A different view on current affairs & history
As a young child I had an aversion to trees. Most trees but not the Wild Fig tree. There was something enchanting even mystical about their giant protruding roots. Perhaps this affinity arose due to playing in Trinder Square with its veritable forest of wild fig trees. This arose due to my cousins staying in Pearson Avenue which is no more than a block away.
Main picture: Trinder Square in 1867
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Allister Miller was not only a war hero but he was instrumental in the creation of a civilian aviation industry in South Africa. By all objective measures, he can claim to be the father of this industry. Due to his record breaking flight from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, he was accorded recognition in Port Elizabeth by naming the street past the airport, Allister Miller Drive.
Lieutenant-Colonel Allister Miller DSO OBE (1892–1951) was a South African aviation pioneer, who contributed significantly to both military and civil aviation in his country during the first half of the 20th century.
But what did Allister Miller actually do to receive this acclamation?
The original caption on the photograph: The end of an historic flight, Rio de Janeiro II, piloted by Major (later Lieut.-Col) Allister Miller, the pioneer of South African civil aviation, lies upended in a bunker on the old 17th fairway of the Port Elizabeth Golf Club on Wednesday, 7th November 1917. Major Miller, accompanied by Sgt-Mechanic Way, took off from Young’s Field Cape Town. Five hours, 18 minutes later flying at an average speed of 70 m.p.h., the plane touched down at the P.E. Golf Club – the first plane ever to land in the City. An estimated 5,000 people were waiting at the Club to witness the arrival, but they pressed so close when the plane touched down that Major Miller was forced to crash his craft into a fairway bunker to avoid the over-eager spectators. His action prevented what could have been a major tragedy. The only damage to the plane, fortunately, was a broken propeller which was presented to the Club as a memento of an historic occasion.
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Main picture: Restoration in progress in Central Port Elizabeth Continue reading
The torpedoing of the 32,000 ton Cunard Liner, the Lusitania, on the 7th March 1915 with the loss of 1198 lives so inflamed public opinion against the local German Community that they took the law into their own hands and torched the Liedertafel, the German Club, in Western Road.
This, together with other atrocious acts, forms a dark and an indelible stain on the history of Port Elizabeth.
Main picture: The Liedertafel after it was set ablaze by an enraged mob
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Main picture: A recent photograph of the decaying stadium, stripped bare of all its fittings, railings and miscellaneous steel.
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Covid-19 was the not only the death knell of millions of people but also the death warrant for many businesses especially those in financial difficulties. Long after its heydays of the 1880s and 1890s this hotel did not possess the cachet of certain of Port Elizabeth’s more popular beach front hotels. Notwithstanding this, the Grand Hotel is historically amongst one of the few remaining original hotels of the 19th century. Nonetheless, it remains an important link to Port Elizabeth’s illustrious past. With the Main Street no longer being either the business centre or the entertainment hub of Port Elizabeth, this could presage the final demise of the hotel. However, the recent conversion of the hotel into student accommodation could stave off the inevitable demolition and enable it to soldier on until the 22nd century albeit in a difference guise.
Main picture: Scenes during the visit of Lord Loch, 27 January, 1890 with the procession nearing the top of White’s Road. Men of the P.A.G. Regiment formed the procession. Note the decorative archway at the top of the road and the spectators at the Grand Hotel lining the balconies
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Main picture: Landing a whale at North End during 1880
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Like all the major roads up from the centre of town to the top of the hill, these roads were originally kloofs with streams, jagged rocks and steep cliffs. So it was with White’s Road. The original steep embankments on either side precluded the construction of buildings except for the Opera House. Except in historical circles is the engineer in charge, Henry Fancourt White, today remembered for his legacy. Even his name has been obliterated, being replaced with the name, John Kani. Despite this iniquity, he will be recalled by golfers in an elite manor house in George, renamed in his honour as Fancourt.
This is the story of this significant road in Port Elizabeth’s history.
Main Picture: This is the earliest extant photograph that I can find of White’s Road. It shows the devastation after the torrential rains of 20th and 21st November 1867.
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As a child, my family seldom, if ever, went to swim at King’s Beach. My father was a creature of habit and as he was raised at Schoenmakerskop, that is where we swam. Sometime during the 1960’s we were voluntarily taken there. No fights, no fuss. As my father had been the site foreman, the family had been given a special invite to attend. How could my father refuse?
Main picture: Aerial view of the King’s Beach Playground
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The intention of the British government was never to create a town on the coast at Port Elizabeth. Instead it was meant to be a disembarkation point for the Settlers on their travels into the hinterland. The fact that many of the settlers had little, if any, agricultural experience meant that many gravitated back to Port Elizabeth. That is why the town was created at the foot of a hill. That meant that every kloof would ultimately become a major road. So it was with Burial Kloof and later Hymanskloof but now better known as Russell Road.
Main picture: The oldest extant picture of the Stranger’s Location at the top of what was to become Russell Road showing the Chapel of the London Missionary Society in the background.
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