Inanda

We are honoured to publish a portion of the St David's Jubilee Book 'A Courageous Journey' revealing the fascinating early history of this well known Johannesburg school. Unless otherwise stated all photos are from the book. Copies of 'A Courageous Journey' can be ordered from Julie Egenrieder, researcher/archivist at St David's - egenriederj@STDavids.co.za.

It must have seemed a strange place to start a school. The site was outside the city limits, a mile from the nearest bus terminus. The neighbours were mainly smallholders farming fruit and flowers, milk and chickens for the burgeoning city of Johannesburg. Orchards grew where Sandton City now sprawls; Benmore Gardens was Montague Simpson’s Benmore Farm, famous for its herd of prizewinning Ayrshire cattle. Close by was the Inanda Club, home to the Johannesburg Polo Club, but also home to the Rand Hunt that had held its first meet but a few years before, riding over farms and open land. The old farm, Zyferfontein, which had once belonged to Sir Edward Solomon, had by this time been proclaimed as the residential township of Inanda, but it was thinly settled.

Old photo of Benmore Farm (Wagon-Tracks and Orchards)

Benmore Farm plaque unveiling at Crawford...

My five older siblings had all been to missionary schools and turned out exceptionally well. My parents probably chose Inanda because of the school’s reputation and the fact that family friends had sent their children there, so I would have older friends to look after me.

The writer with her classmates in a 1975 class photo. She is fourth from left top row

Missionary schools had a very good reputation and that instilled a sense of pride in us as individuals and also a sense of connectedness to children who attended other missionary schools like Ohlange, Adams Mission, and St Mary’s. Ohlange and Adams Mission had a very rich history and heritage, very similar to our own school and our school’s connection to them also meant that there was some contact with ‘good’ boys (many of whom became future spouses of Inanda girls).

My sister, Palesa, matriculated from Inanda two years before I joined the school. I started in Form 1 – which would be Grade 8 in terms of the current system, although our group was the last one that did eight years of Primary School, before proceeding to...