A different view on current affairs & history
From the Donkin, one has spectacular views of not only the harbour but all the way from Summerstrand to the shore at Deal Party. Amongst one of the exquisite views of Port Elizabeth, is that of an old gem, St Augustine’s Cathedral.
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At best the Irish 1820 Settlers in Clanwilliam eked out a precarious existence. The settlement could not have been called a resounding success either by the settlers generally or the McCleland household in particular. After a number of unseemly quarrels, Francis was granted a transfer to the newly created hamlet of Port Elizabeth which was meant to have been their original disembarkation point.
It was here that Francis and Elizabeth would spend the rest of their lives. This chronicles the lives of my great-great-grandparents in Port Elizabeth.
Main picture: Castle Hill in 1851 painted by engineer Henry Fancourt White of White’s Road fame. Number 7 Castle Hill is the commodious double storey house on the right on top of the hill
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I daresay that some TV watchers have not yet viewed at least a few episodes of the award winning show “The Big Bang Theory.” If not, they would not have had to wince, cringe or shake their heads in horror at the lead character, Sheldon Cooper, a complex mosaic of child prodigy with a genius level IQ, highly idiosyncratic behaviour, lack of humility, empathy or tolerance of weaknesses in lesser mortals.
Coupled with a tenuous understanding of humour, he also exhibits extreme difficulty in recognising irony and sarcasm in other people.
If not, I hereby usher in a whole host of similar infuriating geniuses except that they actual operate in the real world.
Main picture: Technically correct, but why be condescending?
Main picture: An aboriginal woman performs the Woggan-ma-gule morning ceremony on Australia Day in Sydney, Friday, Jan. 26, 2007. Australia Day marks the arrival of the first European settlers in 1788. (AP Photo/Paul Miller)
War is always supposed to be a very serious business yet the wits will always find a way of cracking a joke or some other witticism to lighten the mood. Surprisingly even the German forces during WW2 had their fair share of jesters.
Main picture: Guard dog guarding the FLAK gun
George McCall Theal was the most prolific and influential South African historian, archivist and genealogist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In his epic compendium Records of the Cape Colony, he records all the correspondence by and to the Colonial Office in Cape Town for the period 1793 to 1827. As the last seven years coincide with the arrival of the original batch of Settlers, this series of 35 books contains a rich vein of data to be mined.
Before even landing in Saldanha Bay, Francis McCleland had already made a name for himself as a heavy drinker and troublesome priest. As well, William Parker – the Party Leader – and Francis McCleland were a volatile mix, ever on the brink of ignition.
For these reasons, the McCleland name is often fairly and sometimes unfairly denigrated in these pages. For ease of reference, I have extracted all references to the irascible Irish clergyman however oblique.
Main picture: George McCall Theal
This, the fifth episode in the life of the Reverend Francis McCleland, deals with his arrival in Cape Town in early May 1820 and their disappointment at being redirected to settle in Clanwilliam instead of the Eastern Border.
Not to put too fine a point on it but the five years spent at Clanwilliam were character forming with the man in the cassock not always cutting a fine figure. Casting a long shadow over this Party was the leader himself. Self-serving, megalomaniac and irascible, William Parker was to add to their woes.
Beset by troubles from every quarter, acrimony and dissension descended on this disparate party.
Main picture: A Settler House in Clanwilliam
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Main picture: Adam & Eve in the quintessential fashion of the Stone Age Era or was this only one of the pieces that they displayed this day Continue reading
Main picture: The false idyll of domestication
Main picture: Stridsvagn 103