South Africa General

Below is a short but fascinating history of the whaling industry in South Africa. It was compiled by C De Jong and first published in the 1976 edition of Restorica, the journal of the Simon van der Stel Foundation (today the Heritage Association of South Africa). Thank you to the University of Pretoria (copyright holders) for giving us permission to publish.

Since times immemorial right whales visit the bays of the Cape Province during winter to give birth to their calves in shallow and safe water and to suckle them. They gave their name to Walvis Bay and after 1790 attracted whalers from many nations who anchored in the bays to provision and to hunt whales with their rowing boats. Leendert Jansen and Jan van Riebeeck proposed to the Dutch East Indian Company to kill not only seals but also whales off South Africa, but as whaling needed specialized personnel and equipment and many casks it was not practised before 1792. Between 1792 and 1850 several land stations on the Cape coast participated in the hunt until the whales became scarce and the stations had to close down. 

The foreign ships used the bays also as bases to pursue another kind of whale, the sperm whale in the open sea out of sight of the coast. For many decades after 1800 North Americans operated from Delagoa Bay and Madagascar to catch sperms. Those were the days of sailing ships, hand harpoons, open cooking pots on ship's decks and Moby Dick adventures...

2017 has not been a good year for heritage in South Africa. From fires in the Western Cape that claimed the 1792 Du Toit Manor House in Paarl, among others, to the theft of the Thulamela gold collection at the Kruger National Park in December 2016 (only made public knowledge in June this year), the losses have been significant.

Then there was the untold damage to major landmark buildings, including but not limited to the city halls of Pretoria and Bloemfontein, and temporary closures at the Johannesburg Art Gallery and Hector Pieterson Museum in Johannesburg. Fires, floods and negligence have taken their toll.

Bloemfontein City Hall (Christoff Steyn)

Not even prominent liberation names such as Robert Sobukwe and Winnie Mandela could protect sites. The saga of the proposed Winnie Mandela House Museum in Brandfort and the law offices of Sobukwe in Galeshewe are telling examples of official neglect.

In July, the Heritage Monitoring Project called on the public to nominate threatened heritage sites that did not make headlines nor receive much public attention.

In response, thirty-seven submissions were received by the Project, covering endangered and threatened heritage sites across eight of the nine provinces. The nominations include...

On 11 September 2017, the Cape Times and IOL published an article by Dr Piet Claassen entitled 'Heritage house owners should be compensated by a property tax cut' (click here to view). Below is a comprehensive response compiled by the team from CTS Heritage. 

Dr Claassen raises some important points in his article that require further interrogation. However, before proceeding it is important to establish some basic principles regarding heritage management in South Africa.

One such important basic principle is that “heritage”, this vague and difficult-to-define concept, has an important role to play in the spiritual well-being of citizens and has the power to contribute to building our nation. It has the potential to affirm our diverse cultures, and in so doing shape our national character. It is therefore something to be valued.

As such, the heritage resources, much like mineral resources, of this country are managed by heritage authorities on behalf of all of South Africa’s citizens. Again, much like mineral resources, as much as someone can own a structure or piece of land, no one person can own the “heritage value” of a place. This value is what requires conservation and management by an authority that takes the interests of all citizens into consideration over the interests of a particular landowner when it comes to heritage management.

Another important principle to emphasize is that, as alluded to by Dr Claassen, just because something or someplace is old does not mean that it has heritage significance...

Huge was the surprise when the author received multiple enquiries on a Prisoner of War (PoW) camp photograph that was included in a recent article on photography during the Anglo-Boer war (click here to view).

This Diyatalawa PoW camp photograph has the names of all 54 men captured on the back thereof (See Photo 5 below).

This unexpected interest confirms that genealogical research and natural curiosity around family links and history, even some 120 years after the event, are alive and well.

The intention of this article is therefore twofold, namely to list the names of the sitters identified in these 6 group photographs in order to assist current and future researchers and also to briefly reflect on the photographic activity at these PoW camps.

Prisoner of war camps

Around 24 000 boer prisoners were transported to various overseas camps. During this period some 577 men perished either at sea or in the camps – mainly due to natural causes. It has been recorded that the eldest prisoner was 78 at the time whilst the youngest was 7 years old. Camps existed in South Africa, Bermuda, St. Helena, Ceylon, India and Portugal.

Camp photographers

Although much has been published by historians about life and activities in these various PoW camps, little is known about professional photographers active in these camps. It is thought that the majority of these would have had no direct link to South Africa and that they were based in the countries or on the islands...

Joseph Calder Munro, a Scot by birth, made a significant contribution to Pretoria’s photographic history. Many of his photographs have survived and can be found in various national and private research collections. Photographs produced by him still surface on a regular basis - mainly at antique fairs.

After completing training and an internship in England, Munro continued his photographic career in Pretoria during 1890 (then aged 25), some 15 years after Pretoria’s first photographer the Swiss HF Gros established himself in Pretoria (click here for details).

Although he was not the first photographer to settle in Pretoria, he became known as one of the more prolific portrait photographers of his time. Many well-known personalities and leading citizens of the capital frequented his studios.

Amongst all those that attempted to earn a living from photography during Pretoria’s earlier years, Munro was the longest practising photographer – Some 50 years! His activity ranges from 1890 to 1940 (until the time of his death).

Two different poses. Why is it that men were typically seated during portrait photography sessions during this era? It has been suggested that it was protocol in those years, mainly for the female to show off her dress. Couple on the right have been recorded as Piet and Marta Rautenbach.

