A different view on current affairs & history
The title of this blog begs the question of why it was necessary to construct freshwater swimming pools when the sea was in close proximity to most dwellings in the town in the late 1800s? The only rational explanation is that one can swim in a pool but only bathe in the sea.
Main picture: St George’s swimming pool in 1950
Continue reading
Per se, the restoration of the verandah of No. 7 Castle Hill should not be a major issue. Yet on several levels it encapsulates the problem. The one stance that I have taken in accordance with best practice with regard to restoration is to maintain not only the integrity of the structure but its look, feel and texture. Secondly in the case of national monuments, who will ensure that maintenance is performed timeously but also in keeping with the character of the structure. This requires personnel with competence, interest and integrity.
This blog underscores the efforts of the erstwhile curator of this museum to ensure the faithful restoration of this priceless settler artifact and is largely drawn from an article in 1985 by Mrs. Rosemary Trehaeven.
Main picture: Portion of WA Harriers’ drawing showing Castle Hill
Continue reading
In all likelihood, this is the oldest hotel / bar/ drinking hole bearing the name The Red Lion in Port Elizabeth, yet none of them has any connection to the others apart from the name. Of the three, the first has the most interesting history but even then, it almost disappeared under the swirling sea of history to be forever lost to the predator called progress.
It an attempt to revive that history, I have written this blog
Main picture: Cornfield’s 1823 sketch of Port Elizabeth with the Red Lion Tavern in the distance next to High Street as Main Street was known in the early days.
Continue reading
Before the advent of railways, transport inland across country by wagon or even horse was slow and arduous. The discovery of diamonds at Dutoitspan near Kimberley provided further impetus for the adoption of a more effective means of transport in the Cape.
Main picture: Little Bess locomotive used at the opening of line to Swartkops.
Continue reading
Most of the older South Africans will recall John Vorster being the Prime Minister and later the President of South Africa, yet few residents of Port Elizabeth will be aware of the fact that Vorster resided in Port Elizabeth from 1939 to 1942, a formative period of Afrikaner nationalism which Vorster embodied. As a member of the pro-Nazi organisation, the Ossawabrandwag, during WW2 he was detained and ultimately interned at Koffiefontein in the Orange Free State.
Attached is a verbatim copy of an article by H.O. Terblanche entitled: John Vorster’s Three Years in Port Elizabeth 1939-1942
Main picture: Celebrating the centenary of the Great Trek
Continue reading
Unlike Port Elizabeth in which no house had water on tap until the 1880s, Uitenhage never experienced this inconvenience. While Uitenhage was established with a secure water source, the inhabitants of Port Elizabeth had to struggle for an adequate water supply for many years.
This secure water source for the residents of Uitenhage was the Uitenhage Springs. Most of the information used in this blog has been extracted from the book Streams of Life by David Raymer.
Main picture: Aerial view of the Uitenhage Springs
Continue reading
A legacy of Trump’s presidency is the number of blatant lies, gross exaggerations, and fallacies that you spewed forth in every tweet, comment, or interview on a daily basis. As his niece Mary Trump has confirmed in her book, this is a fundamental character flaw of this narcissistic person. Facts do not matter. Accuracy does not count.
Main picture: Donald Trump
Continue reading
In a large measure, the lack of a proper water borne sewerage system symbolised the lack of development in Port Elizabeth as compared with the home country where John Snow had proved that a proper sewerage system was vital from a hygiene perspective especially the prevention of cholera.
This blog covers the development of a proper sanitation system in Port Elizabeth.
Main picture: Sewer being constructed in Rudolph Street South End in 1904.
Continue reading
On Sunday 1st September 1968, a ferocious storm hit Port Elizabeth when more than 40cms of rain fell in just four hours, wreaking havoc, damaging some of the city’s most prominent buildings and infrastructure and killing nine people.
Harrowing accounts of what people endured over four hours on the Sunday morning, 1st September 1968 are recounted, as they should be, every Spring Day on radio and in the local newspapers. Needless to say, they are tragic and terrifying. To put this flood into perspective, this flood will be interrogated not from a human drama viewpoint but rather from the perspective of rainfall, isohyet charts and comparisons with subsequent floods
Main picture: Flooding in the Baakens Valley
Continue reading
Ironically just over a century ago, the puny stream which flowed through Happy Valley was well-known whereas the area through which it flowed, Happy Valley, was unknown to the resident of Port Elizabeth. It was this non-descript trickle which supplied this nascent town with its first piped water albeit that it was only to the low-lying areas as the water was gravity fed. In September 1968, this stream barely a trickle, was transformed into a raging torrent probably about 1 metres deep and 70 metres wide.
From providing a vital commodity it now only serves as an entertainment area. This blog deals with the changing character and importance of this area from necessity to a luxury.
Main picture: Frames’ Reservoir on the Shark River
Continue reading