The Casual Observer

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Victoria House

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 17 July 2016 2 Comments

By all accounts, his house is probably the oldest one in Port Elizabeth. As such I would have thought that it would have been declared a National Monument ages ago. On the contrary, nothing has been done. In fact, Victoria House has been in crisis for a number of years. Apparently it was in a reasonable state up until the late 1990s before being occupied by vagrants and prostitutes. In 2005 it was sealed up by the Health and Safety department. In recent years work has been carried out but local activists are concerned that many of the house’s important features have been lost.

How can such a valuable piece of Port Elizabeth’s heritage be allowed to be destroyed?

Main picture: Victoria House at Number 31 Constitution Hill

Amazing Historical Coincidences

By Dean McCleland in Other Miscellaneous Topics 16 July 2016 0 Comment

I do not believe in luck, I certainly do not rely on providence and, contrary to some narratives, I place no significance on these highly improbable coincidences. Furthermore I scoff at and am extremely sceptical of accepting any correlation between these events. My only reaction is amazement. All of these events bear no significance other than the fact that of the millions of actions occurring throughout the world on a second by second basis, a minute percentage will bear the appearance of serendipity or coincidence.

That is how these examples of coincidence must be viewed; amusing sometimes, interesting certainly but never prophetic.

Main picture: World War I began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. The license plate of the car in which he was riding at the time of his death was AIII 118. WWI officially ended on Armistice Day: 11/11/18.

Kirkcudbright Document: Establishing the McCleland’s Right to Peerage

By Dean McCleland in McClelands 16 July 2016 2 Comments

This document serves as a record of the basis upon which the McCleland’s peerage rights were obtained. From a purely historical aspect, this document serves thus as an important family document. Notwithstanding that fact but more as an interesting point of speculation is the matter of the vacant peerage. For some 200 years, it has been vacant with nobody making a claim to the title of Lord Kircudbright.

The full document with related annexures has been included in this blog for posterity.

Main picture: M’Clellan Castle at Kirkcudbright

Maria Mouton: Defying the Laws & Customs of Society

By Dean McCleland in History 15 July 2016 8 Comments

In South African history, the illiterate Maria Mouton has earned a unique notoriety by being the only white woman to be executed in the Cape Colony during the eighteenth century. Her primary offence was to conspire with one of her husband’s slaves to murder her husband, Frans Jooste. For that she deserved the ultimate sanction at the time, the death penalty. Be that as it may but what was deeply vexing for the unctuous court was that it considered Maria’s actions of willingly consorting with her co-accused, the dark-hued slave Titus of Bengal, beyond the bounds of propriety. For Cape Society, that act was truly beyond the pale.

For no other reason, this story makes for compelling reading. As Nigel Penn eloquently states, “Her lustful and murderous conduct, her intercourse with a dark-skinned bondsman, was betrayal of both her gender and her social group. Colonial society as a whole was threatened by her actions”.

Main picture: Slaves during this era were an integral part of society as is visible in this painting

Port Elizabeth of Yore: Sand dunes, Inhabitants and Animals

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 13 July 2016 3 Comments

Imagine if I told you that 250 years ago a Swedish botanist by the name of Thunberg spotted a herd of 500 buffaloes in the area 20 minutes from the centre of Port Elizabeth called Kragga Kamma. First all the large animals were eliminated and then the smaller ones. Today all that remains is a recently opened small game park in the area. Apart from that, originally the area from Cape Recife to Humewood to Bushy Park was one giant field of sand dunes. Sadly this natural wonder has been replaced with Port Jackson Willows. What size was Port Elizabeth before the arrival of the Settlers?

Some of these developments were beneficial but others were disastrous. It depends upon one’s point of view. But such is the cost of progress.

Main picture: Hunting in Bushy Park

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Horse Memorial

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 12 July 2016 0 Comment

For me the inscription on the granite statue, “The greatness of a nation consists not so much in the number of its people or in the extent of its territory as in the extent and justice of its compassion” is apt. That Port Elizabeth chose to honour our equestrian friends who were slaughtered during the Boer War epitomises that humanity.

Main picture: Horses being offloaded at the Port Elizabeth harbour during the Anglo Boer War using the sling-hoist method.

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Road through Target Kloof and its Predecessors

By Dean McCleland in Port Elizabeth of Yore 11 July 2016 9 Comments

Due to the Baakens River Valley, Port Elizabeth is effectively cleaved into two. Instead of having to take a circuitous route around via South End or use a track from Gubb’s Location, during 1896 it was decided at a Town Council meeting that the Divisional Council’s proposed plan to build a road through Target Kloof from Port Elizabeth to Walmer be approved.

This blog covers the history of the various tracks and roads linking these two towns.

Main picture: The original proper road across the Baakens River was merely called New Road. Also note the footbridge on the left of the road. It was probably used by pedestrian traffic when the river was in spate and water flowed over the road. The hill in the background is where Wellington Park is situated today. Wellington Park is a small Municipal open space on the edge of the Baakens Valley at the corner of Main Road and 5th Avenue. It used to consist of two sports fields that were voluntarily maintained by the nearby Clarendon Primary School.

Port Elizabeth of Yore: The Parsonage House at No. 7 Castle Hill

By Dean McCleland in McClelands, Port Elizabeth of Yore 9 July 2016 8 Comments

This, the oldest unaltered house in Port Elizabeth, bears a specific significance in my life. The original owner of that house – the Reverend Francis McCleland – was my great-great-grandfather. In 1962 the house was declared a National Monument. In order to restore the parsonage house from a place of ill-repute back to its former glory, all members of the McCleland clan in Port Elizabeth were requested to contribute financially to this process.

This blog chronicles how this parsonage came to be erected in Port Elizabeth, its fall from grace, and then how it achieved its current status as a treasured museum

Main picture: This must be the earliest view of Number 7 Castle Hill – a lithograph by W.J. Huggins showing whaling in Algoa Bay in 1832. The recently completed house of Francis McCleland stands alone at the top of Castle Hill, midway between Fort Frederick and the memorial pyramid to Lady Donkin, after whom the town of Port Elizabeth was named

What can the Insurance Industry Teach the Government Departments?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 8 July 2016 0 Comment

Having changed the Insurer on my daughter’s car this week, the epiphany struck me yet again: The ease and convenience of dealing with Private Sector companies versus having to deal with the Civil Service. Part but not all of the ease of use relates the fact of how technology is used. The rest is attitude.

Main picture: Wildlife photographer Hannes Lochner spent 750 days in the harsh surroundings of the Kalahari Desert to chronicle the life of a female leopard and in doing so delved into a dark and fascinating nocturnal world of big cats and other predators. Filming Luna with her cubs was the highlight of Mr Lochner’s two-year project immersed in the Kalahari Desert

Witness to the Birth of an Island

By Dean McCleland in Nature & Animals, Other Galleries 7 July 2016 0 Comment

Imagine sailing through the ocean and suddenly land rises in the middle of the sea with a plume of smoke arising from an underwater volcano. These unsuspecting sailors were witnessing the birth of an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in March 2016.

This is the incredible story of the crew of the yacht Maiken which was sailing through the south Pacific near the Vava’u Islands in Tonga. Oot the blue they noticed that the water in the distance had turned a strange colour. Then, as they approached it, the sea mysteriously turned to stone.

Main picture: The eruption occurred at an underwater seamount called Home Reef near the Vava’u Islands in Tonga