Scottish background...

In 2014 the monthly magazine “Civil Engineering” (published by the South African Institute of Civil Engineers) ran a series of articles entitled “A brief history of transport infrastructure in South Africa up to the end of the 20th century” (comprising ten chapters issued from January/February to November 2014), which gave an interesting account of the history of our roads, railways, harbours and airports. The author of the articles was Dr. Malcolm Mitchell, Senior Fellow of the SAICE, and in “Chapter 1: Setting the Scene”, he encouraged his readers to participate and add additional value to the topic. This is what I hope to do in a series of articles that will appear on the “Heritage Portal” in the coming months. To get the ball rolling I shall give an overview of today’s road infrastructure and then go back in time to when there were no roads only trails.

Road Map of South Africa (Durban 2012)

A three week summer holiday trip to the Cape, from Johannesburg, which entailed a round trip of 4000 km, opened my eyes to the splendour of our beautiful land. It would have been an easy option to hop on an aeroplane and arrive in Cape Town two hours later but to do so would have meant missing all that was in...

Which one of the two above is the happier sitter? Would it be old Hottentot on the left (Carte-de-Visite photograph by Port Elizabeth based photographer J.E. Bruton- Circa 1878) or the lady with the comical facial expression (Carte-de-Visite format photograph – photographer unknown – Circa 1880)? Psychology students often have to attempt to link an emotion to the expression observed in others. Could her expression be viewed as anger, disgust, embarrassment or simply laughter that is being suppressed?

In the author’s vast photographic research collection, there are a number of photographs that deviate from the formal, dull or even stoic studio photographs produced during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Some of these simply have to be shared.

This article contains some images that may be of interest from both a humorous or curiosity perspective. Granted, some of the humour is purely from the viewer’s perspective. What one views to be humorous or even curious, another may not. Irrespective, the images included deviate from photographic norms in existence then.

Looking at photographs from the Victorian area and beyond, people are hardly seen smiling. Every-one looks so serious. Although it has been suggested that poor dental hygiene was the reason for this, the real reason was long exposure times which made holding a smile difficult.

The resultant images make it seem that there was no joy in their lives or that they could not have fun. Although they may have had their own social, political or economical challenges, they would have been full...

Little recognition has been given to Henri Ferdinand Gros for his outstanding contribution to the South African photographic history between 1869 and 1890. No other photographer has contributed to the then Transvaal photographic history like Gros. Without the Gros photographs, we would not have had an idea of what Pretoria looked like between 1875 and 1890. Gros certainly had the insight to identify the value of pictorial documentation. His photographic technique also was nothing short of perfection for those days, considering that the art of commercial photography was hardly 30 years old by the time he started off as a photographer.

South Africa’s history is significantly younger than that of Europe. The town of Pretoria, was only proclaimed in 1855, some 16 years after the invention of photography.

Although Cowan (1978) has published a rather extensive article on this pioneer photographer, this article attempts to broaden the available information on this interesting yet secretive individual. Research into Gros was complicated due to the limited information available on him.

Henri Ferdinand Gros

Gros was born in Switzerland at Petit-Saconnex (today part of Geneva) on 7 May 1842. He was the youngest son to Louis Gros and Fanny Escoffey.

Even in Gros’s early years his restless nature and inclination to travel regularly became evident.

Gros was issued with a passport to travel to England via France on 20 June 1865. His profession indicated on the passport was that of bookkeeper. In an 1878 South African photographic newspaper advertisement, Gros indicated that he...

This last week brought a spectacular media scoop to Steve Humphrey of the BBC when an anonymous tip off (presumably telephonic) led him to a bell shaped parcel left at the entrance to the Swanage Pier in Dorset, England. The BBC team was on hand to film the careful unwrapping of the parcel to reveal a ship's bell with the word “Mendi” deeply etched in capital letters on the side (main image from Steve Humphrey and BBC TV South). The bell of the SS Mendi, lost in World War 1, had been found. 

Mendi Bell (BBC)

Attached to the parcel was an envelope, addressed to Humphrey, containing an unsigned letter giving him the responsibility to do “the right thing” and ensure the bell finds an appropriate home. Humphrey reported that he had been looking for the bell of the Mendi for the last 30 years, so its return was an emotional and significant moment. Our congratulations to the BBC on a wonderful piece that is far more than a regional news story.

The anonymous letter (BBC)

The news was immediately picked up by The Argus (click here to view)and word spread across South Africa. I learnt about the find because I received a breaking news flash in...

Photography is the only “language” that is understood worldwide, resulting in a bridge being created between nations and cultures – it connects the family of humanity. Independent of political influence – where people are free – it provides us with an honest reflection about life and events, allows us to share in the hope, joy and despair of others, and potentially lightens political and social burdens. This way we become witnesses, not only of humanity, but also of the brutality of human kind (Gernsheim as quoted in Sontag 1977).

Since the first war was photographed during 1846, photography and war have become inseparable. Any war photographed fills gaps in our perception around the events and occurrences surrounding it. It provides for an improved context.

South African photographs from the Anglo-Boer War, those that have survived, have become additions to our heritage.

Image of Boer Prisoners of War held at Diyatalawa Camp in Ceylon. What makes this image unusual is that the name of each of the 54 individuals on the image has been captured on the back of the photograph. Photograph was initially thought to have been taken at the Ragama camp. Originating format – unknown.

[[{"fid":"3528","view_mode":"media_adaptive","fields":{"format":"media_adaptive","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Unknown concentration camp. Carpenters. The table is clearly...