. Grootkraal has been owned by the VAN DER VEEN family since 1868. About 240 000 tourists drive past the farm gate each year on their way to the caves, a national heritage site. The caves do not form part of the farm. The farm forms part of the estate of the late Jon VAN DER VEEN. His son, Hans, is an Oudtshoorn businessman and former athlete. He said the family had farmed tobacco, wheat, lucerne, ostriches, cattle, sheep and fruit over the years. The farm had its own tobacco factory. Later the original farm was divided and a restaurant was built on one portion. His father and grandfather often took visitors into the caves, lowering them by rope and lighting their way with candles. They acted as unofficial tour guides in the years before the caves were developed as a tourist attraction.

PORT ALFRED SHANTY GOES TO COURT

2009-04-13T21:13:00.001+02:00

An old Port Alfred wood and iron shanty is at the centre of a court case. The Grahamstown High Court recently upheld the Provincial Heritage Resources Authority’s (PHRA) refusal to allow its new owners to demolish it. The shanty was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s, and was purchased by Port Alfred guest house owner Louise CORRANS with the intention of demolishing it and expanding The Lookout guest house, which she operates from an adjoining property. The Lower Albany Historical Society and Ndlambe Tourism sent letters of support for the demolition of the corroded shanty. After more than an eight-month wait, the PHRA granted permission for a partial demolition and ordered that the original building’s north and north-west facade be retained. It said the building was in a historic part of town and its front facade was a worthy heritage component of Port Alfred. Corrans appealed the decision but the PHRA stood firm. She then wrote to the Arts and Culture MEC Noxolo ABRAHAM-NTANTISO to intervene, but received no response. Finally she appealed to the High Court to review and set aside the PHRA’s decision. Judge Daylan CHETTY ruled that individual members of a heritage resource agency were appointed for their expertise in the field of heritage management, and that the conditional demolition permit was granted in accordance with the duty imposed on the PHRA to preserve buildings of cultural significance. He dismissed the application and ordered Corrans to pay the legal costs. According to letters sent to the PHRA by Corrans and her husband, Alan, the façade was extensively altered in 1977 and the corrugated iron was badly rusted, while the supporting wooden structure was rotten from borer beetle and termites. They had undertaken to erect a structure similar in style to the original building and which would reflect the architecture of the period.

SS MENDI BECOMES A WAR GRAVE

2009-04-13T21:04:00.000+02:00

The SS Mendi, a troopship on which 600 South African soldiers died during World War I, is going to be classified as war grave, making it a protected ship under the British Protection of Military Remains Act. Because the ship was not British-owned, it was never given the status of a war grave. The SS Mendi sank in 1917 in the English Channel while transporting the 5th Battalion of the South African Native Corps. The men were on their way to the Western Front, where they were to perform non-combat duties such as dock work and digging trenches. At 5am on 21 February 1917, the SSMendi was rammed by another ship, the Darro. The troopship sank in less than half an hour. As the ship listed, Reverend Isaac DYOOBHA led the men in a death dance on the deck and told them to be quiet and calm. He was one of 649 men who died that day. Retired British Army Major Ned MIDDLETON was responsible for getting the ship designated as a war grave. The University of Wessex has over the past three years been surveying the wreck site. The study has also involved researching archive material and sourcing oral histories.

PORT ELIZABETH LIBRARY CLOSED

2009-04-13T20:56:00.000+02:00

Port Elizabeth‘s Main Library will be closed from 10 April 2009 for about six months for renovations. The Victorian-era landmark building has suffered from rising damp caused by underground water seepage. Walls have mould. The roof will also be repaired. The library has about 250 000 books, which will have to be moved during the building work.

CHRISTMAS IN EARLY CAPE TOWN

2008-12-28T15:16:00.002+02:00

What was Christmas like for our ancestors in bygone days? For starters, there was no Christmas shopping rush! Before 1859 Christmas celebrations in Cape Town were rather low-key.

The English ship "Dragon" was in Table Bay on Christmas Day in 1607 and its sailors carved one of the earliest English post office stones. Jan VAN RIEBEECK made no mention of Christmas celebrations in his diaries but he did note that he gave each of his men a tankard of Spanish wine for the New Year. His successor, WAGENAAR, noted that on 25 December 1662, Christmas was properly celebrated by hearing God’s word twice. The week before Christmas in 1705 saw stormy weather and on Christmas Day there was a huge rainstorm.

In 1713, the south-easter blew at hurricane force on Christmas Day, with the English ship "Great London", anchored in Table Bay, signalling for help. The Castle did not reply and so 19 sailors rowed to the shore to get an anchor and cable. On their way back, they were blown out to sea and never seen again. On Christmas Day in 1769, the first horses sent to India from the Cape, left on board the ship "Duke of Kingston", bound for Madras. In 1849, a Mr. DONALDSON, owner of the Round House, offered his place for Christmas celebrations with skittles, quoits and pigeon shooting.

The Cape Argus was the first newspaper to wish its readers a Merry Christmas on 24 December 1859. In the same issue, Sefton PARRY, owner of the Cape Town Theatre, announced the first Christmas pantomime in South Africa - The babes in the woods. That year the weather was "blazing, flaring, scorching, nose-blistering, red-hot". The week prior to Christmas Day, the paper carried only two Christmas adverts, one suggesting French flower vases as presents and another offering Westphalia hams for the Christmas meal. A fattened pig cost 30 shillings, a suckling pig cost 9 shillings and a chicken was 1 shilling. A turkey was 4 shillings and 6 pence and 100 oranges could be bought for 7 shillings. Robert GRANGER had a grocery store on Castle Street and had just received a shipment of white rice from Calcutta. He also had Lancashire hams, Irish butter, Havana cigars, whisky, and cheeses from England and Holland.

In December 1864, the main attraction in Cape Town was a ride on the new Wynberg railway. The then world’s largest ship, "Great Eastern", was in Table Bay on Christmas Day in 1869 and Cape Town residents were allowed to visit the ship. Christmas 1871 saw diamond diggers from Griqualand spending their holidays in Cape Town. They gave their friends champagne parties and treated everyone that crossed their paths. That year also saw Christmas trees for sale in the shops. A Mr. LONG, shopkeeper, had the following advertisement up: "Oh Pa! Oh Ma! Do go and pay Mr. Long a visit and buy me some toys - they are so fine, so unique, and so instructive. Oh do dear Pa! We will be such good children hereafter". Some things don’t change with the passing of time!

FARM FULL OF HISTORY

2008-12-24T18:40:00.002+02:00

Newstead Farm, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, is now producing good old-fashioned soft drinks, under the label Frankies. Ginger Beer, Root Beer, Lemonade, Cola and Cream Soda can be bought at selected outlets country-wide.

The farm was first settled in 1848 by two NAUDE brothers. They lived in a mud hut and felled yellow wood trees in the nearby forests. They later moved to the Transvaal. James Erasmus METHLEY was the next owner, with John LIDGETT. The farm was later divided - 1619ha went to Lidgett (later became the Lidgetton Land and Wattle Company) and 1214ha became Newstead. James built the house on Newstead. He also built Yellowwoods for his son at Shafton, in the Karkloof. James owned seven farms around Natal. Newstead remained in the family for more than 100 years.

James kept diaries, one mentions Winston CHURCHILL being stationed nearby. He played a game of polo against the Karkloof farmers, and afterwards Churchill was invited to dinner with the Reverend. There was also a small fruit orchard on the farm, as well as sheep and cattle. In 1891 the railway line reached the area. His son, Willoughby, expanded the fruit-growing side, specialising in plums - the Methley plum was his development - and exported to Covent Gardens in London.

The next owner of Newstead was Murray ARMSTRONG, a sugar cane farmer. The current owners are Mike and Paula SCHMIDT. Mike grew up in Amanzimtoti and attended school in Durban. He was once a racing car driver and set up a racing school at Kyalami. He met his wife in Britain and the family lived in Wiltshire, before they and their two girls, Emily and Jessica, moved back to South Africa about five years ago.

James Erasmus METHLEY was born on 18 Feb 1826 in Oxford, England, the son of James METHLEY, a Wesleyan minister. James was educated at Woodhouse Grove School. He was apprenticed to a Manchester draper, but his health failed. While at school he was friends with John ARCHBELL and Sam SHAW, both sons of Wesleyan missionaries at the Cape. James wrote to John, who had gone to Pietermaritzburg. John advised him to go to Natal. James arrived in October 1848 for a visit. He returning to England to make preparations to move permanently to Natal. In 1850 he published a book, The new colony of Port Natal, with information for emigrants. Extracts were published in Yorkshire newspapers, which led to many Yorkshire Methodists immigrating to Natal, with the assistance of Byrne's Company and shipowners such as Richard M. HACKETT and John LIDGETT. Before leaving England, James was employed by Lidgett to act as his agent in Natal. Together with a partner, Edwin PARKINSON, he made preparations for the settlers' arrival and helped them settle on the land granted to them when they reached Natal. One hundred and four settlers left for Natal in four ships - the Herald, Nile, Choice and John Bright. They settled at Houtboschrand (later renamed Lidgett's Town). James left England on the Sovereign, sailing from London/Plymouth on 24 Nov 1849 and arriving at Port Natal on 24 Mar 1850.

During his visit in 1848, James arranged for the purchase of 12000 acres of land north of the Umgeni River, relying on the financial assistance of the Wesleyan missionary James ARCHBELL. After his return in 1850 he became a successful farmer, establishing two farms - Shafton named after the Yorkshire village where his family had originated, and Newstead, at Balgowan, where he lived from 1866. James was an early settler in the Karkloof, and became known as "The father of the Karkloof". Shafton burnt down in 1925 and later became the property of SAPPI.

A book, The Journal of an expedition to the Zoola country in the year 1849 by John and Joseph Archbell and James E. Methley", describes a journey from 11 Jan to 05 Mar 1849, to the Zulu Royal kraal.

In 1854 James married Isabella Forster HODGSON at Darlington, England. They had two sons and a daughter. Isabella died in 1917.

During the Zulu War (Jan-July 1879) James fortified the hotel at Curry's Post. In August 1879 he went to England as an agent for the Natal Land and Immigration Board to recruit settlers for the government settlement at Wilgerfontein (Willow Fountain), near Pietermaritzburg. Owing, however, to the superior attractions offered by agents from Australia and New Zealand, he succeeded in recruiting only between 30 to 40 families who arrived in 1880. He died on 04 Feb 1903 in Balgowan.

Willoughby Laidman METHLEY was born in 1868 in Howick, the son of James Erasmus METHLEY. He was educated at Maritzburg College, and later became a farmer in Balgowan. On 08 April 1896 he married Elizabeth Symons ROWE in Harrismith. They had six children, including a daughter born 05 Jan at Newstead. A daughter, Helen Katherine Howard, married Percival Stuart ATKINSON. Her bridesmaid was Joan ACUTT (latter married ALLEN). Willoughby was a Lieutenant in the Natal Carbineers, where he had 11 years of service. Willoughby died in 1952 and Elizabeth in 1964.

Willoughby's brother, Foster Hodgson METHLEY, served with Kitchener's Fighting Scouts during the Anglo-Boer War. He enlisted in Aug 1903 and had been a painter before this. He was born in Pietermaritzburg. On 07 Sept 1880 he married Dora Ann FANNIN, second daughter of the late Thomas W. FANNIN, in Pietermaritzburg. Dora died in Aug 1899, age 39.

NEW MUSEUM

2008-12-14T20:07:00.000+02:00

The village of Magaliesberg has a new attraction - its own living museum. The late Pierre Richard Hartley THERON wanted to turn the local community hall into a museum but was not able to do so before he was murdered on his farm on 07 June 2004. In his memory, a non-profit organisation, the Magaliesburg Historical Association, was founded. The last five years have been spent researching the area's history. On display at the new museum is a coca pan bar counter dating from the 1800s when the first gold was discovered in Goudkoppies / Blaauwbank. The village's original telephone exchange board is also on display. The museum also sells local history books and souvenirs. The museum is situated on Charles GOTTHARD's property - Out of Africa/La Provence - in Magaliesburg on the R24 towards Rustenburg. Tel: Nicola at 083 377 2254.

MUSEUM WINS AWARD

2008-12-14T19:56:00.000+02:00

Port Elizabeth's Red Location Museum has won a national award for architectural excellence at the South African Institute for Architects‘ recent awards evening in Midrand. Red Location Museum, in the oldest part of New Brighton, won the World Leadership Award in the Best Architecture and Civil Engineering Category in 2005. In 2006 it received the inaugural Lubetkin Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects. The museum was designed by Noero Wolff Architects in association with John Blair Architects.

