PIONEER'S GRAVE CLEANED UP

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.

SAVING OLD GRAVES

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.

VANDALISED GRAVE

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.

CEMETERY CRIME

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.

GRAVES FOUND

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.

COLYN BROOKES

It has been a sad week for South African history circles. Colyn Brookes passed away in Cape Town earlier this week, of a sudden heart attack. Colyn was a great contributor to our military history, travelling around the country to record long-forgotten, and often unknown, grave sites and memorials to fallen soldiers. I was blessed to meet him in Cape Town, where he gave me photos of all the female soldiers' graves he'd recorded to date. Colyn was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire in 1946. He served with the Scots Guards from 1966 to 1973. He moved to South Africa in 1979. Colyn started MIBISA (Military Burials In South Africa) Archive Project in 2003. He undertook three photographic trips a year, and covered about 2,000 kilometres each trip. His work has been preserved in various ways, one being the book "MIBISA Volume One - Western Cape (Military Burials in South Africa)". He started MIBISA with the intention of photographing all military-related burials within the borders of South Africa. The Western Cape book was the first of nine proposed volumes. The listings cover headstones, memorials, plaques and monuments and have the Name, Rank, Serial Number, Unit and other information. A CD with the photographs is included with the book. Colyn was involved with various volunteer projects, such as Find A Grave, the South African War Graves Project, and the War Graves Photographic Project. A military burial is classified as that of any person who died whilst undergoing military service or training. The MIBISA photographs include those of the Zulu Wars, the Anglo-Boer War, the Rand Revolt, World War I and II, the Border War and the Freedom Struggle. The database contained more than 7500 photographs from the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape areas, collected over 36 months and involved travelling some 60 000 kilometres. The project was self-funded by Colyn. His trips depended on holiday pay, annual bonus and tax rebates. His published books were to help support the project financially. Colyn also had plans to publish a coffee table book, From Bridges to Blockhouses: A study of military construction during the Second Boer War 1899-1902". Colyn was married to Pauline for 38 years.

One of the many special stories that Colyn got involved in, concerns David TITUS. David died of illness at the age of 30. He was one of the first members of the Cape Coloured Corps to volunteer for duty in WWII (service number C273709V). Colyn started looking for his grave in 2003. Three years and some 7000 graves later, he found it and placed a small advert in a local paper. David's sister, Dinah CHARLES, and his brother Samuel, made contact on 16 October 2006, the same day as David's death in 1946. Colyn found David's grave in Taylor’s Cemetery, outside De Doorns. Dinah (age 70 in 2006) recalled how her Ouboet looked after the family with his war pay. Samuel, Dinah and Colyn attended a re-dedication service for David at the grave on 22 October 2006.

BAARTMAN PROJECT IN THE MAKING

The Department of Arts and Culture, and the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) are working on a project to honour the life of Sarah BAARTMAN. The project involves her grave site at Hankey, which SAHRA declared a national heritage site last year. It is believed that the project involves an information centre detailing her lfe and the Khoisan people in general. An international competition will be run by the architectural department of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University for the design of facilities around the burial site.