Today we have a magnificent set of views (mostly of the harbour) sent in by Johnny Vassilaros. Thanks to J Dube (see comments below) I now know that these pictures originated from from HiltonT”s photo sharing pages on Flickr and are courtesy of The Publicity and Travel Department of The SAR&H. Included are shots of the loading and unloading of cargo in the pre-container days, tugs and ships, aerial harbour views and some beach scenes. Most have captions and some even have dates.
[nggallery id=7]When taking a look at HiltonT’s Flickr pictures I also came across this beautiful shot of buses having just been unloaded from the ship in 1939. The picture originally appeared in Life magazine and was taken by William Vandivert and shows the buses complete with Durban roller-destination signs. See the article on this site which talks about Durban transport.
J Dube`
With respect to these pictures** I have seen them before and the credit is due to Mr HILTON T who has posted loads of pictures from all parts of South Africa, Durban Johannesburg and loads of SAR&H trains, harbours and many other locations. There are loads of his specialist photos and all are of great locations and quality. He deserves to be recognised for his wonderful old South African memories.
FAD is great and one of the best on the internet, there are so many great, valuable and interesting “memories” that can never be allowd to fade and you present them so well
and the information so accurate.
Sincere thanks for all the trouble you take and to the other great contributors.
______
*** In response to a request in the original post for information regarding the origin of the pictures in the gallery. In the light of this info, I have updated the diary entry accordingly. The Editor.
Allan Jackson
Hi J Dube. Thanks very much for the kind words about FAD. You’re quite right that HiltonT’s page is a great photographic resource. Cheers, Allan Jackson.
Hilton Teper
J Dube,
Thanks for the recognition.
Regards,
Hilton Teper
J. Dube'
Hi Hilton,
You are most welcome, you deserve the recognition.
The photos are of such importance to the memories of Durban and other parts of the country that you have covered. These are pictures a person will have never thought of taking in those “camera” days and you have provided us all with the pictures we forgot to take whilst enjoying those wonderful years that have gone forever, we were fortunate to have lived through them.
Readers of this fantastic FAD site should also go onto your site and see them all the different pictures for themselves, they are great and will find them very interesting and will provoke great memories!!!!!!
Regards
John
Gerald Buttigieg
Looking at the buses on the wharf , just an observation, but the trough at the back of the bus to carry fishing rods has not been fitted yet. Maybe this came later? The upper “holders” are there though.
Hilton Teper
Thanks to all for the courtesy, acknowledgement and kind comments in respect of my collection of South African Railways & Harbours Publicity and Travel Department photographs. There are approximately 900 – mostly 10″x 8″ – photos in the collection which took me a good few months, working to the early hours on occasions, to scan and in some cases, digitally enhance, to optimise the quality.
The link to the collection is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hilton-t/collections/72157621916648803/
Gerald Buttigieg
Hi Hilton
I have not looked at the link photos but were some of these the photos one would see in compartments of the main line trains? I seem to recall that three photos were affixed to what became the underside of the top bunk. During the day this bunk folded back and the photos were visible. They were fixed in wooden frames.
Hilton Teper
Gerald,
That’s just how I recollect it. There is a set based on the accommodation on the train, one of which is at this link (which confirms our recollection):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hilton-t/3822241356/in/set-72157622041202796
Regards
Gerald Buttigieg
Hilton,
There you go! Just as I remember the pictures on the base of the top bunk. I travelled Durban to Johannesburg and back quite a few times as a youngster and recall the compartment quite well. The speed with which the bedding assistants used to make the bunk up ready for sleeping always amazed me. How did you get the collection? That is a fair haul.
Frank Beeton
Hi Allan,
Here’s positive identification of the buses. They were Daimler COG6 chassis (Gardner diesel and 4-speed preselector gearbox) fitted with 58-seater Weymann bodies and imported complete from England. The Daimler COG6 was the Durban Corporation’s standard double-deck motorbus before and during WW2, there being about 40 units in the fleet with Wemann and Park Royal bodies. The colour scheme was grey with cream bands. They were replaced from 1947 by similar units (Daimler CVG6).
By the way, the tug and floating crane pictures are also very nostalgic for me, because my grandfather (Francis Samuel Beeton) was the “steam driver” (i.e. engineer) on the pilot tugs Ulundi and Harry Cheadle, and the floating crane, before his death in 1955.
Syd Oram
Hi
Can anyone confirm when construction of the T Jetty itself (not the Ocean Terminal Building) was started and completed?
Gerald Buttigieg
Hi Syd,
It is strange but the construction of the T Jetty is not highlighted at all in my records of Durban. I have no definitive start and finish date to help you out but looking at pictures in some of the books I have, it must have been started post WW2 probably in the late 1940s and completed early 1950s. Nothing is mentioned of T Jetty in the 1938 Directory and I doubt that its construction would have started as something towards the war effort.
I do have a 1954 Souvenir Program commemorating Durban’s Civic Centenary and in one of the pictures in the book, the T Jetty can be seen completed. I am sure going through newspaper records of this period would narrow down the dates.
bryan d potgieter
i am an avid lover of the old steam tugs of sar@h – the reference i use = a century of south african steam tugs – ( i have 2 copies – i know a 3rd a4 version was issued later) mr Hilton Teper also has amazing pictures not only of tugs – but generally the old days of south africa – i also enjoyed les pivnics pictures – with out the above mentioned my knowledge would not be where it is today – i too add my respect to the comments expressed here