15
January 2005
In Facts
About Durban I wrote that Durban had been an extremely important
transit point for troops during both WWI and WWII. Hundreds
of thousands, and perhaps even millions, of men and women
passed through here during the two conflicts. While looking
through an online auction site recently, I discovered a WWII-vintage
leaflet/map welcoming members of the armed forces to Durban.
It had belonged to a US soldier and was found among his effects
after his death.

I did
try and buy the leaflet but unfortunately got pipped at the
post and it went to someone else. There weren't any pictures
of the contents of the leaflet so I have no idea what was
in it it. I'd welcome hearing
from anyone who has a copy or who knows anything about
when it produced or handed-out.
Added 6 December 2010: I did finally manage to get hold of a copy of the leaflet and I have written it up on its own page here.
16
January 2005
Information
from this diary location concerning Scottish Ironwork,
Currie's Memorial Fountain and the Da Gama clock has
be moved to its own page
HERE |
Reminder:
Durban became a city 70 years ago, this year !!
18
January 2005
I seem
to have been quite productive lately. Today, I have a major
new page for you on whaling in Durban. The story is based
very strongly on an article I did for Metrobeat, our ratepayer's
magazine. Click
here to view the page.

Picture
courtesy Margaret Surmon |
A
Union Whaling Company catcher sails out of Durban harbour.
|
19
January 2005
The other
day I was fortunate to meet Wade Kidwell and be taken on guided
tour of his incredible collection of historical bits and pieces
which ranges from antique petrol pumps and barber shop eqipment
to ginger beer bottles and enamel signs. He was kind enough
to lend me his copy of Durban: From its beginnings to its
Silver Jubilee of City Status which was edited by Felix
Stark and brought out in 1960 to mark the 25th anniversary
of Durban's having achieved city status. There is quite a
bit of historical background in the book as well as lot of
advertising feature stories on companies which were operating
in Durban at the time.
 |
One
indispensible new fact I learnt from the book is that
Durban was where the first pneumatic tyre in South Africa
was made. The event took place in the Dunlop factory in
Sydney Road at 11:30am on 11 January 1935. |
 |
The
book also provides a sad little historical footnote in
this picture of a Sunderland flying boat being scrapped
in the K Nathan (Pty) Ltd. scrap yard, also in Sydney
Road. It was one of a number of aircraft which, today,
would have been literally priceless. I only know of one
Sunderland which still survives. When will people learn?? |
25
January 2005
On the
very first page
of this diary I posted a picture of a military parade which
I was later told was taken during a visit by the Grenadier
Guards to Durban in 1927 or 1928. Yesterday I received a photograph
from my informant Malcolm Wesson which opened the matter up
again. The picture is of three bandsmen of the Grenadier Guards
and was taken in Durban by Malcolm's father Ken but the photograph
is dated 1931.

Picture
courtesy Malcolm Wesson. |
Three
grenadier bandsmen snapped in Durban by Ken Wesson.
Note that they are carrying their busbies in cases.
Ken also managed to take a picture of their parade in
Smith Street but he was jostled and the pic is badly
blurred. Nevertheless, you can see members of the Durban
Borough Police, including mounted members, holding back
the enthusiastic crowd.
<=
Click image to view an enlargement. |
Malcolm
tells me that the Grenadier band had been brought out on tour
to South Africa by African Consolidated Theatres and that
they had a parade in Smith Street and did a show at the Playhouse.
I'd welcome hearing from anyone
who can tell me whether the Grenadiers visited Durban twice
(in 1927/29 & 1931) or whether we've got a date wrong
and both pictures are from the same visit.
Addition
16 March 2005: We now believe that the band only visited
here in 1931. See here.
 |
The
original picture posted on page
one of the diary shows the Grenadiers passing the
Criterion Theatre, which was on the corner of Victoria
Embankment and Field Street closest to the Berea. It
would be nice to know if the pic was taken on the same
visit as the one above or on another occasion.
<=
Click image to view an enlargement. |
Addition
16 March 2005: We now believe that the band only visited
here in 1931. See here.
13
February 2005
Some months
ago my informant Peter Sharples got in touch to say that he
knew someone whose grandfather had been one of troops who
had passed through Durban during WWI. He told me that Frederick
Pendall had left a diary of his exploits and that this had
been published on the Internet. Frederick's grand daughter
Sonia Minney very kindly gave permission for me to reproduce
the sections of the diary dealing with Durban and sent me
the photograph, below, of Frederick. I have put the diary
up on its own
page here.

