Donkin mosaic

Route 67 around the Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth has brought a new angle and attraction to urban tourism in the city.  The numbers 67 relate to the 67 years that Nelson Mandela spent in public and the whole project consists of 67 art pieces.  Most of these are public art pieces centred around the Donkin Reserve in the hearty of the city and forms an important part of urban renewal in the city.  One of the art pieces is a 470 square meter mosaic next to the Donkin Pyramid which celebrates the city and province's many cumtures, heritages, diverse histories and abundant fauna and flora.

Donkin mosaïek op Roete 67

Een van die mooiste kunsstukke wat deel uitmaak van die nuwe Roete 67 kuns- en kultuurroete in Port Elizabeth is die reuse mosaïek op die Donkin Reservaat.  Die moasïek wat deur studente aan die Nelson Mandela Metropolitaanse Universiteit gedoen is verteenwoordig aspekte van die Ooskaap.  Die sluit in diere, voëls, plante, mense en vele ander dinge.  Route 67 bestaan uit 67 kunswerke wat die 67 jaar wat Nelson Mandela in die publieke oog deurgebring het verteenwoordig.  Dit begin by die Campanile en eindig op die Donkin Reservaat met die kunswerke wat oral langs die roete gesien kan word. 

Perdemonument

Port Elizabeth is die tuiste van een van net twee monumente in die wêreld wat spesifiek opgesit is vir perde.  Derduisende perde is na die Kaapkolonie gebring vir die Britse troepe wat in die Anglo Boereoorlog tussen 1899 en 1902 teen die Boeremagte geveg het.  Die meeste van hierdie perde is deur Algoabaai ingebring en geskiedenis wys dat meer as 300,000 perde van siektes, uitputting en hongerte gesterf asook doodgeskiet is. 

Daar was reeds in 1901 'n besluit geneem om 'n monument vir die perde op te rig en 'n dameskomitee is op die been gebring om fondse in te samel.  Mev Harriet Meyer was aan die hoof van die komitee wat £800 versamel en Joseph Whitehead aangestel het om die standbeel te ontwerp en op te rig.  Die monument is in 1905 op die hoek van Parkrylaan en Rinkstraat bekendgestel en in die 1950's na sy huidige posisie langs Kaapweg geskuif.

 

Die monument bestaan uit 'n Britse soldaat wat besig is om sy perd te versorg en die inskripsie daarop sê:

“The greatness of a nation depends not so much upon the number of its people or its territory,
as in the extent and justice of its compassion.”

 

Kidz Adventures - Exploring PE's history

During the school holidays its always a bit of a challenge to keep bored children busy.  Most parents end up taking them to the movies, for ice cream at Micky D's, playing putt putt and games or one of the party places with jungle gyms and trampolines.  Me? Well, I try to spend at least a day with the Kidz exploring Port Elizabeth or surrounding area for them to get to know the city better.  During the past holiday we headed out to discover some of the city's historic sights along with their friends AB and JB. 

The first stop of the day was the oldest building in Port Elizabeth.  Fort Frederick was built by the British in 1799 to protect Algoa Bay from French invasion but never fired a shot in anger.  In actual fact the fort was the first permanent stone structure built by the British in Africa south of the equator.  The fort is perched on top of the cliffs above the Baakens Valley has a magnificent view of the lower valley and Port Elizabeth Harbour.  The guns on the fort are ship cannons which were placed there symbolically since the original guns were removed.  JB wanted very badly to direct a salvo out to sea but there were no enemy ships in sight.

The next stop on our tour was just a couple of hundred meters down Belmont Terrace.  The Donkin Reserve with its historic lighthouse and pyramid is my favorite historic site in Port Elizabeth.  The Donkin is surrounded by a number of other historic sites and the new Route 67 development has blown new life into the area as an attraction.  The pyramid (Donkin Memorial) was built in 1820 by Sir Rufane Donkin as a monument to his late wife Lady Elizabeth Donkin after whom he also named the town.  The lighthouse was originally built in 1861 and the old lighthouse keeper's cottage is now a Visitor Information Centre run by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism.  Some of the Route 67 art pieces like the untitled Anton Momberg conversation piece and the Voting line make for great pictures, with or without human subjects.

While walking around the Donkin with the Kidz I noticed their eyes kept going to the lighthouse so I decided it was time to climb.  Entrance to the lighthouse is only R5 per person payable at the NMBT office.  The climb up the lighthouse is done by a few sets of steps and ladders and even though Drama Princess was a bit hesitant at the start they all flew up there like a bunch of monkeys.  The view from the top of the lighthouse is breathtaking all around with the beachfront, harbour, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium as well as the surrounding area visible.  The Donkin Lighthouse is well worth the climb.

.

From the Donkin we followed the winding Route 67 path down towards the city centre for a visit to the city's historic Public Library.  Stopping briefly for a quick pic with Queen Vic (made of Sicilian marble and erected in 1903 to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee) we headed inside with the Kidz under strict instructions to keep it quiet.  The Kidz were amazed with the library's interior with its balconies and stained glass windows.  They immediately went exploring and found their way up onto the balcony walkway where, not before long, they stood admiring the beautiful windows.  The Public Library was opened in 1902 with the front stone facade built in England before being shipped to Port Elizabeth in numbered block.  I remember how we roamed the library as kids and it was awesome to introduce the Kidz to a place from my childhood memories. 

