Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Era of Hunting

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 2 Comments

Prior to the 20th century, hunting was both a sport and a source of protein. The early explorers and adventurers in the 18th and early 19th century all reported encountering huge herds of elephants and even buffaloes roaming around in the vicinity of Kragga Kamma. By the time of the arrival of the Trekboers in the mid-eighteen century, most of the large game had been exterminated except for a patch near Alexandria.

Now it was the turn of the small game to be decimated all in the name of sport.

Main picture: PE Hunt Club on Willowby Farm, now Glen Hurd, owned by George Parkin

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Water Supply from the Sand & Bulk Rivers

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Port Elizabeth’s earliest water supply came from the Shark River at Happy Valley and the Donkin Stream next to the Donkin Reserve.  As the city started to grow in its early days of development the demand for water far exceeded this meager supply.  After a competition held by the Port Elizabeth city council in 1862 to find proposals to supply the city with water, a weir and small dam was built in the Van Stadens River.  This was later followed by the Bulk River (1903) and the Sand River (1907) dams in the Elands River Valley, both which can be seen driving along the Elands River Road.  Of course these dams have since been replaced as the main supply dams by the Kouga, Churchill and Mpofu dams.  Both the Sand River and Bulk River are tributaries of the Elands River which in turn at its concourse with the Kwazunga River forms the Swartkops River.  

This blog is a photographic gallery of the construction of the dams on these tributaries of the Elands River based upon photos supplied by Robert Pringle.

Main picture: Junction of the Sand & Palmiet Rivers – Flood in October 1904

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Motor cycle racing prior to WW2

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

Prior to WW2, Port Elizabeth hosted a prestigious motorcycle race known as the PE 200. This was the culmination of the development of motor cycle racing since the first race held as a 60 mile relay on the 7th August 1922 on the Kragga Kamma circuit.  

The early engines on the motorcycles were satisfactory for level or downhill riding but as soon as a hill was encountered, the rider had to pedal to assist the bike’s ascent of the hill. But this was only the start of what would ultimately become the power machines of today.

This blog covers the development of motorcycle racing from that date until the Second World War as well as the development of the early bikes.

Main photo: Winners of the PE 200 on 1st January 1958

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Early History of South End

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

South End, as we know it, was a farm, Papenbiesjesfontein, extending from the Baaken’s River to about the S-bend at Humewood. According to J.J. Redgrave in Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days, it was granted by Lord Charles Somerset in 1820 to Gerhardus Oosthuizen. His widow bought the farm from the joint heirs for £135 sterling and subsequently married a tall, bearded Hollander named J.A. Rudolph. When he died, she married William Gardner and only after her death in 1859, was the estate sub­ divided into building allotments.

Main photo: Baakens Valley. C1881. In the background are three cottages (now Harris Street). Below them the old homestead of the Board family. To the right the steam laundry, opened May 1877. In the centre the property of John McWilliams (at one time a hotel). In the foreground the property of John Harrison Clark

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Horse Racing in the Bay

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

As racing horses is as old as riding these hoofed herbivorous mammals, the exact origins of horse racing are lost in the mists of time. Uitenhage preceded Port Elizabeth in establishing a Turf Club in 1815. However the first authentic records of organised racing give results of racing held in 1817 and include reports of a racing meeting held in the grounds of Cradock Place, the palatial home of Frederick Korsten on the Papenkuils River. Korsten matched his horses with those of the garrison officers from Fort Frederick.  The current Governor, Sir John Cradock, was also a keen racing man and with his support racing naturally flourished.

Main picture: Fairview Race Course 

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: Collegiate Girls in Drowning Tragedy

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 0 Comment

On Saturday 1886 a group of Collegiate girls were taken to the beach adjacent to the mouth of the Baakens River and South End. In all likelihood these pupils were boarders and not day students. As no public transport was available, the girls must have walked from their accommodation down to the beach with their teachers in tow. What exacerbated the situation was that age, very few people were able to swim so when what one presumes was a rip tide occurred, none of the girls were able to swim. Even if they could, they would not have been able to deal with it successfully

Main picture: Bathing house at the mouth of the Baakens

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Port Elizabeth of Yore: The State of Medical Services – The First Provincial Hospital

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces, Port Elizabeth of Yore 1 Comment

By the 1850s, there was heightened concern about the lack of a hospital in Port Elizabeth. Discussions amongst the town’s folk increasingly revolved around this requirement. Whenever citizens congregated, it was a topic of discussion. Even though the population had risen by 1855 to about 3,500 and disease and sickness was increasing, Port Elizabeth still did not have a hospital. Plans for a hospital were discussed over several years.

It was not until Act 5 of 1856 established the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital that planning for a hospital could commence. As an interim measure, a house in Rodney Street was hired to serve as a hospital. This was opened on the 10th September 1856 with Dunsterville and Rubidge serving as doctors.

Main picture: Entrance to the Richmond Hill provincial hospital in 1856

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