Flags
are interesting reflections of the doings of human beings. As one moves around
a city or its suburbs examples of flags in varied colours and designs are to be
seen on buildings. No longer are they
only official banners/symbols representing the state, royalty, military but
have been adopted as advertising material by corporate business houses, hotels,
insurance, motor car companies etc.
School
flags are also attention catching but researching details of their history has
sometimes not been easy to discover. First one has to find the schools who have
flags (many have badges but not flags), then face the fact that the particulars
of the designs have not always been recorded.
Next begins a search for a teacher/parent/learner of the present or of
the past who may have noted down facts or who may remember details, dates etc.,
and who have the time to explain and answer the researcher’s questions. Some
knowledge of the history of the specific place where the school is situated
and/or of the surrounding area, is useful. In this way details are pieced together and an
answer begins to appear. Odd facts come to light: some flags are hung inside a
school hall and not outside; occasionally a flag is designed by Grade 12
learners.
Simon’s |
Some
of these flags use ordinary emblems to promote a school, while others use the
more complex vexillological symbols as well as Latin mottos. For example: As
Simon’s Town School is to be found in this naval
town, one expects a connection to the sea or to the navy. This expectation is met by dark blue crossed
anchors and wavy lines in white and a lighter blue – references to the navy and
the sea. This is on the lower part of
the flag with the upper section filled by a lion rampant (rearing in profile) in
red on a blue background. This referring
perhaps to the Navy’s British/colonial past.
The motto is FAC ET SPERA
By
contrast the flag of the Zwaanswyk
High School , Retreat is
attractive but plain in style. It was
designed in 1961 and has a white swan facing the flagpole on a background
divided into three – the top portion is royal blue, the middle portion white
and the lower end black. The swan
obviously refers to the Zwaan in the name of the school but one wonders why a
swan? Here one can only speculate; it
might be a reference to the historic farm Zwaaneweide, which became the present
day Steenberg farm and which was owned by a woman, Catherina Ustings. Or it could simply be a name given by a later
owner who saw large birds there and thought they were similar to others he/she
had seen in his/her birthplace. I say a
later owner because the land on which this school was built was once part of a
very old grant of the 1680s and known as Baas Harman’s Kraal.
The
flag of Bergvliet
Primary School , which
incidentally was the first school to be built in the new residential area, was
designed by an art teacher, a Mr Walters. The background is bottle green in
colour with an orange/red erica flower in the centre. The green colour I was told reflects the school’s
strong environmental ethos and the erica was a plant once found in numbers in
the area. The land on which the school
was built more than a half century ago, was once part of Bergvliet farm and that in
turn had once been, up until 1712, a
part of governor Simon van der Stel’s farm, Constantia. The motto is SERVIMUS.
Wynberg
Boys High and Junior schools has a history that goes back to 1841 when a school
began in Glebe Cottage, Waterloo Road, Wynberg.
At that time it was known as the Wynberg Established
School . It was co-ed and only became a boys school in
1853. The school grew in numbers and in
time moved into new buildings designed by architect Herbert Baker. Then the high school moved to separate
buildings not far from where the school began life. Their flag design came into being after 1945
and is quartered and centred on a plain blue background. Various icons are represented in each
quarter. They are: the three rings of Jan van Riebeeck, he grew
grapes on his farm in what is today known as Bishopcourt; a white anchor entwined with black
rope; a white tent, a reference to the
Wynberg Military Camp; three fleur de
Lys and a bare vine. It was explained to
me that the last is a reference to the Huguenots who furthered what has become
a growing wine industry. The school
motto shown is : Supera Moras.
Wynberg Girls High School Flag |
Wynberg
Girls’ High School founded in 1844 has as its badge the crest of the family of
the Dukes of Wellington. The flag has
the school badge placed in the centre of a brown background and shows a red
lion surmounting a ducal coronet. The
lion, which has a coronet placed in front of its body, holds a flagpole flying
a white banner with a red cross. The
motto states “Honour before Honour”.
The
history of the South African College Schools and the history of the University of Cape Town began in 1829, not as separate
institutions but rather as an educational foundation that in time grew into the
two institutions. After occupying
various “homes” in Cape Town SACS moved, in 1960, to Newlands, not far from the
University. In 1859 Charles Davidson
Bell, the Surveyor General of the Cape , was
asked to design a Coat of Arms for the school which in time became part of the
school flag. Bell
was also the designer, in 1851, of the Cape
triangular postage stamp.
The
Coat of Arms is placed on a plain royal blue background. At the top is a sketch of Table Mountain ,
below that is a lamp of learning, then a crown, a book resting on an
anchor. The school’s motto is :
Spectemur Agendo.
It
may come as a surprise that a school flag would suggest so much local
historical information .
SEE WEBSITE: http://factsfound.isat.co.za
English
conversation classes via SKYPE
Dawn.Gould1
Phone:27 21:715 91 56
e. topmarks@isat.co.za