23 June 2013

STREETSCAPES




When one is familiar with an area where one lives, works, studies etc., it is quite easy to overlook small, but interesting,  details of the past.  Today  many people communicate by the email system or text messages on mobile phones so much so that writing a letter and placing it in a post box, then waiting for a reply to fall into one’s letter box is almost a foreign idea!  But there are those who still use what is locally called “snail mail”  and there are still examples of early post boxes. 
 
An even earlier means of keeping in touch with the outside world was of a shoe tied in a milkwood tree at Mossel Bay, along the Cape coast.  In 1501 Captain D’Ataide, an officer in the Portuguese explorer Pedro Cabral’s fleet of ships on their way home, left a letter telling of the disaster they had faced on their way to India.  It was hoped that the communication  would be found by one of the outward bound ships of Joao da Nova.  The tree by the way was declared a national monument in 1938.  Other  early travellers passing the South African coast  found another method of posting their mail.  They left letters beneath large stones on the beach near the source of fresh water.

 
Post box St James 1937



Travelling forward  a couple of centuries one will find a Victorian letter box, identified by the “VR” still to be seen, attached to the boundary wall of  a private home on the Main Road, St James. This seaside suburb had a telegraph office in 1897 but no post office. The latter only became a fact on 12 July 1937.  Still residents had a post box for their letters.




No 13, Steenberg


 Another early means of communication was  by way of  milestones, used to inform the drivers of wagons drawn by oxen, or men on horse back how far they were from the Town House in Cape Town or how far they still had to travel to reach their destination either on the road to Simon’s Town or to Stellenbosch. The placing began in the early  1800’s and  were certainly an early form of road signage.

Small details but they fore shadowed today’s modern technological conveniences .

18 June 2013

Welcome to the Facts Found Blog



I work as an historical researcher and accept commissions under the name FACTS FOUND from clients in South Africa and from other parts of the world.  See: http://factsfound.isat.co.za

Historical research is an interesting and rewarding job.  Consider the meaning of the word job / Job.  Certainly on the one hand it means employment but spelled with a capital J – Job suggests someone with great patience.  Patience is an absolute necessity in undertaking this work.

When one decides to practise independently, realisation is almost immediate that one is  running a business. With all the care a business requires.  Knowledge with added practical experience makes for valuable assets.  But, as with any venture, it also takes good health, energy, patience and HARD WORK!  A daily routine can vary from straight forward research in various institutions,  giving talks on specific historical matters or by writing for a newspaper or magazine. See: www.imaginemag.co.za. I have also found that tutoring the English language from Grades 10-12 in the southern suburbs of this lovely city keeps one’s own interpretations and perspectives up to date. Topmarks@isat.co.za

Access to local research institutions in Cape Town is via three local univeristies: Cape Town University, University of the Western Cape, Stellenbosch University;   the Western Cape Archives, Master’s Office, Deeds Office, the National Library of South Africa, museums and various private document collections.  There are also excellent resources in other parts of the country.

Having own transport rather than having to rely on public transport is a plus which allows one not only to arrive at a specific institution on time but also gives one greater mobility. Walking around a suburb or rural towns and villages with a notebook, pen and camera in hand is another way to learn about a particular neighbourhood and to observe small details of historical interest.  For example:  Names of roads which, when some are investigated, will reflect many social and economic details of the area;  milestones almost beg one to ask why they are there;  cannons, somewhat aged, what is their history?  Oh there are so many interesting facts about which one can learn.