BOOK TOWN

2008-12-14T19:20:00.001+02:00

Darryl Earl DAVID is an Indian lecturer in Afrikaans at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He comes from a long line of teachers - his paternal grandparents were teachers, his father was a teacher and most of his maternal uncles and aunts were teachers. His love of books led him to want to create a book town in South Africa - something like Hay-on-Wye in the UK. Now, after five years of planning, the dream has become reality and Richmond in the Karoo is on its way to become South Africa's very own book town. David is no stranger to perseverance - his wife was in his Matric class but it took three years before she agreed to a date. Richmond is on the N1, about 600 kilometres from Cape Town, and its old architecture is quite intact. The first Book Town celebration was held last year with the late Patrick MYNHARDT as guest speaker.

Three years ago, the building Huis van Licht en Schaduw housed a micro-lender and the local ANC office. At night, the verandah was was by prostitutes doing a roaring trade with the passing truck drivers. Now the once neglected old building in Loop Street houses masses of books. There are six bookshops in the building - Richmond Books & Prints, The Book Orphanage, BooKarooz, Diesel & Dust, and Springbok Huis, as well as a sport museum and publisher. Richmond now has an annual book festival - Boekbedonnerd. The next Boekbedonnerd Festival is planned for the last weekend in October 2009.

Richmond's new claim to fame involves three characters. Peter BAKER, a Canadian-born vet, spent less than R20 000 for a Karoo house that now houses the Supper Club, a restaurant and reading room full of Africana. Darryl completed a doctorate on international book towns (there are now 26 such towns world-wide). It was Richard BOOTH who came up with the idea for a book town in Hay-on-Wye in 1961, as a way to revive a small town with a failing economy. John DONALDSON, sports journolist and bookdealer, bought Huis van Licht en Schaduw when his garage in Northcliff, Johannesburg, was too full of books. Since then he has bought a couple more Karoo houses. John grew up in Jan Kempdorp.

HISTORY IN FISH HOEK

2008-11-21T21:33:00.000+02:00

One of the original Fish Hoek mountainside homes was recently put up for sale at R3.3 million. It was one of the first two homes (the other is next door) in the suburb to be declared a national monument. The Government Gazette of 16 July 1982 shows that the original portions of the two cottages dated from 1919. The two properties originally formed part of the farm owned by K.S. DE VILLIERS, a local land baron who died in 1916. The property was subdivided into lots to form the suburb now known as Fish Hoek. The home on sale (the original cottage) has Elsie's Peak as a backdrop and the front facade faces the sea and views of False Bay. The original cottage was sold to Jacob Walter Charles DE SMIDT in March 1919. The home still has many original features, including some of the wooden floors and a recessed cupboard with lead-paned doors in the dining room, thick walls in some places and gables typical of the period in which it was built. On the outside there are two wine cellars under the original veranda.

Fish Hoek or Vissers Baay or Visch Hoek appears on the earliest maps of the Cape. The first grant of Crown Land in Fish Hoek was granted to Andreas BRUINS in 1818. The land was sold several times before being bought by Hester Sophia DE KOCK in 1883, a 51 year old spinster. In 1901 she married a local farmer, Jacob Izaak DE VILLIERS, who moved in with her. She opened her home as a guest house. She also farmed wheat and vegetables. She left instructions in her will that the farm was to be surveyed and the land sold as building plots. After the deaths of Hester and Jacob, the land was sold off, the first sale taking place in 1918. Hester died on 09 Oct 1914. Jacob died in 1916. They are buried in the small graveyard next to the NG Kerk in Kommetjie Road. Initially people built holiday cottages but as the train service to Cape Town was reliable, a more permanent community soon arose. In 1940 it was declared a municipality. The farmhouse on the site of the present Homestead Naval Mess near the railway crossing became an hotel. The original building, known as The Homestead, belonged to the de Villiers family. It burned down in 1947.

The other oldest house is named Uitkyk. It was bought as a fisherman's cottage in 1918 by the MOSSOP family of Mossop Leathers, and is still in the family. There had been a building on that site since the 1690s - a Pos Huis and a whaling station office.

Fish Hoek is well-known for not having liquor stores. This was due to the clause written in the 1818 land grant giving the land to Andreas BRUINS. The clause stated that there should be no public wine house on the property. This clause was introduced when wagon deliveries to Simon’s Town were common and it served to prevent the drivers from stopping off for a drink (or two or three) and arriving in an intoxicated state in Simon’s Town. The clause was carried on through the years, with residents opposing any planned liquor stores. In 1956, after having opposed many license applications they formed an association called The Defenders of Fish Hoek. They succeeded in getting the Liquor Act amended so that no further applications would be allowed. Under South Africa's new Constitution the Act fell away and after consultation with the local Magistrate residents voted for restaurant and bar licenses only.

LARGEST MOSQUE

2008-11-21T20:21:00.000+02:00

Durban's 127 year old Jumma Musjid mosque was founded in the early 1880s when Aboobaker Amod (Jhaveri), said to be the first Indian trader to arrive in Natal in 1874, purchased a site, Sub A of Block BB, in Durban. Lot B of Block BB was bought later, as well as Lot D of Block BB, according to the Deeds Office. Today, Jumma Musjid is the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere, accommodating 7000 worshippers. The mosque has also been declared a national heritage building.

OLD MILL TO TURN AGAIN

2008-11-21T20:16:00.001+02:00

The old mill at Reichenau Mission, on the Polela River near Bulwer, will soon be in action again, thanks to a few engineers. The mill was built by Trappist monks in about 1896. It was driven by an axial-flow, multi-bladed turbine. In the floods of 1987, the turbinwe was partially destroyed. Over time, the mill became derelict. A Durban man, Peter FROW, a former Eskom engineer, saw the mill when his wife, Jill, ran a literacy group in the area. He contacted other retired Eskom employees Colin HEALEY and Chris BROWN, retired university technician Mike SMITH, and former Melmoth farmer Gavin CHANDLER, to help with restoring the mill. The South African Air Force airlifted the turbine from the mill, placing it on a truck to a Pinetown workshop. Several businesses contributed funds. When operational, the turbine will provide 40kw. On 15 December the Air Force will transport the turbine back to its home.

BOND SHAKES TREES

2008-11-21T20:06:00.000+02:00

Did you know that 007 James Bond was once a genealogist? In the 1969 film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond (played by George Lazenby), poses as a genealogist.

RARE PHOTO COLLECTION

2008-11-21T19:57:00.000+02:00

The National Library in Cape Town has a collection of 43 catalogued old portraits of black South Africans, the Grey Ethnological Album. They were taken in South Africa and Botswana by a German anthropologist, Gustav Theodor FRITSCH (1838–1927), for two books that he wrote - "Drie Jahre in Sud-Afrika. Reise-skizzen nach Notizen des Tagesbuchs zusammengestellt (Three Years in South Africa: Travel sketches compiled from notes in a journal), published in 1868, and "Die Eingeborenen Sud-Afrika’s ethnogtaphiseh und anatomisch beschreiben (The Natives of South Africa anatomically and ethnographically described), published in 1872. He left Germany in 1863 and spent three years in southern Africa. Not only was he a physician and anthropologist, but also a photographer.

The collection was discovered by Prof. Keith DIETRICH of Stellenbosch University while working on his doctorate in the 1990s, researching South African travel illustrations from the 16th to 19th centuries. He eventually found six albums at the Berlin Museum, where he scanned them onto 36 CDs. This work was put on display recently at the Sasol Art Museum in Stellenbosch. The 220 portraits that were found feature 113 individuals. The exhibition is also now available in a book - An Eloquent Picture Gallery: the SA Portrait Photographs of Gustav Theodor Fritsch, 1863-1865, published by Jacana Media.

YOUNG HISTORIAN AWARD

2008-10-23T11:58:00.002+02:00

Yumna JACKSON (16), a Grade 10 student at Bridge Town High School in Athlone, has won the 2008 South African Young Historian Award for her research on the United Democratic Front (UDF). The UDF was an anti-apartheid coalition of about 400 civic, church, trade unions and other groups, formed in 1983.

VANDALISED GRAVE

2008-10-22T15:33:00.000+02:00

Saartjie BAARTMAN's grave has been vandalised. She was reburied in the Gamtoos Valley in August 2002. A gold plaque with her details, was stolen. The grave had been neglected, even though it is a tourist attraction in Hankey.

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE LOOKED LIKE?

2008-10-22T15:29:00.002+02:00

What would you have looked like if you were a teenager in another time? At YearBookYourself, you can transform a photo of yourself into a stereotypical teenager from anywhere between 1950 and 2000.

LEARNING CHANCE WASTED

2008-10-22T15:18:00.000+02:00

Prof. Alan MORRIS, professor of human biology at UCT's Medical School, along with his postgraduate students, was not allowed to examine human remains removed from the former Prestwich Street cemetery site in Green Point. He believes that this was due to heritage authorities bowing to political pressure from activists. This was despite a call from the SA Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) for human biologists and other specialists to become involved in the project, after human bones were found during a Prestwich Street construction project in 2003. The site was later identified as one of Cape Town's 18th century cemeteries. During archaeological excavations more than 1200 skeletons were found. It is believed that those buried there were mostly slaves, free blacks and sailors.

LORD CHARLES HOTEL REUNION

2008-10-15T15:06:00.003+02:00

Former Lord Charles Hotel staff are holding a reunion to celebrate its opening in November 1988. Rob MARCH started as the hotel's front office manager and became rooms division manager before leaving to start his own business. He recalls staff training in pre-fab buildings alongside the building site. The 5-star Lord Charles was built at a cost of approximately R27-million, which included imported cutlery and crockery valued at R1-million. Rob and his wife Tanya, and Debbie SPENCER also an opening team member, are planning the reunion which takes place on 25 October. A dinner will be held at Craig's Casual Eatery, 171 Main Road. The opening team consisted of approximately 200 people. Some now live in Ireland, UK, Dubai, Botswana, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. The managing director who headed the team and the Van Riebeeck Hotel in Gordon's Bay at the time, Stuart CHASE, works in Turkey. For more information contact Tanya: tanya.march@bmwdealer.co.za or Debbie: debbie@merand.co.za

CEMETERY CONDITIONS

2008-10-14T14:40:00.002+02:00

The Mayor of George, Flip DE SWARDT, has spoken out about the neglected state of cemeteries in the area. The town's cemeteries were discussed at a recent council meeting. Many graves are no longer marked. His son, Johan, is buried at the York Street Cemetery. He passed away in 1992 at the age of 22, after an accident in Stellenbosch. Another worry, is the lack of safety when visiting cemeteries.

ORAL HISTORY TEXTBOOK

2008-10-14T14:33:00.002+02:00

A new book, Oral History in a Wounded Country, is now available and looks at the background, ethics, methods and use of oral history in South Africa. It is aimed at educators at school and university level, archivists and museum curators. Professor Philippe DENIS of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) was a co-editor. He is the Head of Sinomlando, which is based at UKZN and is the leader in South African oral history. The book is published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press.

SCHOEMANSDAL MUSEUM DESTROYED

2008-10-14T14:29:00.003+02:00

The Schoemansdal Museum was recently destroyed by fire. The fire broke out during the night, destroying the information centre and the open air museum. The damage was caused by runaway veldt fires, with damages estimated at R3-million. The open-air museum was dedicated to showcasing South Africa’s pioneering history.

THE SAAF AND WARSAW

2008-09-24T17:12:00.006+02:00

Earlier this month, I was blessed to attend a very special remembrance day - that for the brave young men of the South African Air Force who flew to the aid of Polish citizens in Warsaw during World War II. This article was written to help keep their memory alive. If you have further information on these men, please let me know and I will add it on.

For five years after Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939, Warsaw remained a Nazi-occupied city. Yet the underground Polish Home Army (AK) never stopped preparing for the day when it could rise against the Germans. This day arrived at 5pm on 01 August 1944 and for the next 63 days the men, women and children of the AK fought against the Germans. The AK believed the Russian Army would come to its aid, bit it didn't. Within the first five days, the AK had re-taken most of the city, but without reinforcements and more arms and ammunition, they could not hold out. The Polish government in exile in Britain appealed to Winston Churchill for help.

