Henry Arthur Bunton was the son of Walter Bunton and Marie Louise Pfeiffer. Their son, Henry Arthur Bunton, was born in July 1883 making him only 17 years old when the Anglo Boer War erupted in October 1899 yet at the age of 19 he joined Gorringe’s Flying Column.  This force was raised by Lt Col G F Gorringe in 1901 and served in Cape Colony against numerous Boer Commandos.

In 1916 Henry would again participate in a war but this time it would be during WW1 fighting not in the trenches in France but would serve in the South African Heavy Artillery Regiment.

Main picture: Henry aka Harry Bunton with his wife Grace on honeymoon

Over the past 159 years, the Herald has occupied a number of premises and has been owned by a number of shareholders. This blog attempts to record these events

Main picture: C1864. Building built 1862 by J. Paterson, later used by Herald, then Cleghorns. Burnt down in 1896.jpg

Having unexpectantly and unwanted achieved old age, dating is not a pursuit that features greatly in my life. I prefer more leisurely diversions such as the subject of this blog – dating the oldest photograph (not something that I ever thought I would aspire to). I am also an armchair historian of popular topics and do not submerge myself in the dusty bowels of archives. My tools are limited to my inquisitive mind and interpretive skills and reviewing easily accessible books not to mention leaning on my older brother, Dean, for backup as younger siblings tend to do.

[Disclaimer: I must make absolutely clear that it is with no sense of superiority do I dismiss some of the dates given by Redgrave, Lorimer and Harradine. It is rather a case that I stand on the shoulders of giants, particularly in the case of the latter. Also in the days that their books were written, they did not have sophisticated word processors and the ability to print drafts at their desks or perform computer searches.]

What triggered this blog was rereading my brother’s blog (ref 1) on the earliest photograph and photographers. In it he presents an early morning photograph looking over Market Square and down Main Street, probably referred to as High Street in those days, and he states that it is the oldest photograph (below) and taken in c1858.

The Technical Editor of this series of blogs can be categorised as possessing a heightened sense of curiosity which is conflated with the instincts of a pitbull. Whilst also having an inveterate inquisitive nature it leads to his relishing the challenge to explain the unusual and the incongruous.

So it was in the case of an hydraulic crane with extended legs hiding in plain view on the North Jetty. That explains why I never noticed it whereas Blaine has for years cogitated its existence and purpose. Whereas I classified it as another boring hydraulic crane at the harbour, Blaine was mystified.  What purpose did it serve? Why was it relocated? What was its significance?

This blog unmasks the object and provides a possible explanation for the crane’s existence and ultimate usage when it vanished from North Jetty.

Main picture: Unusual crane on North Jetty