Frederick
Pendall
Picture courtesy Sonia Minney
7
March 2005
Things
have been moving a bit slowly here in Durban due to the terrible
February heat and the consequent lethargy that the whole region
appears to be suffering from; Natal Fever is no joke!! Today
I have for you details of an ex-Durban whale catcher which
has been discovered by my informants in the wilds of Western
Australia, south of Perth. See
here for details.

Picture
courtesy Margaret Surmon |
The
catcher Wilfred Fearnhead, foreground, sometime before
her move to South Australia.
|
13
March 2005
Last week
was an incredible week with my e-mail bag bulging and the
phone ringing off the hook in response to an article on whaleing
that appeared in our ratepayer's magazine Metrobeat. The article
was based on research I did for a web
page here on this site.

Metrobeat:
March 2005: Pages 16 - 18
It seems
that there are a lot of people in Durban who remember the
whaling days and not a few who were actively involved. I'm
hoping to receive a lot more pictures and information from
the folk who contacted me. Two of them said that they have
cine film taken at the whaling station and I'm presently trying
to line up somebody who knows about dealing with old film
and can digitise it for posterity.
On another
topic entirely, my informant Marius Beytell recently sent
me a very interesting helicopter picture which, after some
fiddling, I managed to have identified as an Mi-24 attack
helicopter. The aircraft is Russian in origin and known in
Western defense circles as the Hind. It fought in Afghanistan
and is apparently a very potent beast, armed as it is with
a four-barrel 12.7mm machine gun, a twin-barrel 30mm cannon
and any number of different missile types.

Picture
courtesy Marius Beytell
The question
is what it it was doing flying over Scotsburgh Golf Course
at 7,15am on 8 February 2005. I do have reason to believe
that it stopped off in Durban to refuel but know nothing further.
An Internet
source tells me that the machine has a range of nearly
1000km, when fitted with extra fuel tanks, so it must have
come from somewhere and been going somewhere within that.
The captain of a Russian vessel passing offshore who couldn't
resist popping in to town for a bunny
chow and a crate of Castle beer??
I'd welcome
hearing from anyone who can throw some light on the subject.
ADDED 6 December 2011:
My informant Peter Noci has just been in touch to shed some light on the mysterious chopper. He wrote:
The subject is indeed a "Hind" or the Mil Mi 24 attack helicopter. However, the particular beast photographed by Mr. Beytell is the Mi 24 "Superhind" as modified and up-graded by Advanced Technologies Engineering based in Midrand. The helicopter was developed as an upgrade using most of the systems employed in manufacture of the S.A.A.F. Rooivalk attack helicopter, and ZU-BOI was the prototype machine. The Algerian Air-force fleet was so rebuilt and modified by A.T.E. a few years ago. Exactly what the machine was doing at the time in Durban air-space would be conjecture. Suffice to say, it would only be issued with a permit to fly for testing purposes or for display / filming purposes – there was a military testing range off the coast of Cape-Vidal a few years ago, and the machine was also used in the making of the film "Blood Diamonds", although I believe this was shot mostly in the Cape region. The helicopter was based for it's test flying programmes at the the Overberg (military) Test Facilty on the Cape Coast.
(My brother was a director with the company and involved in development with the avionics systems)
I enclose a picture of the prototype beast taken at the Waterkloof air base during the AAD 2003 show. For what it's worth, I hope this sheds a bit of light on the 'mystery' for you and Mr. Beytell. I continue to browse your site with great pleasure, mixed with a little heart-ache I must admit, I hope it continues to grow in the same manner with more precious memories...Thank you indeed..!
Peter Noci

Click to enlarge image.
16
March 2005
I have
been Internetting for a long time but I am often still surprised
at what you can find out there. I was looking for information
on the liner City of Durban to add to my collection of ships
that have been called Durban, when I came across something
else. Right at the top of this page is a picture of a leaflet
produced in WWII to welcome visiting troops to Durban but,
according to the reminsicences of a member of the New Zealand
5th Field Artillery Regiment, not all the residents were equally
welcoming. It seems that, while the unit stopped over in Durban
for four days, Gunner Ted Burgess had his ear bitten off in
'one foul bite' by a large Durbanite who objected having his
foot trodden on.
The
source page is here.
Warning: passage contains
one racially hurtful word.
Grenadier
Guards
I have also had a response from Mark Whitehead to the pictures
of the Grenadier Guards Bandsmen on this page, above. Mark
is the band archivist and says that, as far as he knows, the
band only visited Durban in 1931. He is hoping to be able
to identify the bandsmen in the picture.
Diary
Contents Page | Previous
Diary Page | Next Diary
Page |