The quickest way to help would be to drop supplies in, but the most direct route would take the Royal Air Force (RAF) over the most heavily defended parts of the Third Reich. Avoiding these areas would mean a round trip of 3520km. The only other alternative was over northern Italy but this too would involve avoiding most of the heavily defended German cities and a round trip of 3200km. Churchill was advised by his senior RAF officers that the task would achieve little militarily but cost high in life and equipment.

The 205 Group RAF at Foggia, Italy, was under the command of Major-General James (Jimmy) Thom DURRANT, a South African. The Group consisted of four Wings, three of which were RAF and the fourth was No. 2 Wing SAAF made up of 31 and 34 Squadrons equipped with Liberators.

On Sunday 13 August 1944, 10 crew of 31 Squadron were ordered to Brindisi for briefing and loading of special cargo. When they arrived in the Operations Room at Brindisi, they were greeted with a large wall map of Europe, marked with a thick black 3200 km route zig-zagging from Foggia to Warsaw. They were told that their mission was to fly at rooftop height over a heavily defended city and drop much-needed supplies. The flight route was long and zigzagged over a sea, high mountains and six enemy countries. Navigation aides were poor or non-existent, and the weather was usually foul. The four-engined Liberators would be heavily-laden. The supplies were packed in 12 canisters, each weighing 150 kg, on the bomb racks. Each canister was filled with light machine guns, ammunition, hand grenades, radio equipment, food and medical supplies. Each canister had a small parachute to break the fall. The first South African flight included Bob KLETTE (pilot), Lt. Alf FAUL (co-pilot), Lt. Bryan JONES (navigator), WO Eric WINCHESTER (radio operator), WO Herbert BROWN (air gunner), WO Henry UPTON (air gunner) and Smiler DAVIS.

There were 196 11-hour night flights from Brindisi and Foggia in Italy, to and from Warsaw from 04 August to early September. The aircraft crossed the Adriatic to occupied Yugoslavia before traversing Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the Carpathian mountains. The low altitudes flights dropped light machine guns, ammunition, medical supplies, radios and food. The pilots flew in almost every night. Along the way, anti-aircraft batteries and German night fighters made it difficult for the heavily-laden Liberators. The most dangerous part of the flight was when the bombers made the drops by flying at rooftop level and at near stalling speed. The aircraft and crew came from two South African Air Force (SAAF) squadrons, 31 and 34; two RAF squadrons, 148 and 178; US Air Force bombers; and the Polish Special Duties Flight 1586. The cost was high - 168 airmen are buried in the Allied Airmen's cemetery in Krakow, southern Poland, all killed in the six weeks of the airlift. Eighty of the graves are of South Africans. Of the 80 aircraft involved, 31 were shot down - 17 during the weekend of 13-16 August. Sixty-nine South Africans never returned. Twenty-five SAAF Liberators were shot down. Fifty percent of the aircraft were
from the RAF, and 36% of the total force was South African. Squadron 31 had 28 Liberators in the Airlift, the largest component. Eight were lost, 25 reached Warsaw dropping 228 canisters - the highest number of any squadron involved. Squadron 34 had three aircraft involved, one of which was lost. Many aircraft were so damaged when they had to force-land. The price was high. Air Marshal Sir John Slessors, the Allied air commander in the Mediterranean, later put the losses at one bomber lost for every ton of supplies dropped.

The uprising was over by 02 October, when the remainder of the AK surrendered. Seventeen thousand members of the underground, 3500 Polish soldiers and 5000 civilians had been killed. Six months later, the war in Europe was over. A Soviet regime took over and the Warsaw Uprising disappeared from Polish history. Many AK leaders vanished into the gulag and prisons.

In 1992 the Polish ambassador in South Africa, Stanislaf Cieniuch, presented the Warsaw Insurrectionary Cross to the 61 South Africans who took part in the Airlift. The presentation was at a parade held at Voortrekkerhoogte. Descendants of 37 of these brave young men who died during the war or afterwards, received the medal on behalf of their family member. One hundred and twenty South African pilots and aircrew were part of the Airlift. In 1992, only 67 of them, of whom 28 were still alive, could be traced. The Polish government in exile, already in 1945, wanted to honour the South Africans and others who helped. The South African government turned down the honour in 1945 and again in 1953, as it did not recognise the Polish government.

In South Africa, there were a number of Poles who had fought for the Allies and were invalided to South Africa to be treated for tuberculosis at Baragwanath Hospital. They formed the founding group of what became the South African Polish Association. In 1947, the first annual flypast and commemoration service commemorating the Warsaw Airlift was held at the Johannesburg Cenotaph. The Polish community in South Africa commemorated the Uprising and the Airlift every year with a Mass at the cathedral in Johannesburg, laying a wreath at the Cenotaph and holding a reception at the Polish Club. In 1981 the Katyn Memorial was erected at the James and Ethel Gray Park in Melrose, Johannesburg, and the annual commemoration moved there. The Uprising and Airlift, as well as the massacre of thousands of Polish professionals, intelligentsia, academics and military in the Katyn Forest in the spring of 1940, are commemorated here each year and organised by the South African Warsaw Flights Commemoration Organising Committee.

It was only in the 1980s that Poland saw some commemoration of the Uprising, when the memorial in Krasinski Square was erected. The bronze tableau shows a charge by the AK, and fighters disappearing into the sewers. It stands in the square which was Lieutenant BURGESS' target drop zone on the night he won the DSO. A statue of a little boy in an oversized helmet with a carbine in his hands, pays tribute to the children who took part in defending their city. There is an Uprising Museum next door. In 1997 a plaque was unveiled at Okecie Airport in memory of the South Africans. A replica is in the SAAF Museum at Swartkop. There are seven memorials in Poland where Allied aircraft that took part in the Airlift were shot down.

Bronislaw Kowalski, on his own initiative and over a number of years, erected a shrine in the forest near the village of Michalin. The shrine marks the spot where a SAAF Liberator crashed on 14/15 August 1944. It honours the memory of Second Lieutenant R.G. (Bob) HAMILTON, and Sergeants Leslie MAYES and Herbert HUDSON. In his garden, Bronislaw built another shrine in which a light burns day and night and has done so for many years.

THE SAAF CREW

1) Captain Leonard Charles ALLEN
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 203161V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 27
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 4112/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of Charles Edward ALLEN (died 1941, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 1455/41) and Louisa/Louise Sophia/Sofia ALLEN (maiden name ZEEDERBURG, died in 1936, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 95119).

2) Lieutenant Peter Herbert ANDREWS
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 542624V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 20
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 5498/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of Herbert William ANDREWS (died 1940, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 3115/40) and Frances Emily ANDREWS (maiden name BURRIDGE).

3) Lieutenant John Christopher BRANCH-CLARK
Observer, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 543022V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 18
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12312 Ref. 1921/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Frank and Joan M. BRANCH-CLARK of Plumstead, Cape Town.

4) Warrant Officer (Class I) Douwe Brandsma BRANDSMA
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 206784V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 21 or 24
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MSCE 2052/1945, dated 1944-1946 in Natal. Son of Jacobus Gerhardus Johannes BRANDSMA (born in the OFS, died 1954, Pietermaritzburg, Estate file: MSCE 828/1954) and Martha Ann BRANDSMA (maiden name HOMAN, born in Ficksburg, OFS, died 1966, Pietermaritzburg, Estate file: MSCE 4122/1966).

5) Warrant Officer (Class II) Herbert James BROWN
31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 328832V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 19
Buried at Malta
Estate file: MHG 3412/49, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of James BROWN and Edith Sabine BROWN (died 1965, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 790/1965) of Pretoria.

6) Lieutenant Oliver COLEMAN
Observer, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 328600V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 20
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 38211, dated 1945 in the Orange Free State. Son of Oliver Joseph Raymond COLEMAN (died 1934, OFS) and Angela COLEMAN (maiden name EGAN) of Bloemfontein. Angela's second marriage was to a RICHARDSON. She died in 1972, Estate file: MHG 4788/72, dated 1972 in the Transvaal.

7) Lieutenant Cedric Arthur COOKE
Navigator, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 206267V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 30
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 4888/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Son of Arthur Vernon COOKE (died 1945, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12342 Ref. 2147/45) and Helen Isabel COOKE (died Jun 1955, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/23625 Ref. 2799/55) of Knysna.

8) Lieutenant Percy Gordon COUTTS
Navigator / Bomber, 178 RAF Squadron
Service no. 329180V
Died 14 Aug 1944
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MSCE 2129/1945, dated 1944-1948 in Natal. Husband of Sophia Otilie Konstanz Paula COUTTS.

9) Lieutenant Denis Osborne CULLINGWORTH
Pilot, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 35379V
Died 16 Oct 1944, age 27
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 5193/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of William Walter CULLINGWORTH (died 1944, Pretoria, Estate file: MHG 4738/55) and Constance Ellen CULLINGWORTH (maiden name FISHER, died 1974, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 4525/74). Husband of Elena Anna CULLINGWORTH (maiden name MEKISICH) of Pretoria.

10) Captain Eric Arnold ENDLER
Pilot, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 102379V
Died 11 Sept 1944
Buried at Belgrade War Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12251, Ref. 1523/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province.

11) Warrant Officer (Class I) J.B. ERASMUS
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 328250V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 23 or 28
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Son of Johann and Johanna C. ERASMUS of Swellendam.

12) Lieutenant Keith FAIRWEATHER
Navigator, 178 RAF Squadron
Service no. 542974V
Died 15 Aug 1944
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 38146, dated 1944 in the OFS. Son of Alexander FAIRWEATHER (died 1942, OFS, Estate file: MHG 34254) and Margaret C. FAIRWEATHER of Kroonstad.

13) Lieutenant Charles Searle Stuart FRANKLIN
Pilot, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 206256V
Died 16 Oct 1944
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12312, Ref. 1923/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Husband of Francis FRANKLIN (later STOCK) of Great Brak River.

14) Second Lieutenant Robert George HAMILTON
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 542957V
Died 15 Aug 1944
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 1239/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal.

15) Lieutenant Arthur James HASTINGS
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 99671V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 23
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12248 Ref. 1505/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province, and MHG 4387/45, dated 1945 in the Transvaal. Son of Mrs. L. MOODY of Grabouw.

16) Lieutenant Grattan Chesney HOOEY
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 103846V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 25
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 5297/45, dated 1945 in the Transvaal. Son of Samuel HOOEY (died 1944, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 4203/44) and Adela Sarah HOOEY (maiden name RICHARDS) of 201 Joubert Street, Volksrust.

17) Lieutenant Eric Ben Horton IMPEY
Observer, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 41252V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 25
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12312 Ref. 1926/45
Son of Ben Horton IMPEY and Hilda F. IMPEY of Cape Town. After packing his personal belongings, he sat down and wrote the Airman's Prayer before going out to Warsaw never to return. He was the reigning South African high jump champion.

AN AIRMAN'S PRAYER
My God, this night I have to fly,
And ere I leave the ground,
I come with reverence to Thy Throne
Where perfect peace is found.
I thank Thee for the life I've had,
For home and all its love,
I thank Thee for the faith I have
That cometh from above.
Come with me now into the air.
Be with me as I fly,
Guide Thou each move that I shall make
Way up there in the sky.
Be with me at the target, Lord,
When danger's at its height.
Be with me as I drop my load,
And on the homeward flight.
And should it be my time to die.
Be with me to the end.
Help me to die a Christian's death.
On Thee, God, I depend.
Then as I leave this mortal frame
From human ties set free,
Receive my soul, O God of Love,
I humbly come to Thee.

18) Lieutenant Walter KLOKOW
Observer, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 109210V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 27
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12309 Ref. 1902/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Lourens Cornelius GREYVENSTEYN and Anna C. GREYVENSTEYN of Molteno, Cape Province.

19) Lieutenant Ray Arras LAVERY
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 329117V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 25
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12312 Ref. 1928/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of James LAVERY and Edna B. LAVERY of Port Elizabeth.

20) Captain Gordon LAWRIE
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 102792V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 27
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 5990/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of David Knox LAWRIE (died Jun 1956, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/24029 Ref. 3165/56) and Amy I. LAWRIE. Husband of Isabella Frances Travers LAWRIE (maiden name ALTSON).
At Lysa Gora, in a clearing in the forest, there is a neatly kept grave surrounded by a wrought iron railing. The tombstone bears the names of Capt. Gordon LAURIE and his crew who were shot down there. The nearby primary school twice a year weeds the area and plants new flowers, while hearing the story of the men from a far-off country who helped Poland.

