Facts About Durban

Spotlight on HMS Durban

Allan Jackson — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:24:57 +0000

This is the first in an occasional series of posts to highlight interesting pages and articles on this site which you may have missed. This one concerns the visit of HMS Durban to Durban in December 1929 and contains some delightful extracts from the souvenir booklet published on the occasion.

Souvenir programme published by the Durban Town Council.

A mystery!

Allan Jackson — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:14:08 +0000

I wonder if anyone can help out with an question about the location of a gold mine in Bellair which was first raised by Graham Brown on this site a couple of years ago. I did forward the question to Durban history buff Donald Davies who is interested in gold mines in the Durban area and he recently got back to me to report that he had made no progress on the location. He asked if there was anyone out there who knew where the mine was; perhaps a former firemen who remembers the cat incident.

Graham wrote:

As a child I recall hearing of a Gold Mine situated in or near Blairmont Avenue in Bellair which had actually produced a few ounces, or maybe a few grams, of gold before it was closed. The hole must have remained for some time because I remember, as a child, my parents discussing a newspaper article about cat that fell into the hole and had to be rescued by the fire brigade!

Paipo board interviews

Allan Jackson — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:23:34 +0000

No, I didn’t know what Paipo boards were either, but it turns out that they are plywood bellyboards which were widely used in the early years of surfing, including in Durban. Bob Green is an expert on such matters and he wrote in to say that he has added a couple of interviews with Durban Paipo boarders to his website.

Requests and an offer

Allan Jackson — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:44:00 +0000

A few things today. Nicole White wrote:

Hi Allan,
Happened to see a comment by Rodney 20 March 2013 on FAD regarding Ward and Salmon’s Outfitters. I was trying to find out more information about it myself because of the attached photo I found. Hopefully more info will come in.

Piet wrote:

Hi. I would really appreciate if anybody could assist me in finding more info on a Lady Firth who owned a property in Haraldene road. I am currently researching the historical and architectural significance of the property . Just any lead will do.
Kind regards
W.P. van Rheede van oudtshoorn (Piet)

Reader Hazel Adams wrote in with an offer:**

My sister , June Willcock and I rode at Muriel Higgs’ Riding School in the 60′s through to the early 70′s. We have some photos from our time of riding there. My mother, May Willcock helped her quite a lot from then and through to the end of the riding school and the end of Miss Higg’s life in Glenarvon, Moore Road. My mother has died and so I now have a box of correspondence and accounts from those days which is old and dusty but may be of interest to someone researching either Miss Higgs and Natal equestrian history.

Gail Cooper wrote:**

Hi, I lived at Kings Hall Durban in 1962 with my family having come over from England. I was seven at the time and just wondered if anyone has any photos of it from back then ? Or anytime really?? Sadly my mother had Alzeihmers for quite few years before passing away and consequently threw out all of our old family photos. I would love to be able to share at least something of my stay in Africa as it was (and still is) a very special time for me. Could anyone at all please help ? Thank you

** These two items came in as comments on much earlier posts and I have repeated them here to give them more visibility.

Rikshas

Allan Jackson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:00:26 +0000

Nicole White sent in the picture above. The Rikshas are a real Durban icon and I’ve always had the feeling that more use should be made of them as a tourist attraction. The ones I’ve encountered have always looked a bit decrepit and not that inviting. It wouldn’t cost that much, surely, to spruce them up a bit.

Correction

Allan Jackson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:41:27 +0000

I have been taken to task by Betty Welz about an inaccuracy on the page concerning the visit of Prince George to Durban in 1934. In it I said that the Prince had later become King George VI but, of course, that was his elder brother. The Prince was killed in an air crash in 1942.

The page makes interesting reading and contains a number of excerpts from the official program.

Signs

Allan Jackson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:17:32 +0000

Here are a few pictures from Arthur Gammage who regularly contributes to the site. Arthur’s with the City Architect’s Department and has access to pictures of the street signage of businesses which were kept by the Advertising Signs Section because all such signs required official approval.

The pictures include the frontages of the Three Monkeys Coffee Bar, after it moved into Pine Parkade, and the Chuck Wagon Restaurant (mentioned by Robert Hart in a recent diary entry) which was in the Plaza Hotel in St Andrews Street.

Curiosities

Allan Jackson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 05:53:22 +0000

Here are a couple of new pictures sent in by Bob Gooderson. This one is of Mini Town which, as far as I know, is operational near to the old Snake Park site. I was in there only once or twice as a kid and I think that may have been because it may have been a bit expensive for us.

Mini Town.
Courtesy Bob Gooderson.

The chef Peter Chen was an institution in the Edward Hotel’s Mandarin Room restaurant for many years. The following is a scan of a menu from dinner on 16 March 1981 and a signed Jock Leyden cartoon of Peter. I note that the dinner was a whole R4.00 per person.

Peter Chen and the Mandarin Room.
Courtesy Bob Gooderson.

Mansfield High

Allan Jackson — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 12:40:10 +0000

Last month Gary Teague sent in three pictures and a question:

Hi
I am a school teacher at George Campbell School of Technology –formerly George Campbell Technical high School. We are celebrating our 50^th anniversary this year.
Here are some old photos we received from a person in Group5 at our school – When do you think they were taken?
Regards
Gary

Inchanga Prep picture

Allan Jackson — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 12:15:12 +0000

I have just added a picture sent in by Graham Thompson to his contribution to a previous diary entry on Inchanga Memories. The picture is of the pupils at Inchanga Prep, including himself, in 1941.