Port Elizabeth of Yore:  New Brighton from Fishing Village to Leisure Area [1820 to 1902]

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Today New Brighton is a sprawling township between the Papenkuils River to the Fishwater Flats. But it was not always so. It commenced its modern life as a modest fishing village of a Settler Party from Deal in England who had high aspirations.

For the purposes of this blog, Deal Party and New Brighton have been combined as their histories are inextricably linked together. However this blog only covers the period 1820 to 1902 with a separate blog covering the period when it was converted into a Location.

Main picture: As there  are no extant pictures of this era, I have included some related pictures instead. Photograph of a whale being cut up on North End beach. Supplied by Carol Victor of the NMBMPL.

Continue reading

Port Elizabeth of Yore: New Brighton – “A Model Native Settlement”

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

Located between the Papenkuils and the Swartkops Rivers, New Brighton was established inside the Municipal Boundary of Port Elizabeth in 1901 in order to house the black residents of the inner-city locations such as Stranger’s and Gubb Locations’. The White property owners and ratepayers were pressurising the Council to relocate the Black inhabitants of the locations in the inner city area.

This blog will cover the history of New Brighton from this inflection point in the separation of residential areas.  

Main picture: Semi-detached houses erected in New Brighton in 1912

Continue reading

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Zwartkopswagendrift

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

The hallmark of the half century prior to the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820 was the steady encroachment of the Dutch farmers commonly from the west. In spite of every effort on the part of the Cape Governors to prevent the Trekboers from spreading eastwards, this ineluctable movement did not abate.

This blog covers the settling of this peripatetic people in the Zwartkops Valley and especially around the Zwartkopswagendrift which was the principal crossing point on the road east or north.

Main picture: Trekboers crossing the Karoo by Charles Davidson Bell

Continue reading

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Acrimonious Rivalry between Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth in the 1860s

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 3 Comments

For the most part, the relationship between the two adjacent towns was cordial but with an undertone of superiority on the part of the residents of Uitenhage. This situation was about to deteriorate. During the 1860s, the state of healthy rivalry degenerated into fierce acrimonious contestation. At issue was the length of rural roads that the Uitenhage Divisional Council was responsible for vis-à-vis Port Elizabeth. Yet another contentious issue was the ownership of the tolls collected on the main roads. 

This episode is a timely reminder that rash impetuous decisions must never supplant rational compromises however aggrieved one party feels. A wilful disregard for the truth and the facts would prolong the dispute until wisdom prevailed. This situation is eerily similar to modern disputes about resource allocation a la the proposed NHI.

Main picture: The Wylde Bridge which replaced the Rawson Bridge

Continue reading

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Bridges Over Troubled Water

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

River crossings for the early traveller were always time consuming and sometimes even hazardous if they were dependent upon the tides such as the drift across the Zwartkops was. Perhaps that explains the Divisional Council’s decision to place this crossing on its first to-do list after its establishment.  

This covers the trials and tribulations of the history of the Zwartkops River crossing from the use of the drift, to the pont and ultimately the various bridges and ultimately their effect on the ecosystem. 

Main picture: The Wylde Bridge across the Swartkops River. This bridge replaced the Rawson Bridge

Continue reading