21) Lieutenant Ralph Lawrence LAWSON
Pilot, 178 RAF Squadron
Service no. 328846V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 21
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12349 Ref. 2201/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Arthur John LAWSON (died Mar 1956, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/23941 Ref. 1307/56) and Millwood Grace LAWSON (maiden name LAWRENCE, died 1946, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12769 Ref. 1418/46). Step-son of R. CLARK of Kalk Bay. Arthur and Millwood divorced in 1931, and Millwood married Mr. CLARK.

22) Lieutenant Herbert Henry LEWIS
31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 136470V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 24
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12290 Ref. 1767/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Herbert Benjamin LEWIS (died 1957, Cape, Estate file: MOG Vol. no. 1/1/12 Ref. 226/57) and Ellen J.D. LEWIS of Middleton, Cape. Husband of Beatrice J. LEWIS.

23) Lieutenant James Arthur LITHGOW
Pilot, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 79528V
Awards: D.F.C.
Died 16 Oct 1944, age 23
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 5262/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of James Barclay LITHGOW (born in Scotland, died 1957, Natal, Estate file: MSCE 2290/1957) and Violet Bridget LITHGOW (maiden name FRASER, died 1961, Johannesburg, Estate file: MHG 3067/61).

24) Lieutenant Bernard Thomas LOXTON
Observer, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 329109V
Died 17 Aug 1944
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MSCE 2009/1945, dated 1944-1946 in Natal. Husband of Leonore Alice Helen LOXTON.

25) Lieutenant Keith Brennand MACWILLIAM
Pilot, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 117609V
Died 16 Oct 1944
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 6657/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Husband of Elizabeth MACWILLIAM (maiden name RISSIK).

26) Lieutenant Harry Allpress Ruston MALE
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 21586V
Died 15 Aug 1944
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 38378, dated 1945 in the OFS. Son of Harry John MALE (born in the UK, died 1966, Natal, Estate file: MSCE 727/1966) and Emily Anna MALE (maiden name RUSTON, born in England, died 1970, Natal, Estate file: MSCE 4954/1970) of Port Shepstone.

27) Lieutenant Allan Graham McCABE
Air Gunner, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 209194V
Died 11 Sept 1944, age 22
Buried at Belgrade War Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12267 Ref. 1617/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Frederick Liesching McCABE (died 1926, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/3015 Ref. 12342) and Kathleen L. McCABE of Graaff-Reinet.

28) Lieutenant Allan John McINNES
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 157105V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 22
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12290 Ref. 1768/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Allan McINNES and Ethel May McINNES (maiden name BARROW, died 1953, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/21940, Ref. 6961/53) of Cape Town.

29) Lieutenant Kenneth James McLEOD
Observer, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 47943V
Died 16 Oct 1944, age 27
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 5232/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of George McLEOD and Johanna McLEOD of Kestell, OFS.

30) Warrant Officer (Class II) Joseph Arnold MEYER
Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 543206V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 21
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 5233/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of Adolf MEYER (died 1937, OFS, Estate file: MHG 28573) and Florence Augusta MEYER (maiden name LOMNITZ, died 1974, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 3672/74) of Pretoria.

31) Lieutenant Anthony James MUNRO
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 7011V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 20
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MSCE 892/1946, dated 1944-1946 in Natal. Son of David Butler Bowman MUNRO (died 1970, Natal, Estate file: MSCE 912/1970) and Ellen Alice Queenie MUNRO (maiden name HUNT, born in Port Elizabeth, died 1968, Natal, Estate file: MSCE 2385/1968) of Doornkop, Natal.

32) Major Izak Johannes Meyer ODENDAAL
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 202918V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 28
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Awards: Mentioned in Despatches
Estate file: MHG 1738/46, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of Dirk Cornelius ODENDAAL and Catharina A. ODENDAAL of Harrismith.

33) Warrant Officer (Class I) Terence Desmond O'KEEFE
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 328854V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 20
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12320 Ref. 2003/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Michael O'KEEFE and Jeanette Walterina O'KEEFE (died 1949, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/16141 Ref. 3118/49) of Cape Town.

34) Warrant Officer (Class I) Douglas John PALMER
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 329040V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 23
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 4949/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of John PALMER (died 1943, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 3551/43) and Gladys PALMER (maiden name McINTOSH, died 1961, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 721/61) of Pretoria.

35) Lieutenant Gordon Bruce PITT
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 100685V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 20
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12313 Ref. 1931/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Alexander PITT and Mina G. PITT of Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. His brother, Lieutenant William George Alexander PITT, pilot with 34 Squadron, SAAF, died 23 Nov 1944, age 33. Service no. 206450V. Buried at Budapest War Cemetery. Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12320, Ref. 2004/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province.

36) Lieutenant George RAY-HOWETT
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 337473V
Died 16 Oct 1944, age 30
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 5349/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of Herbert Arthur RAY-HOWETT (died 1949, Transvaal. Estate file: MHG 4740/49) and Frances Dorothy RAY-HOWETT (maiden name KNIPP, died 1972, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 4847/72) of Johannesburg.

37) Warrant Officer (Class I) Reginald Walter STAFFORD
Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 206770V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 26
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12313, Ref. 1932/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Reginald John STAFFORD (died 1935, Cape, Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/4699 Ref. 48406) and Louisa STAFFORD (maiden name HARVEY) of Cape Town. His parents divorced in 1935. Husband of Dorothy F. STAFFORD of Cape Town.

38) Warrant Officer (Class II) John Atholl Campbell STEEL
Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 543216V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 18
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 37986, dated 1945 in the OFS. Son of Robert John STEEL (died 1928, OFS, Estate file: MHG 21276) and Jane STEEL (maiden name CAMPBELL, born in Rogart, Scotland, died 1960, Natal, Estate file: MSCE 1235/1960) of Pietermaritzburg.

39) Lieutenant Brian Henry STEWART
2 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 103573V
Died 11 Sept or 08 Oct 1944, age 24
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery or Belgrade War Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 1368/45, dated 1944 in the Transvaal. Son of Vallance Meikle STEWART (died 1945, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 2504/45) and Edith Annie STEWART (maiden name HORNING, died 1957, Transvaal, Estate file: MHG 1083/58) of Bremersdorp, Swaziland.

40) Lieutenant Alan D'Egville STOTT
Navigator, 178 Squadron, RAF
Service no. 542708V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 24
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12334 Ref. 2093/45, dated 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Dr. William H. STOTT and H.A. STOTT.

41) Captain Nicolaas VAN RENSBURG
Pilot, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 102853V
Died 15 Aug 1944
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery

42) Lieutenant Thomas Tennant WATSON
Weapons Operator / Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 205946V
Died 17 Aug 1944, age 21
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MOOC Vol. no. 6/9/12228 Ref. 1342/45, died 1945 in the Cape Province. Son of Thomas S.T. WATSON and Hendrina M.K. WATSON of Blanco, Cape Province.

43) Warrant Officer (Class II) Ben Nevis WOODS
Air Gunner, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Service no. 543513V
Died 15 Aug 1944, age 36
Buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery
Estate file: MHG 4828/45, dated 1945 in the Transvaal. Son of Benjamin WOODS and Charlotte WOODS. Husband of Isobel Reid Ford WOODS (maiden name ANDERSON) of Minnigaff, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.
Ben came to South Africa in 1939. He looked after the polo ponies of a South African jeweller. He joined the SAAF in February 1942. He attended 64 Air School in Bloemfontien. This was followed by 43 Air School in Port Alfred where he qualified as an Air Gunner on 31 July 1943. He was transferred to 31 Squadron in April/May 1944. Ben next went to 64 Operations Flight 1675 O.C.U in Lydda, Palestine. On 16 June 1944, he was transferred to Celone, Foggia, Italy. His aircraft, flown by Capt. Nicolaas VAN RENSBURG, was shot down and crashed at Goledzinow near Warsaw. All the crew died and were buried at the crash site. Four years later their remains were discovered and they were re-buried at Krakow Rakovicki Cemetery.

SURVIVED

Lieutenant William Frederick (Fred) AUSTIN
He joined the SAAF at age 17 as an Air Gunner, first with 17 Squadron and later with 34 Squadron. Died 21 June 2008. Married to Pat and had a son, Wayne.

Second Lieutenant Robert (Bob) BURGESS
Pilot, 34 Squadron, SAAF
Youngest and most junior SAAF officer to be awarded the DSO. On 31 Aug 1944 he was the co-pilot of a Liberator that was shot on the way back to Italy from a Warsaw flight. The pilot in command baled out. Bob, having never landed a Liberator on his own, ordered the crew to bale out. They refused, so he nursed the crippled aircraft, assisted by Sgt. Alan Bates (RAF - DFM, MBE) and Lt. Noel Sleed (DFC), until they crash-landed in a field, west of Kiev. Bob married Inez, an army nurse. They moved to the Brown & Annie Lawrence Retirement Home in Pinelands, Cape Town, July 2002. Inez passed away on 04 July 2007 and Bob on 14 July 2007. Their son and daughter immigrated to New Zealand. Bob's son has kept his father's scrapbooks, medals and other Air Force memorabilia.

Captain George Laurence COLEY. Lived at Blood River.

Lieutenant John R. COLMAN. Lived in Cape Town. Died 2007.

Smiler DAVIS

J. Pieter DU PREEZ. Awarded the DFC. Lived in Pretoria. Died 2007.

Lt. Alf FAUL. Pilot.

Major I.J.M. (Nick) GROENEWALD
He ordered his crew to jump after his Liberator was hit over Warsaw. While reaching for his parachute pack, the Liberator exploded. He managed to clip his parachute pack to his harness and opened it in time to land but suffered burns. At daybreak, he stumbled into a farmhouse and was taken to a secret hospital where Polish doctors repaired his face and arm burns with skin grafts. With false documents, he worked as a farm labourer before joining the AK. Russian troops found him and took him to Moscow where he was handed over to the British ambassador. Nick contacted his wife who, in the meantime, had been receiving a widow's pension.

Lieutenant L.G. JACKSON. Lived in Cape Town.

Lieutenant Bryan JONES
Navigator, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Born 29 April. He was 17 when he joined the SAAF in 1942. Shot down over Warsaw in August 1944. His saving grace was hearing a voice telling him, twice, to put on his steel hat. He reached for it on the floor behind him, and put it on. His aircraft, piloted by Bob KLETTE, crashed nose first onto Warsaw airfield and he was knocked out, but all seven crew miraculously survived. They scattered in different directions before being captured. One of the gunners, Herbert BROWN, was mortally hit in the crossfire. Bryan made a promise that day that he would devote his life to God, in thanks for his life. After the war he held a number of senior managerial positions before becoming ordained as a pastor in the Rosebank Union Church. The prisoners were held at a local prison for about a week, before being taken to the Stalagluft POW camp, from where they could see Allied aircraft being shot down. The Russians finally occupied Warsaw in January 1945. The Germans released the South Africans much later. In 1994, Bryan and his wife flew to Poland with members of the Warsaw 44 Club. In 2001, Bryan and Col. Dirk NEL were invited to attend the concert in Atheneum Theatre, Warsaw, to rise funds for the refurbishment of the Michalin Monument. They were also made Honorary Members of the Robert Hamilton Boy Scout Troop.

Robert R. (Bob) KLETTE
Pilot
Attended Grey College. Flew through heavy anti-aircraft fire with three of the aircraft's four engines hit. After dropping the cargo, he turned for home. The control panel was blank, all the gauges and instruments were broken. In the pitch dark night, he managed to make an emergency landing on a Warsaw airfield. The Germans took the crew prisoner. Died April 2001? in Somerset West.

Colonel Dirk Uys NEL
Commanding Officer of 31 Squadron during the Warsaw Uprising. Deemed too senior to fly in the Airlift. He was the youngest Colonel in the SADF history. He passed away at his home in Somerset West on 27 Dec 2008, age 91. He was born on 02 May 1917 and joined the military at age 19. Shortly after his 21st birthday, he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. Initially he flew bombers with 24 Squadron. Two years later he joined 31 Squadron, one of the most successful Allied Forces squadrons. After WWII, he joined South African Airways (SAA) where he later became a Flight Commander and flew to the USA to bring back SAA's first Boeings. While flying a SAA Lancaster from Johannesburg to London, Nel saved the day. Refuelling was done at Kano, but on this stop the refuellers made an error. While flying over the Atlantic Ocean, one of the engines became over-heated. Nel wanted to use the fire extinguishers, but found them empty. He brought the aircraft down to about 100 m above the sea, hoping the spray would help cool the engines. It helped and the rest of the flight over the ocean was flown in an up and down manner, until they landed safely in London. Forthis he was awarded a medal by the then Minister of Transport, Ben SCHOEMAN. Nel was married to Annette CONRADIE, a former flight attendant who later worked as a journalist for the Transvaler newspaper. They had a son and two daughters.

