Graham Ross liked to call himself a "padmaker". Although in the early stages of his career he roughed it with the hardy band of men who built roads in the dry and dusty rural areas of the Cape Province, in later years, after becoming one of the first qualified geometric engineers in the country, he operated out of a Cape Town office complete with drawing board and calculating machine. On retirement he began compiling a database of the history of Cape Provincial roads and, particularly, of mountain passes, which would earn him a doctorate from Stellenbosch University. This entailed a great deal of travelling, photographing, interviewing and research. At about the same time the Transportation Division of SAICE asked him to organise a series of articles about the passes for inclusion in the SAICE Magazine. Graham called on his several colleagues to submit stories about their experiences and the articles appeared in the magazine between 1993 and 1997. The articles were enthusiastically received and the Division then took the unusual step of publishing the collected series in a separate booklet.

For the SAICE centenary in 2003 Graham was persuaded to expand his articles into a book for general readers, which he produced at short notice with his customary care and flair, and "The Romance of the Cape Mountain Passes" appeared in bookshops soon afterwards. His easy style of writing, informative content and excellent photographs struck a chord with travellers, tourists and armchair wanderers. Within a short while it became a best seller which has been reprinted several times.

Following the centenary celebrations SAICE formed a History and Heritage Panel in response to now evident interest among members and a growing public. An early request to the panel was for South African input into a proposed British ICE Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers 1830 - 1890. The then Panel Chairman Tony Murray enlisted Graham to supply articles from his roadmaking research, while he himself supplied material about other disciplines. Some 20 South African engineers of the period thus appeared in the book which was published in 2008.

These articles were then expanded and rewritten in less formal style, and appeared in the SAICE Magazine between 2006 and 2008 in a series entitled "Past Masters", and were generally enjoyed by the readership. The intention had been to feature all prominent engineers active in South Africa in the 19th century but it became apparent that there was insufficient material available about several figures. Thus after 23 articles had appeared the authors called a halt.

The History and Heritage Panel gained new energy when its main meeting place was moved to Cape Town in 2013 and Chris Roth took over as chairman. New members brought new ideas and new information, while the publishing industry had been transformed by digital printing methods which could produce short print runs at much reduced cost. SAICE too had grown in financial strength and its budget now permitted expenditure on the promotion of History and Heritage - vigorously encouraged by new CEO Manglin Pillay. It was thus decided to resume the "Past Masters" series - new material was now available and the date range would be extended into the 20th century – and to republish all the previous articles in the style of the original Graham Ross booklet. It is hoped that this first volume in a series entitled "Second Sightings" will pave the way for further publications of this nature from material in the magazine and other sources which deserve a wider audience.
For this publication the original articles have been updated and edited by Tony Murray and illustrations have been added.  Three articles from the 2017 series which are from the same era as the previous entries have also been included.