The Casual Observer

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Crimes that Gripped the Imagination

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 30 October 2016 0 Comment

In an era when leisure activities were sparse to non-existent, gossiping about crime was one of the few pastimes which was available. And it was free. This chapter will briefly cover the establishment of a Court House and then deal with a number of cases which gripped the imagination of the towns’ folks during the nineteenth century.

Main picture: Clockwise from the top left, these buildings have served as the Court House over the years. 1. The building between Evatt’s house on the left and the Post Office on the right from circa 1825 to 1856. 2. Commercial Hall from 1856 to 1884. 3. Magistrates Courts from 1884 to 1934 in South Union Street. 4. North End Law Courts from 1934 onwards

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Phoenix Hotel

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 28 October 2016 3 Comments

Everybody who has grown up in Port Elizabeth must have been to the Stage Door at some point during their misspent youth. What is fascinating is that the Phoenix Hotel has been in operation since the early 1840s, first in Market Square, and since 1941 at 5 Chapel Street, making it the oldest operating hotel in Port Elizabeth.

Main picture: The original Phoenix Hotel located in Market Square

Elizabeth Daisy McCleland and Mr Thomas Henry Clemence

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 26 October 2016 0 Comment

Among the multitude of interesting facts that I have uncovered in my investigation of the family history, is that my Granny Mac – Elizabeth Daisy McCleland – was involved in another relationship after the death of her husband, Harry William McCleland on 13^th June 1925.

This blog covers that discovery and the sparse facts that I have been able to unearth about him and their relationship.

Main picture: Mr Thomas Henry Clemence

New Public Protector: Be Prepared to be Outraged in Disappointment

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces 24 October 2016 2 Comments

If Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s first week in office is indicative of her future performance in the job, then be prepared for a Public Protector who defines her role not as the protection of the country, but rather the protection of the Zuptas.

Main picture: Busisiwe Mkhwebane

The Parlous the State of Education in South Africa

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 21 October 2016 0 Comment

SADTU along with some school children have been attempting to invade schools to stop them from writing ANAs, Annual National Assessments. They reckon that they are a waste of time but I suspect that the ANAs will expose them. In any case, they do not like doing any extra work whatsoever.

Main picture: Teaching in South Africa

WW2 Military Record: Harry Clifford McCleland

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 21 October 2016 0 Comment

Never once did my father ever discuss his involvement in WW2 let alone regale us with stories of the war. Today I bemoan the fact that he was not more open & forthright about his participation; any vignette, however mundane, would have provided an insight into what he had to endure, what was risible and what was hilarious.

Despite the fact that he had contracted polio as a youngster, and hence was technically not eligible for military service, yet he duly and dutifully volunteered.

Military duties comprise two categories: active service and non-active service. The latter encompasses experiences such as how they survived on a litre of water per day, the scorching heat or the cloying oppressively, hot southerly khamsin winds. In my father’s case, being an artificer and a driver precluded him from direct contact with the enemy. Nevertheless, all of his other experiences could have provided a valuable peep into a lost world.

This blog is solely based upon his Military Record which Steve Groeneveld, a running friend, has been able to obtain from the military document centre in Pretoria.

Main picture: Harry Clifford McCleland in military attire

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Echoes of a Far-off War

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 18 October 2016 2 Comments

June 28, 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Serbian assassin, Gavrilo Princip, fired the first shot in what was to become a horrific four-year long bloodbath. Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of a peaceful settler town on the coast of Algoa Bay, that shot would ultimately reverberate within its military barracks, its churches and its homes.

One hundred years after the start of the Great War, none of the participants remains alive, Harry Patch being the last to pass away. Nevertheless, we are periodically reminded of the valiant but ultimately futile exercise by the aging relics, fading photographs, scarred landscapes being reclaimed by nature, and memorials and graveyards across the globe.

This blog is in memory of a few of those sons, fathers, brothers and friends from Port Elizabeth who paid the ultimate price for that assassin’s bullet.

Main picture: Soldiers of an Australian 4th Division field artillery brigade walk on a duckboard track laid across a muddy, shattered battlefield in Chateau Wood, near Hooge, Belgium, on October 29, 1917. This was during the Battle of Passchendaele, fought by British forces and their allies against Germany for control of territory near Ypres, Belgium. (James Francis Hurley/State Library of New South Wales)

The Phone Call in the Middle of the Night

By Dean McCleland in Other Personal 17 October 2016 0 Comment

In reading Helen Zille’s excellent autobiography, she narrates the incident in which she received a phone call in the middle of the night alleging that her spouse was involved in infidelity. This despicable practice is used as a ploy to intimidate or to extract revenge.

As I have experienced a similar incident some 20 years ago, there were uncomfortable parallels in my mind. Fortunately, in both cases, no lasting recriminations or suspicions were aroused or damage inflicted on the relationship. Yet it did cast some momentary doubts on the affected spouse in both cases.

Main picture: Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Main Street in the Tram Era

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 16 October 2016 0 Comment

Sixty one years after the landing of the 1820 Settlers, the tramway network was established on 14th May 1881. As the initial trams were all horse drawn, no routes up the hill could be established. Instead the line followed the route of Main Street and its various extensions to North End. From 16^th June 1897, it was converted to electrical power which allowed the routes to be extended up White’s and Russell Road.

The tramway network was finally closed down on 17^th December 1948.

Main picture: My favourite picture of this era showing a horse drawn tram at the terminus where the incoming and outgoing lines merged

Lost Artefacts of Port Elizabeth: Customs House

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 16 October 2016 2 Comments

Of all the historical artefacts to have been lost in Port Elizabeth, the destruction of the old Customs House must be the most significant. Its demise was being badly damaged by fire in 1978. Attempts to save the building failed and it was demolished in 1982.

Main picture: Customs House with its tower which was removed after a flood in 1908

Among the multitude of interesting facts that I have uncovered in my investigation of the family history, is that my Granny Mac – Elizabeth Daisy McCleland – was involved in another relationship after the death of her husband, Harry William McCleland on 13th June 1925.

This blog covers that discovery and the sparse facts that I have been able to unearth about him and their relationship.

Among the multitude of interesting facts that I have uncovered in my investigation of the family history, is that my Granny Mac – Elizabeth Daisy McCleland – was involved in another relationship after the death of her husband, Harry William McCleland on 13^th June 1925.