Dirk Uys NEL was a descendant of the famous Voortrekker UYS family that was involved in many battles.
His grandfather was Cornelius Lukas (nickname Bloustroom) UYS who was born in 1857 in the Utrecht district and died in 1941. Cornelius was a bittereinder in the Anglo-Boer War. He married Maria Magdalena SPIES (1864-1936). His sons served with Collins' Scouts in South West Africa during WWI.
Cornelius was the son of Petrus Lafras (nickname Piet Hlobane) UYS born 1827 in the Humansdorp district, died 1879 at Hlobaneberg, Zululand, and his wife Maria Johanna VAN NIEKERK (1830-1870).
Piet Hlobane was the son of Petrus Lafras (nickname Piet Italeni) UYS born 1797 in Swellendam district, died 11 April 1838 at Italeni, Zululand, and his wife Alida Maria UYS (1799-1869). He was the Voortrekker leader whose son, Dirkie UYS born 1823, was also killed on 11 April 1838.
Piet Italeni was the son of Jacobus Johannes (nickname Koos Bybel) UYS born 1770 in Bredasdorp district, died July 1838 at Mlazirivier, and his wife Susanna Margaretha MOOLMAN (1777-1850).
Koos Bybel was the son of Cornelis Janse UYS born 1736 in Stellenbosch district. died 1811, and his wife Alida Maria SWART (1746-1811).
Cornelis was the son of Dirk Cornelisz UYS born circa 1698 in Leiden, Holland, died circa 1758 in Stellenbosch district, and his wife Dina Maria LE ROUX (1702-1740).
Dirk was the son of Cornelis Janszoon UYS born circa 1671 in Amsterdam, Holland, arrived in the Cape before 1700, died after 1714, married Dirkje Matthijse WESTERHOUT in Leiden.

Captain William E. (Bill) SENN
Awarded the DFC for flying a badly damaged Liberator from Warsaw to Foggia, while he was seriously wounded. His mid-upper gunner was also injured. The rudder controls were damaged, the elevator control partially cut, and the nose-wheel mechanism was hit. The tail gunner still managed to shoot out four searchlights. Capt, Senn ordered his crew to jump, the crew being unaware that he was hit. His parachute buckle had been shot away, so he knew he couldn't jump.

Lieutenant Russel SEARLE
Died in May 1992. Lived in Great Brak River. Married to Dotsie SEARLE.

Lieutenant H.C.D. STEEL. Lived in Johannesburg.

Robert (Bob) STEELE
Pilot, SAAF. Died Aug 2007.

Warrant Officer Henry UPTON. Air Gunner.

Captain VAN DER SPUY

Major Jack VAN EYSSEN, DFC
In 1987 Jack visited Warsaw for the commemoration service at St Anna's Cathedral, with his wife and Cmdt. Polla KRUGER, then commanding officer of 31 Squadron. He died in December 1999 at the age of 81, in Johannesburg, of cancer. He was made an Honorary Colonel of the disbanded 31 Squadron at Hoedspruit. He was the founding member of the SAAF Association's Stilfontein branch, and a member of the Johannesburg branch since 1981.

Second Lieutenant L. Eric D. WINCHESTER
Radio Operator, 31 Squadron, SAAF
Eric joined the SA Army in 1940 at the age of 17 and was soon posted to East Africa. He wasn't seeing much action and tried to join the RAF but was turned down because of poor eyesight. Two years later, he returned to South Africa where he eventually joined the RAF. He was posted to Cairo with 31 Squadron and was trained as an air gunner. Eric was in the first South African flight with Lt. KLETTE. During that flight, the aircraft lost height due to icing on the wing. A German night fighter flew beneath them without seeing them. Their cargo was to be dropped in the main square, but with 2 engines shot out and a fire in the under-carriage, the plane crashed landed. Eric was wounded in the head and arm. After the crew was captured, they were eventually taken by train to Frankfurt where he was held in solitary confinement for 3 weeks prior to his interrogation and being sent to a POW camp in Eastern Germany. When the Russians arrived, they kept him as a Russian prisoner. Eventually he escaped into the nearby forest. He spent three days in the forest and eventually crossed the Elbe River Elbe, arriving at an American camp. It was nine months since the flight to Warsaw. Eric wondered what had happened to his colleague who had been taken away in an ambulance after their capture. He looked for details and when he attended a memorial service in Johannesburg in 1950 he saw that his friend's name was not listed. Fifty-four years later Eric finally found his friend's grave at Krakow. It had the same name, but the wrong squadron and wrong date. Eric did not give up, and in 1999 the Polish Red Cross finally found the grave at Lodz. Eric became a Senator. Lived in Durban.

NATIONAL HERITAGE DAY - 24 SEPTEMBER

2008-09-24T16:55:00.003+02:00

It's National Heritage Day today, as well as Braai4Heritage Day. How can you help preserve South African heritage? Church records are one of the most important sources of information for family historians. South Africa has many old churches. Not all their records are well-preserved, and in most cases, many of the preserved records are not easy to access. Church archives are not centralised, with most of the records kept by individual churches, or where there are archives, these are not easily accessible to all. If you'd like to make a contribution to preserving these records and making them accessible, you can start by asking your local church whether their baptism, marriage and funeral registers are preserved and easily accessible. If they aren't, you can ask whether the church would like to have a digital copy made of their registers. This can be done for free and the church will received a digital copy for their own records. Volunteers are available to help with this work. Another important source of information for family historians, are cemetery or burial registers. These are usually maintained by the local authorities (municipalities). Again, they are not easily accessible to all. If you're interested in making sure that your local church and cemetery records are preserved and easily accessible, please contact me at ZAFamilyHistory@gmail.com for further details.

ALEXANDRA TOWNSHIP HISTORY

2008-09-24T15:56:00.004+02:00

Two Wits University academics are writing a book on Alexandra township's history. The township has been in existence for 104 years. The land it was originally for a white residential suburb in 1904, and was proclaimed a native area in 1912. Black people were allowed to own land under freehold titles in urban areas. Doctor Noor NIEFTAGODIEN and Professor Phil BONNER are working on "Alexandra - A History"., which covers the last 90-odd years and also highlights the heritage sites in Alexandra. If you have any photos to share, contact Thabo MOPASI at 082 768 9130 or 073 903 8335.

MASONIC HOTEL, BOKSBURG

2008-09-24T15:40:00.003+02:00

The Masonic Hotel in Market Street, Boksburg, is more than 100 years old. In August 1887, businessman F.M. JACKSON, together with six Elsburg residents, bought some land on which to build a hotel in the new town of Boksburg. The town soon became known as Honeymooners' Paradise, shortly after the creation of Boksburg Lake. The Masonic Hotel was the first hotel to open in Boksburg. It was followed by Central Hotel (still in Commissioner Street), Transvaal Hotel, Angelo Hotel (on Main Reef Road) and the Grand Hotel.When coal was discovered in Boksburg in 1889, the town became an important mining town. Between 1888 and 1889, President Paul KRUGER visited the East Rand mines, and stayed at the Masonic Hotel. A return trip between Boksburg and Johannesburg cost 15 shillings, on ox-wagon. In 1906 the hotel was renovated and enlarged. It was used in a number of locally produced historical films. One of the old hitching posts can still be seen outside the hotel. The current owner, Roy DE SOUSA, hopes to maintain the hotel's historical value.

ERPM HISTORY

2008-09-24T15:34:00.002+02:00

The ERPM Recreation Centre in Comet Road,Boksburg, is being turned into an entertainment-orientated remembrance village by the current owners, Marius and Lorraine STEYN. The old stables date back to 1890 and 1910. The interior and exterior of the buildings will be maintained to the look of 1910. The old buildings are being restored. A wedding chapel is planned as a new addition. The first phase is expected to be ready in December.

PHARMACY CLOSES AFTER 98 YEARS

2008-09-21T19:29:00.001+02:00

The Midlands Pharmacy in Mooi River has been open for business for 98 years. The current owner, Robin PHILP (75), is closing down but will continue to serve as a locum in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. He has owned the pharmacy for 42 years, and is closing due to unfavourable trading conditions such as pricing regulations and reduced dispensing fees. Robin was a former Round Table chairman, chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa for the Pietermaritzburg region, and a town councillor. He still has the pharmacy's prescription books dating back to 1908. One of the earlier owners was William Henry Wesley PECK. He died on 26 March 1947, aged 77 years, and was buried at St. John's Anglican Church Cemetery in Mooi River. His wife, Rosa Christian HAWKINS, was born in London and died in 1956. In 1966 Robin started working as a manager at the pharmacy, then known as Berg Pharmacy and owned by Willem KROG, a pharmacist in Howick. Before he owned it, it was known as Helletts Pharmacy. In 1973 Robin bought the pharmacy and changed the name to Midlands Pharmacy

SCHOOL IS 100 YEARS OLD

2008-09-21T19:17:00.001+02:00

The annual Machado Potjiekos Festival takes place on 26-28 September. Laerskool Machado turns 100 years old on 12 September and will hold a reunion at the festival. Jan SCHEURKOGEL (90) and his sisters Marietjie JEANNES (95) and Miemie SMITH (94) are the oldest surviving former students. His sisters live in Pretoria. Jan lives in Hendrina and still visits his farm, Rietfontein, outside Machadodorp regularly. He attended the school from 1924 to 1932 when Mr. FOURIE (aka Oubaas) was Headmaster. The school went to Standard 6, and later Standard 7 was added. Classmates that Jan recalls are Sewes VAN RENSBURG and Clemens VAN DER POEL.

Laerskool Machodo was part of the Christian National Schools programme started in 1903. Field-Cornet Cornelis POTGIETER of the farm Geluk, was instrumental in getting a school built in Machadodorp. The first Headmaster was P.J. KLOPPER, who moved from Pretoria to Machadodorp in 1903. The school opened in a temporary on the farm Waterval that belonged to Gawie MARE. There were 25 to 30 students. The permanent school building in Machadodorp was opened on 09 November 1903. The first teacher was Miss JANSEN. In 1907 the school joined the government education department and the new school building's foundation was laid in 1908 by Senator A.D.W. WOLMARANS. The old building carried on being used as a church until the NG Kerk was built. A boarding school, Du Toit House, was added to the new school in 1948 and had 50 students who stayed there. The current Headmaster is Skip SCHEEPERS who has been invovled with the school for 20 years. The school has 145 students.

A FAMILY OF HEAD BOYS

2008-09-21T18:37:00.000+02:00

Virginia's Volkskool Virginia has quite an interesting achievement. The four LAMPRECHT brothers were students at the school and each one was Head Boy. The youngest brother, Zillen, is Head Boy this year. The boys are the sons of Paul and Madelene Lamprecht. Elmen now lives in Johannesburg where he runs a sports psychology practise. Ruan is a professional rugby player in Witbank and plays for the Mpumalanga Pumas. Janes is a Grade 10 student at Hoërskool Hentie Cilliers.

MULLER BOOK & REUNION

2008-09-21T18:30:00.000+02:00

Most of those in South Africa with the surname MULLER are descebdnts of the German soldier Antonie Michael MULLER. He married Adriana VAN ROOYEN (daughter of Cornelis VAN ROOYEN and Jacomina VAN DEVENTER) in Roodezand (now Tulbagh) on 04 May 1746. He settled on the loan farm, Zeekoegat, where he died in 1782. Koot MULLER is writing a book on the family, ahead of the 2010 reunion in Riversdal. If you are a MULLER contact Koot at kootmuller@absamail.co.za or 083-378-9550 or by mail at PO Box 33436, Glenstantia, 0010. He is looking for family photos as well.

100 YEARS OLD

2008-09-21T18:24:00.000+02:00

The SOUTHEY family gathered at Hoekwil, near George, earlier this month for the celebration of the 100th birthday of Ruth SOUTHEY, daughter-in-law of the late Fred SOUTHEY of Hillmoor, Steynsburg. The almost 100 guests were mostly descendants of Fred and his first wife, Louise WATERMEYER, and his second wife, Kate ANDERSON. He had six children and 23 grandchildren, all of whom attended school in Queenstown. Some of his great-grandchildren were also at boarding school in Queenstown.

The celebration was arranged by Ruth's daughters, Marylyn and Jeanette. Her sons Jocelyn, Christopher and Timothy were also there. Grandson Richard SOUTHEY came from Melbourne, Australia. The birthday cake was made by granddaughter, Lee-Anne LESLIE.

Ruth was born in Greytown on 09 September 1908. Her father died when she was two years old, and her mother later married Bill BALLENDEN, a civil engineer with the Railways. He designed the bridge between the Wilderness and George. Ruth studied land surveying at Cape Town Training College (now UCT). In 1930 she married Lance SOUTHEY and they farmed near Hillmoor. They had six children. Ruth lives with her eldest daughter, Marylyn and her husband Derek DAMANT. Ruth's sister, Christine BALLENDEN from Montague (age 93) was also at the celebration. Christine was a Sister Tutor at the Frontier Hospital. Another sister, Peggy, passed away in Hermanus a year ago at the age of 89. Christine’s twin brother, Kit, died in Burma during World War II. He was an officer in the Engineering Corps and saved his men when he tried to detonate a bomb. He was posthumously awarded the Military Cross. Ruth was a butterfly collector and has a butterfly named after her. Her butterfly collection is in the Queenstown Museum.

DE AKKER ON AUCTION

2008-09-21T18:09:00.002+02:00

One of the country's oldest operating pubs, De Akker, at the corner of Dorp and Herte Streets in Stellenbosch, is being auctioned on 27 September. The popular hang-out of countless Stellenbosch University students through the years, is housed in a building that was built in 1802. The current owner, Jose JARDIM, has owned the pub for the last 19 years but said that he cannot carry on because of ill-health.

CEMETERY CRIME

2008-09-21T17:45:00.001+02:00

A Port Elizabeth couple was caught last week while they were allegedly vandalising historic graves at St Mary‘s Cemetery in South End. It is believed they were collecting scrap metal. They were expected to appear in court last week.

VALUABLE COINS

2008-09-21T17:31:00.000+02:00

Lorence FIVAZ bought a bag of old coins for R1-million. The bag contained 240 Kruger pennies minted in 1898. They might be worth R7-million today. They belonged to Samuel (Sammy) MARKS. Lorence is the owner of South Cape Coins in Mossel Bay. A great-grandson of Marks sold the coins to a coin dealer in Johannesburg earlier this month. The coins are veing evaluated by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. in Sarasota, USA. Lorence will sell them afterwards. In 1998 Lorence sold a Single Nine Kruger Pound for R4,65-million, and in 2001 sold the same coin for R9,8-million. The Single Nine was the result of a wrong stamp being used in 1898. The coins after that were stamped with small double 9s.

In 1868 Sammy MARKS landed in Cape Town, a penniless young man. He became a smous (travelling salesman) before going to Kimberley where he became involved in the Diamond Rush. He moved to the Transvaal and became a life-long friend of President Paul KRUGER. In 1898 Marks was allowed to use the State Mint for one day. He minted 215 golden Tiekies to give his family and friends as gifts. A few months ago, one of the Marks Tiekies sold for R1,4-million.

HEART PROBLEM

2008-09-21T17:00:00.001+02:00

A Ravensmead family are claiming that the late Prof. Chris BARNARD "stole" the heart of one of their family members and used it in the heart transplant of Dorothy FISHER in 1969 at Groote Schuur Hospital. Pieter GIER was 39 when he died. Groote Schuur Hospital has stated that he was not the donor. His wife Mavis (80) said that his body had strange cut marks on his chest when the family saw the body after a post-mortem. Gier was flown from Calvinia to Groote Schuur after being in a car accident with three friends, while on their way to Kakamas, eleven days before the transplant on Dorothy. Gier had neck injuries and died on 17 April 1969. The first heart transplant patient, Louis WASHKANSKY, received the heart of Denise DARVALL in 1967. She died in a car accident in Observatory, Cape Town.

A TRIBUTE TO AN AVIATION PIONEER

2008-09-01T18:27:00.003+02:00

Phyllis Doreen DUNNING (maiden name HOOPER) was the first South African woman to be called upon to volunteer for full-time war service on 01 June 1940. She was only 22 years old when became the Officer Commander of the South African Women's Auxiliary Air Force (SAWAAF), with the rank of Major. She was the youngest officer in the British Commonwealth to attain this rank. Prime Minister Jan SMUTS had asked her to join up. On 28 June 1940, the first group of 120 women were taken into full-time service. Five months later there were 800 SAWAAFs proudly wearing the orange flash, signifying they had volunteered for overseas service. Doreen died in Howick, South Africa, on 26 August 2008 at age 91. According to her son, Simon, she died of natural causes.

All SAWAAFs did a three-week basic training course at Valhalla under the command of the SAWAAF Sergeant-Major (Mrs) EDWARDS. The SAWAAF technical personnel did their 1-year advanced training course at the Pretoria Technical College, while other training was done at 73 Air School in Wonderboom. The first female Physical Training Instructors graduated from the Military College in August 1941. Women who were appointed as non-commissioned officers (NCOs) did their NCO course at 100 Air School in Voortrekkerhoogte.

By June 1942 there were 34 SAWAAF camps in South Africa. SAWAAF pilots flew communication and ferry flights and served as duty pilots and second pilots in the SAAF shuttle service. Special legislation enabled SAWAAFs to be employed on combat duty, serving at ack-ack sites on instruments to direct the guns and as searchlight operators.

In December 1940 the first detachment of SAWAAFs were sent up North with Muriel HORRELL in charge. They went to Mombassa in a troopship and from there by train to Nairobi, where a camp was established in a grey stone building. Soon this became too small and they moved to another camp of wooden huts. In September 1940 the SAWAAFs were sent to the Middle East, where their housed in a hotel in Cairo.

During the war, the women performed 75 different types of work. These included metal workers, welders, wood workers, fitters and turners, inspectors, armament instructors, stores, clerical, cooks, despatch riders, signals, Link Trainer instructors, lorry drivers, meteorological assistants and observers, developing and printing photos, parachute packers, P.T. instructors, shorthand typists, and wireless operators.

By 1941, there were 36 A licence pilots in the SAWAAF, of which Doreen was one.

In 1942 a major re-organization occurred within the SAWAAF. Their administrative functions were amalgamated with those of the SAAF. The SAWAAF directorate remained, but with only a few senior officers serving, their function being to direct the policy of the SAWAAF and to maintain the general welfare and well-being of all the SAWAAFs on full-time service.

After the war, Maj. EGERTON-BIRD was placed in charge of the Women's Dispersal Section of the Directorate of Demobilization. By the end of December 1945, 1955 women had been demobilized. In January 1946 alone, 626 women had been through the dispersal camps. The last SAWAAF camp closed on 01 April 1947.

Assistance was provided to enable women to cope with the transition from war to peace. This consisted of grants for educational and vocational training, vocational guidance officers assisting women to choose training suitable to their capabilities, the provision of courses both full-time and part-time (two of the most popular were shorthand-typing and nursing), and assistance for those who wished to establish businesses. All the discharge benefits available to men were also provided for those women with equivalent service. Women who had been artisans during the war found it difficult as there weren't sufficient factories in the country to absorb them.

While the majority of women returned to civilian life, a number of the women went into the Women's Auxiliary Defence Corps and were used in the SAAF. An amendment to the Defence Act was made in 1947, allowing women to serve in the military on a voluntary basis, but only in non-combatant roles, with effect from 03 June 1947. The Women's Defence Corps (WDC) was then established on 28 November 1947.

In 1948, with a new government in power, the Minister of Defence, F.C. ERASMUS, asked for a report on women serving in the Permanent Force. According to the statistics provided in the report, the SAAF had four officers and 30 other ranks in the WDC. In April 1949, women were no longer able to drive military vehicles. The following month, the Minister decided that recruiting women for the WDC Permanent Force was to cease. Only female military nursing personnel and medical officers were retained.

Women were kept out of the Forces until October 1972 when the Minister of Defence granted permission for the appointment of women in the Permanent Force again. The first three women to join the SAAF in 1974 as Permanent Force members were trained at the Civil Defence College in George. On 19 January 1974, 33 women began their basic training at the Air Defence School in Waterkloof. On 21 February 1995, an all-women's parade was held at the SAAF Gymnasium in Valhalla to celebrate 21 years of women's service in the Permanent Force.

In 1996, the SAAF recruited the first six women for pilot training. By October 2004, 15 women had received their wings and 13 were still pilots in the SAAF.

All women who served in the South African Air Force, at any time, have much to thank Doreen for.

Phyllis Doreen HOOPER was born in Johannesburg and attended Boksburg Convent School before completing her education under private tuition. She became interested in flying when, aged nine years old, her parents took her to see a "flying machine" in Barberton owned by Alan COBHAM. People could write their names on the plane's fabric, and Doreen wrote hers.

On the 03 July 1935, soon after her 18th birthday, she started flying lessons with the Johannesburg Light Plane Club, at Baragwanath. She learnt to fly in a Gipsy Moth (ZS-ADW) and her instructor was Captain Stan HALSE who was a RFC pilot in WWI. After two weeks and 9 hours of flying, she earned her A licence and decided to make aviation her career.

In 1936 she took second place in the Vereeniging-Durban-Vereeniging air race, flying a Gipsy II Moth. On 30 October 1936 she obtained her B licence, becoming the first female commercial pilot in South Africa. This was followed by employment with African Flying Services at Rand Airport. In February 1937 she went to England from where she took part in the Oases Race in Egypt. She flew with Captain V. BUDGE in a miles Hawk and finished 23rd in a field of 40.

In 1938, with Mr. CALDERBANK as co-pilot, and flying a Leopard Moth, she placed 8th in the Governor-General's air race. The same year, she placed 2nd in the Round the Reef air race, again in a Gipsy II Moth.

By July 1937 she was studying for her Instructor's rating and working for the Johannesburg Light Plane Club. She obtained her Instructor's rating on 20 January 1938, becoming the first female instructor in South Africa. A few months later she re-joined African Flying Services, now based at Grand Central. Her wire-haired terrier, Starkey, was a common sight at Grand Central and had about 70 flying hours to his credit!

At the outbreak of WWII, she had more than 2000 flying hours. In October 1943 Lt.-Col. Doreen DUNNING resigned on a point of principle affecting her work. Maj. Muriel HORRELL took over her duties. After Lt.-Col. DUNNING had telegraphed news of her resignation to Maj. EGERTON-BIRD, then stationed in Port Elizabeth, the Major flew to Pretoria to speak to Prime Minister SMUTS. A short while later, the Prime Minister made a public apology to Lt.-Col. DUNNING in the Press.

Doreen was chairwoman of the SAWAAA. She married Edwin Keith DUNNING, who was born in Nigel. He died in Natal in 1968. The couple had four children - Richard Edwin Harris, Simon Edward, Judith and Diana.

THE SAAF AND WARSAW

2008-08-31T19:48:00.004+02:00

On 01 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II. Five days later, South Africa joined the Allies in declaring war on Nazi Germany. In the many examples of heroism by South African soldiers in World War II, few surpass the exploits of the pilots who dropped supplies onto the streets of Warsaw. These men's bravery lives on in Poland and has never been forgotten. The Warsaw Uprising was from 01 August to 02 October 1944.

I'm researching for an article on this part of our history, and will post once it is completed.

In their memory, here is a poem that one of them wrote. Written by a Liberator observer, South African Eric Ben Horton IMPEY who served with 31 Squadron, SAAF, and was shot down over Warsaw in August 1944. He died the next day, after writing this poem.

AN AIRMAN'S PRAYER
My God, this night I have to fly,
And ere I leave the ground,
I come with reverence to Thy Throne
Where perfect peace is found.

I thank Thee for the life I've had,
For home and all its love,
I thank Thee for the faith I have
That cometh from above.

Come with me now into the air.
Be with me as I fly,
Guide Thou each move that I shall make
Way up there in the sky.

Be with me at the target, Lord,
When danger's at its height.
Be with me as I drop my load,
And on the homeward flight.

And should it be my time to die.
Be with me to the end.
Help me to die a Christian's death.
On Thee, God, I depend.

Then as I leave this mortal frame
From human ties set free,
Receive my soul, O God of Love,
I humbly come to Thee.

GRAVES FOUND

2008-08-23T20:15:00.000+02:00

The upgrading of Garsfontein Road, in Pretoria, has been halted after graves were discovered in the path of the new road. The area, between the entrance to Woodhill Estates and the De Villebois Mareuil Road intersection, has now been fenced. Professional Grave Solutions, a grave relocating company, is trying to locate relatives of the dead. One of the headstones shows the name Mattheu SEHANS and the date 28 November 1908. There are about 15 people buried there. Tommy NKWANA's grandfather is buried there. He said the land used to belong to Piet WOLWAT, and his parents used to work for him. If the next-of-kin cannot be found, the dead will be moved to the nearest cemetery, Pretoria East Cemetery. Families of those buried there should contact Professional Grave Solutions on 086 111 4771.

GARDEN DEPICTS HISTORY

2008-08-23T20:08:00.001+02:00

Edward NYAMBI (60) tells South Africa's history in a unique manner. For the past 10 years, Edward has been using his garden to tell tourists our history. He is a bus driver from Zanghoma village, near Tzaneen, but his garden might benefit from the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The garden depicts major historical events, from the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 to the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president in 1994. The Great Trek, the Battle of Blood River, and the 1976 Soweto riots are also depicted. Edward used river stones, which he mixed with cement, to create the scenes. Tourists pay a small fee to enter his home, and he acts as tour guide.

KHOISAN HISTORY IN PORT ELIZABETH

2008-08-23T19:58:00.001+02:00

Bayworld Museum, in Port Elizabeth, has a new permanent exhibition. "The First People of the Bay" is made up of original artefacts, and displays the history of the Khoi people. Medicinal herbs, rock art, clothing, musical instruments and Sarah BAARTMANN formed part of the exhibition. Made up of different groups, the Khoi arrived in the Bay over 2000 years ago. The Khoi have been referred to as Strandlopers and Khoi Khoi (men of men).

CHURCH BELL STOLEN

2008-08-23T19:50:00.001+02:00

The 200-year-old bell in the bell tower of St John the Baptist Anglican Church in Pinetown was stolen last week. The 15 kg bell was brought to South Africa from Scotland, by A.K. MURRAY, one of the church's founding fathers. Parishioners have searched local scrap yards and pawn shops, without success.

SENSITIVE WETLANDS THREATENED

2008-08-23T19:46:00.000+02:00

Ekurhuleni Democratic Alliance councillor Andre DU PLESSIS wants to know how an agreement to build a museum and entertainment centre on environmentally sensitive land changed into a proposal for a town house development. The land is near the Blaauwpan wetlands in Kempton Park, a registered nature reserve. Fredonia Investments offered to purchase the land in 2003 for R10,5-million for the development of the Africa Hall of Fame. This offer was then transferred to Universal Pulse Trading 18 for the development of town houses. As far as he could find out, the land's deeds have not yet been transferred from the council to Universal Pulse Trading 18. The town house development would lead to the loss of habitat and species in the wetlands. One of the conditions of the purchase agreement was that Fredonia would have 45 days from the signature date to apply to the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs (GDACE) for permission to develop on the property, and provide the department with an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The company failed to send an EIA in the specified time frame, yet Ekurhuleni municipality allowed Fredonia to nominate Universal Pulse as purchasers of the land. In the meantime, the Hall of Fame Trust is running a demonstration of the museum from a building in the Blaauwpan area, which is being renovating with a R2,9-million council donation meant for the construction of a new museum building. Lesego wa Lesego is the managing trustee of the International African Music and Film Hall of Fame Trust and owner of Universal Pulse Trading 18. He denied that the townhouse development was new, and that the donation had gone to the creation of the demo museum.

MORE CEMETERIES JOIN UNSAFE & UNKEMPT LIST

2008-08-23T19:32:00.000+02:00

East London cemeteries, like most across the country, lack adequate security and maintenance. East Cemetery, opposite Buffalo Park in East London, is a notorious mugging spot. East London has 29 formal and 90 informal cemeteries within its municipality. Cambridge Cemetery has a security guard but he isn't armed. West Bank Cemetery is unkempt, overgrown with grass and there are no pathways for vehicles or pedestrians.

DIAS CROSS VANDALISED

2008-08-23T19:25:00.000+02:00

South Africa's oldest monument has been vandalised again. The Dias Cross commemorates the discovery of South Africa by the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu DIAS in 1488. Last weekend, Nico JANSE VAN RENSBURG (20) of Grahamstown, was fishing near Kenton-on-Sea when his sinker became entangled in the rocks. When he waded out, he found a heavy limestone cross - the replica of the Dias Cross. Nic, with help from friends, dragged the cross out and put it at the base of the monument. Nic also found two large pillars and a portion of the broken cross wedged in rocks. The cross was first erected near the Bushman’s River Mouth by Dias in 1488 to mark the spot of two water sources. According to Albany Museum curator Fleur WAY-JONEs, vandalism and the theft of brass plaques was a huge problem in the area. All the plaques at Dias Cross and two large pillars have been removed and the base of the monument chipped away. The original cross was found in 1938 by historian Dr. Eric AXELSON and stored at Wits University. A replica was installed in 1938. The recovered cross was taken to Port Alfred for storage.

LONG TEACHING CAREER

2008-08-23T19:12:00.000+02:00

Carol FELTON (67) has taught at Clarendon Girls’ High School in East London for 40 years, and has no plans to retire just yet. For the last 24 years, she's taught English. She was born in Queenstown and moved to East London during her high school days. She attended Clarendon, then called East London Girls’ High School, where her mother was a music teacher. After matriculating in 1958, Carol went to Rhodes University for a BA degree, followed by a teaching degree from the University of Cape Town. Her first teaching job was in 1963 at Kokstad High School.

ANCIENT HISTORY SOCIETY

2008-08-23T18:28:00.001+02:00

Port Elizabeth has a new society for history aficionados. The Ancient History Society of Port Elizabeth will offer monthly lectures on topics dealing with ancient times and subjects of history, art, religion and technology. Its founders include Peter LOYSON, professor of physical and analytical chemistry at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University; Prof. Nicholas ALLEN, Jaunine TAYLOR and Aubrey BRADFIELD. The first five talks have been on ancient Egypt and Greece. The talk on the technology used in ancient Egypt drew 300 people. Most talks draw about 50 people. The talks are usually held in the auditorium of the NMMU, South Campus.

FEATHERBED RESERVE SOLD

2008-08-23T18:21:00.000+02:00

Knysna‘s Featherbed Nature Reserve has been sold to Port Elizabeth-based mining magnate Kobus SMIT. Ecologists are now worried about the reserve's future, which was previously owned by mathematician William SMITH. The 150 hectare reserve is one of the last undeveloped coastal sites along the Garden Route and gets 200 000 visitors annually. William decided to sell as his three daughters would not be interested in running. William's father, ichthyologist and author Prof. James Leonard Brierley SMITH of coelacanth fame, bought the reserve in 1954. Kobus SMIT is a major shareholder in mining company Umcebo, and is also planning to develop upmarket properties near Van Stadens Bridge, outside Port Elizabeth.

MONUMENTS VANDALISED

2008-08-23T18:02:00.000+02:00

The police in Nylstroom (now Modimolle) are investigating the vandalism of two monuments in town. The statue of Gen. Christiaan Frederik BEYERs (1869-1914) was vandalised on 31 July. Since then, the statue, along with the obelisk commemorating those who died in the Anglo-Boer War concentration camp, was removed by the town council. The monuments were re-dedicated on 17 August at their new site, the NG Kerk's Heritage Acre, by Rev. Japie VAN DEVENTER. A register of those present at the re-dedication was made. Mentha KRIEL, Prof. Sieg ENGELBRECHT and Pieter PRINSLOO laid wreaths at the re-dedication service. Martie VAN DER WATEREN read a poem, "Die Kampsuster", by Jan F. CELLIERS. Rev. Fanie HOFFMAN read the poem, "Vergewe en vergeet" by Totius. Rev. Len MUNNIK of the Afrikaner Erfenisstigting received a donation from the preservation group, Conservanus, to help with the costs of a palissade fence around the Beyers statue.

The Beyers statue was to commemorate the General who wasin charge of the Waterberg and Soutpansberg commandos during the ABW. It was the idea of the Afrikaner Volkswag, and Prof. Carel BOSHOFF and Maj. Pieter PRINSLOO were in charge of the committee. The statue was created by Phil MINNAAR. Willem NEZAR was in charge of finding an appropriate location. The statue was unveiled on 06 Jun 1987 by Gen. P.W. VAN DER WESTHUIZEN of the then Waterberg Commando.

The idea for an obelisk came about on 16 Dec 1915 when Rev. J.P. VAN DER WALT, Pieter Wynand le Roux VAN NIEKERK, D. BREWIS and Gerrit BAKKER travelled together to the Day of the Vow ceremony at Doornfontein. The obelisk was made from Buys sandstone and was 4¼ metres in height. It was unveiled on 15 Dec 1917 by Rev. J.A. VAN ROOY.

AFRIKAANS BIBLE IS 75 YEARS OLD

2008-08-23T17:30:00.000+02:00

The Afrikaans Bible is 75 years old this year. On 27 August 1933, more than 5000 people gathered in Market Hall in Bloemfontein for the first public unveiling of an Afrikaans Bible. The first 10 000 copies arrived in Cape Town from England on 29 May 1933, from the British and Foreign Bible Society. To date more than 10-million Afrikaans Bibles have been distributed.

The campaign for an Afrikaans Bible was started in 1872 when Arnoldus PANNEVIS wrote in "De Zuid-Afrikaan" of 07 Sept 1872 about translating the Dutch Bible into Afrikaans. On 14 August 1875, the "Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners" was founded in Paarl. In 1884 Rev. Stefanus Jacobus DU TOIT (1847-1911) started the translation work. In 1878 Casparus Petrus HOOGENHOUT (1843-1922) translated the book of Mark, which has never been published. From 1893 to 1903 te book of Genesis was translated by S.J. DU TOIT and his helpers. On 16 May 1916 the Free State Synod of the NG Kerk took the decision that the Bible was to be translated into Afrikaans. Soon afterwards, the other three Synods followed suit. By 1923 there was a group of translators working full-time under the leadership of Jacob Daniel (Totius) DU TOIT, Rev. John Daniel KESTELL (1854-1941), Rev. Hermanus Cornelis Martinus FOURIE (1882-1939), Esias Engelbertus VAN ROOYEN and Rev. Barend Bartholomeus KEET. Rev. Willem Johannes CONRADIE (1857-1925) was the author of first Afrikaans Bible for children.

HAPPY 100th TUKKIES

2008-08-23T16:08:00.001+02:00

The University of Pretoria (TUKS) celebrated its centenary on 10 February 2008, when the official centenary flame was lit. In 1904 the Transvaal Technical Institute opened in Johannesburg, with classes available in Pretoria. Two years later, the institute was renamed to the Transvaal University College. In 1908 Pretoria became home to the Transvaal University College. The centenary commemorates the year in which academic facilities were established in Pretoria. In 1910 the institute became an independent academic institution, which official university status in the 1930s. In the late 1980s TUKS became bilingual (English and Afrikaans) and was opened to all. The university has planned over 230 centenary projects and events for the coming year, including homecoming events for former alumni. The centenary flame was designed by Tuks alumnus Angus TAYLOR. It will burn throughout the centenary year. A centenary rose was also cultivated.

RIP ROBERT MCGREGOR

2008-08-16T20:17:00.001+02:00

The founder and publisher of the economic publication "Who Owns Whom", Robin McGREGOR (79) was recently murdered in his Tulbagh home. His body was discovered after police on a routine patrol stopped a grey Mercedes Benz in Bellville South. The three occupants could not prove ownership and were taken to the local police station. The car was found to belong to McGregor. Two safes were also stolen from the house. He founded "Who Owns Whom" in 1979. It was a summary of the annual report of every company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, as well as the stock exchanges of Harare, Windhoek and Gaborone. He was born in Durban on 02 Aug 1929. He had no formal business training. After matriculating at Marist Brothers College in Durban, he went to Natal University and Rhodes University but left before finishing his degree. He became managing director of a small Natal sugar company. His next job was in the chicken industry. Robin then became manager of an apple co-operative in Elgin. He got interested in finding who owned large companies and bought one share in every listed company (more than 500 at the time), so he could receive their annual reports. He recorded the information on cards and within a year he had 15 000 cards. In 1982, he and his wife, Anne, settled in McGregor. He became the mayor but later resigned. Seven years later, he moved to Johannesburg but didn't enjoy it and spent more time on his farm near Rustenburg. His wife had Alzheimer’s disease for five years. She died a year ago and he moved to Tulbagh. Robin is survived by five children.

Robin also published "Who Made South Africa" in 2000. It was the first book in a planned series of 25, focusing on the contributions of various nationalities to South Africa. Volume one dealt with the Jewish and German contributions. Well-known South African companies founded by Jewish people include De Beers, Tiger Oats, Liberty Life, Lubners, South African Breweries, Anglo American, JCI and Western Deep Levels. Early Jewish families such as the Solomons and the Mosenthals are discussed. Samuel MARKS, Alfred BEIT, Barney BARNATO, the OPPENHEIMERS, Nadine GORDIMER and Irma STERN are also discussed. Among the German subjects are Carl LICHTENSTEIN, Paulus LUCKHOFF, Hans MERENSKY, Julius JEPPE, Adolph GOERZ, Louis LEIPOLDT and Olive SCHEINER.

TRIBUTE IN BIRTH PLACE

2008-08-16T19:29:00.000+02:00

While South African celebrated Women's Day recently, an English town joined in by remembering one of its own. Helen JOSEPH (maiden name FENNELL) was an anti-apartheid activist who helped lead 20 000 women on a march to Pretoria's Union Buildings in 1956. The women then stood in silent protest for 30 minutes, protesting against pass laws. Helen was born in 1905 in Eastbourne Midhurst, West Sussex. She died in South Africa on 25 Dec 1992. Dave RANG, a resident of Chichester, close to Midhurst, was working on his dissertation examining the class, gender and racial issues facing South African women in the 1950s, when he read Helen's autobiography Side by Side. This led to him planning a commemorative service for Helen in St Mary's Church, Eastbourne.

ISANDLWANA STATUE VANDALISED

2008-08-16T19:20:00.000+02:00

Scrap metal thieves have vandalised a statue of Zulu warriors at the entrance of Isandlwana battlefield in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Two bronze thorns from the isiQu (bravery necklace) were sawn off. The Battle of Isandlwana took place on 22 January 1879 between Zulu warriors and the British and Colonial forces at the beginning of the Anglo-Zulu War. The battlefield and its memorials have drawn thousands of local and international visitors. Pietermaritzburg sculptor Gert SWART was commissioned to design a statue to the Zulu warriors, which was unveiled by King Goodwill Zwelithini on the 120th anniversary of the battle. The statue consisted of a circular concrete platform symbolising the traditional Zulu home. Four bronze headrests reinforced the idea of final rest, while the bronze necklace of thorns symbolised the bravery necklace given by the king. It also had the horns of the bull - a symbol of the encircling tactics used by Shaka.

DIAS REMEMBERED IN ROGGEBAAI

2008-08-16T19:12:00.001+02:00

The crew of the visiting Portuguese Navy ship, NRP Sagres, paid their respects to the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu DIAS, by laying wreaths at his statue in Roggebaai. Dias discovered the sea route between the West and the East, sailing around southern Africa. Rear-Admiraal Koos LOUW of the SA Navy, Domingos de Saldanha E. ALVIM (Portuguese Consul-General), Commodore Luís Pedro Pinto Proença MENDES (NRP Sagres) and Mrs. Ligia FERNANDES (representing the Portuguese community in SA), were also present. The NRP Sagres band and the SA Navy Band took part. Domingos is a descendant of another Portuguese navigator, Antonio DE SALDANHA, after whom Saldanha Bay was named. One of the NRP Sagres band members, Seaman Bruno DIAS, is a descendant of Bartolomeu DIAS.

BRENTHURST GARDEN TOURS

2008-08-16T19:03:00.000+02:00

Mrs. Strilli OPPENHEIMER is planning an Insect Route on her family's estate in Parktown, Johannesburg. The estate, Brenthurst, is already part of the Diamond Birdwatching Route. Brenthurst has been in the family's possession since 1922, when Sir Ernest OPPENHEIMER bought the Herbert Baker designed house. His son, Harry, lived there until his death in 2001. Strilli is married to Nicky OPPENHEIMER, and lives at Little Brenthurst, also on the estate. She's responsible for the estate's gardens, with help from Dawid KLOPPER. They have changed the once formal and Victorian garden into a more wild one. As a result, there are more than 30 types of butterflies and 73 types of birds on the estate. Guided tours of the Brenthurst gardens can be booked through (011) 646 4122

NAME CHANGES IN EASTERN CAPE

2008-08-16T18:48:00.001+02:00

The Eastern Cape geographical names committee is planning to change about 60 place names in the Eastern Cape, because they are "of colonial origin". Amongst those targeted to change, is Queenstown, which was laid out in 1853 and attained municipal status in 1855. It was named after Queen Victoria. According to Chief Ngangomhlaba MATANZIMA of AbaThembu baseRhoda, it was named after AbaThembu Queen Nonesi who lived in the area in the 1800s. The committee wants to rename Queenstown to Komani or Nonesi. Other proposed name changes include the Fish River being renamed Nxuba. East London would become Monti or Gompo. Port Elizabeth would become Nelson Mandela City. King William’s Town could be known as Qonce, Grahamstown as Rhini, and Alice as Dike. The Kei River would be known as Nciba. The East London suburb Nahoon could be known as Nxarhuni. Haga Haga and Gulu will be changed to Haka Haka and Gxulu respectively. Fumanekile DYUBELE, chairman of the Eastern Cape geographical names committee, said public hearings on some of the names would start next month.

KURUMAN BOMB

2008-08-16T18:31:00.003+02:00

On 27 May 1924 a military show was held in Kuruman, in honour of Lt.-Col. J.A VAN ZYL of the Kuruman Shooting Association who was leaving the town. Two De Havilland bombers (DH9) took part, with Lts. F.H HISCOCK and P.S. JOUBERT at the controls. While en-route to Kuruman, they had to do an emergency landing between Postmasburg and Olifantshoek. Lt. Hiscock's aircraft was too damaged to fly further. Lt. Joubert's aircraft had slight damage to the bomb rack. During the airshow, Lt. Joubert was to drop a 9 kg Cooper bomb on a tree about 620 m from the crowd. During his run-up a bomb accidentally fell off, landing amongst the crowd. Casper VAN DER WALT (54) and his wife Anna (52), from the farm Edgehill; and Chris ERLANK (39) of Corheim were killed. They were buried at the Kuruman Cemetery at the corner of Oasis and School Streets. Thirty-five people were injured.
Christina Alida (aka Lila after her mother) CLAASSENS (8) died of her wounds during the night as doctors battled to save her. She was the daughter of Matthys Jacobus and Lila. Her younger sister, Hester Hendrina, was five years old, and survived, along with another sister, Tiny. Hester's daughter, Mrs. Janetta ERASMUS, lives in Jan Kempdorp. Another daughter of Hester was named Lila and lives in Brits. Two other daughters, Hannetjie BATESON and Tillie VAN RECHE, resembled Lila when they were younger. Matthys was injured by shrapnel during the accident and became an invalid.
Piet VAN DER LINDE (21) and Abraham ERASMUS died of their wounds at Kimberley Hospital. Abraham ERASMUS was in the crowd, holding his baby who'd been baptised the day before. The Erasmus family of Deben were on their way to the Orange Free State to show the baby to its grandmother, and decided to overnight in Kuruman and see the show. Abraham died 13 days later in Kimberley and had a semi-military funeral. His eldest daughter, Catharina, was hit on the head with shrapnel, which was not removed. Catharina suffered from headaches from then on, and died at the age of 47. The baby, Sarie, survived and married a BOTHMA and settled in Bloemfontein. Her mother, Nelie, had to give up the family farm. When Sarie was four years old, her mother took a job as a cook in the boarding school at Laerskool/Hoërskool Seodin. The family received £400 in compensation from the government. When Sarie was in standard 9 (grade 11), the school principal called her to his office - she had a visitor - Lt. Joubert. After a while, she forgave him, as did her mother, siter and brother.
The tragic event was recorded in P.H.R SNYMAN's book, "Kuruman, Vervloë pad na Afrika", published in 1992. He writes that the crowd was angry, believing it was a an attack on the Afrikaners by the Smuts government. Lt. Joubert had to be protected from the crowd, and spent the night in the Kuruman prison. He appeared in the Kimberley court on charges of manslaughter, and was found not guilty. Later that year, General Jan SMUTS' political party (SAP) lost the local election in Kuruman.

HALFWAY HOUSE PUB IN KIMBERLEY

2008-08-16T17:13:00.002+02:00

The Halfway House is one of Kimberley's most famous pubs, situated in Du Toitspan Road, half way between Kimberley city centre and Beaconsfield. It is affectionately known as The Half. It is believed to be the only drive-in pub in the world. Legend has it that the first customer was Cecil John RHODES on his horse. Here you can enjoy a Barnato Bitter draught or a Rhodes Ale produced by Mitchells in Knysna. The pub was recently renovated by the owners, Brian DOHERTY and Peter RICKETTS. The original bar area is decorated with relics from the past. A label on a bottle of Johnnie Walker shows that Kimberley was the best seller of this whiskey in the world in 1892. The courtyard will serve as a coffee shop during the day and a beer garden at night.

The Half opened up when a burnt brick house between New Rush (Kimberley) and Du Toit’s Pan (Beaconsfield) was put up for sale. The newspaper advertisement stated that the house would make a good hotel. It opened in 1875 and was known as the Cogins Hotel, situated opposite the current location. It moved to the current spot in 1897 when Cecil John RHODES decided to build a sanatorium on the site of the old Half. The name changed to Halfway House Hotel. The first liquor licence was granted in 1880 under the proprietorship of Mrs. LAITY. In 1970 some people decided to put a stop to the pub serving drinks to people in their cars. The court ruled that it had historic value and the tradition remained. Kimberley had another drive-in pub - the Kimberlite Hotel, which closed down. The Half had a flag-staff in the front of the building and at night the proprietor, Mr. BEDDOME, would hang a lantern on it. In 1884 Kimberley experienced a labour strike. The strikers held their meetings at the Half, where they were addressed by Mr. BROWN, chairman of the Artisans Society.

CHURCH BURNS DOWN

2008-08-16T16:42:00.000+02:00

The NG Kerk Hennenman-Oos burnt down last week. The fire, believed to have been caused by an electrical fault, spread so fast that nothing could be saved. The church has more than 400 parishioners, and celebrated its 50th anniversary two years ago.

THIEVES HIT KLEINPLASIE

2008-08-16T16:03:00.002+02:00

Scrap metal thieves have hit the Kleinplasie Open-air Museum in Worcester. This follows after the former Minnie Hofmeyr College in Worcester was also vandalised. Thirteen stables at Kleinlplasie were vandalised, with all metal fixtures stolen. The damage is estimated to be in the region of R200 000. To prevent further loss and damage, all the stable doors have been removed. The thieves stole the bolts and hinges, as well as electrical cables and copper piping. Kleinplasie has a wall around it, but it is often broken by vandals or thieves. The plaques that were on the buildings, declaring them national heritage sites, were stolen long ago. It is high time that scrap metal dealers be charged with buying stolen goods, especially when these goods are from our national heritage!

Kleinplasie (meaning small farm) depicts the lifestyle of the Cape farmers in the early 1800s. Here visitors can see how things were done all those years ago - from tobacco rolling, candle and soap making, and coffee roasting to baking bread.

Thieves hit Kleinplasie

2008-08-16T16:03:00.000+02:00

LAERSKOOL JORDANIA IS 50

2008-08-02T20:29:00.001+02:00

On 23 July 1958, 74 students went to school in a roofless building in Jordania. Today Laerskool Jordania has 720 students, in the same building (with a roof). They celebrated the school's 50th anniversary, with Diets MEIRING, one of the five founders, unveiling a plaque. The school was founded with the help of Ds. Jan STEYN of the NGK Bethlehem-Oos. Ms. J.C. DU PREEZ was the first principal. A year later she was replaced by Mr. N.A. MARAIS, who stayed until 1963. He was followed by Mr. P.A. VAN DER MERWE, and in 1974 Mr. Izak DE VILLIERS took over until he retired in 1993. Hennie BADENHORST is the current principal. In 1972, Mrs. Petro VENTER, who taught at the school for 24 years, designed the school emblem.