The last stop of our outing was at St Georges Park to visit the newly restored Pearson Conservatory.  The conservatory is another of the places we roamed around in as kids on Art in the Park Sundays while my mom had her stall there.  Although the inside of the conservatory has changed a bit from how I remember it, its still well worth a visit.  By now I had used up my quota of good behaviour made available to me for the day and the four of them started to get a bit too active for my liking.  With St Georges' play area close by the four set off to play in the park and expend some built up energy before coming back complaining that they were getting hungry.  It just never stops, does it?

Skateboarding down the Donkin

One of the things that the redevelopment of the Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth has done was inadvertently create the ideal winding downhill skateboard (long board) coarse.  This has led to the first Donkin Downhill Dash taking place today.  The pathway, starting up at the historic lighthouse and pyramid with its crosses representing democratic votes past and future, makes its way down towards Chapel Street and are long enough for the top skaters to clock times of about 1 minute 22 seconds.

The turnout was quite good with over 50 skateboarders taking part and hundreds of people turning out to watch what is hopefully the first of many such competitions to come.  It was also the ideal opportunity for the photographers of the city to bring out their hardware and shoot the action with me starting to get some lens envy watching some of the guys click away with their big cameras and lenses.

After a couple of warm up runs the first heats took place with everybody getting a run.  It was a timed event which means a race against the clock and not against each other on the coarse.  During the lunch break the guys were doing free runs again before the second heat and it was nice to get a couple of photos with more than one skater in the picture.

This event and the venue has great potential to become very big and we will hopefully see both national and perhaps even international skaters here in future.

South End Museum Heritage Trail

The area of South End in Port Elizabeth used to be a vibrant multi cultural suburb until it was destroyed by the Apartheid Government when its people were displaced in 1965 following the implementation of the Groups Areas Act.  The South End Museum on the corner of Beach Road and Walmer Boulevard is housed in the old Seamans Institute Building and remembers the people and places of South End.  One of the initiatives that they started was the South End Museum Heritage Trail which links a number of historic sites in the area on a self guided (or guided if you prefer it) walk.

Across the road from the museum stands an old Wild Fig tree which is thought to be over 100 years old.  The tree stands next to the then Chase Street and back in the days the kids used to climb the tree while the older people sat in it's shade.  When the people were removed and the buildings in the area demolished, the fear was that the tree would also be chopped down or pushed over by a bulldozer. Luckily this didn't happen.

 

As you continue on the trail you pass two mosques that, due to international pressure on the Apartheid government, weren't demolished along with the other buildings in the area.  The one at the bottom of Walmer Boulavard is the Rudolph Street Mosque (Mosque of Righteousness) which was completed in 1894.

 One of the main attractions on the trail is the St Mary's Cemetery.  St Mary's is one of the oldest cemeteries in Port Elizabeth and a number of the graves belong to some of the original British Settlers that arrived in Algoa Bay in 1820.

 Overlooking the St Mary's Cemetery is the ruins of the St Peter's Anglican Church.  St Peter's was completed in 1877 and even though the congregation of the church were been removed to the other side of the city they still came back to worship in the church to the dismay of the Apartheid government. To stop them from doing so it was decided to demolish the church.

Although there are a couple of other sites on the route, the last one that I am posting about is the remains of the old Walmer Road.  Walmer Road used to be the main road running through South End between the city centre and the suburb of Walmer.  In those days the main hotels and businesses of the area were found along this road. Today only a small section of this old road is still visible at the top of Pier Street and is slowly being overgrown by the grass and other vegetation.

The women of the Donkin Reserve

Today  (9 August 2011) we celebrate National Women's Day here in South Africa.  In recognition of all the women of the world this post contains the symbolism dedicated to women on the Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth.

One of the new art pieces installed on the Donkin Reserve is a conversation piece by renowned sculpture Anton Momberg.  The sculpture is a dedication to all the women that have contributed and are contributing to the city.  She faces the pyramid towards the rising sun and offers a chair on the "Balcony of the City" to the international stage. 

The pyramid itself is also a monument to a woman.  In actual fact the woman after whom Port Elizabeth was named.  The pyramid, or Donkin Memorial as it is known, was erected by Sir Rufane Donkin in 1820 in memory of his wife, Lady Elizabeth Donkin, who died the year before of fever in India.  The plaque reads:

To the memory

of one of the most perfect

of human beings

who has given her name

to the Town below

SS Mendi Memorial

 Mendi Memorial in New Brighton

There is a monument in the New Brighton township of Port Elizabeth to those who died on the SS Mendi in the First World War.  Blacks were not allowed to represent South Africa during the war as soldiers and those black people who did volunteer were sent to Europe as Labour Corps to do work like digging trenches.  The SS Mendi sailed from Cape Town transporting 823 members of the 5th Battalion, South African Native Labour Corps to France.  From Cape Town she went via Lagos to Plymouth before crossing the English Channel for Le Havre.  On 21 February 1917 at 5am in thick fog she was struck and cut almost in half by the SS Darro, an empty meat ship that was bound for Argentina.

 Inscription on the Mendi Memorial at New Brighton

616 South Africans (607 of them black troops) plus 30 British crew members died in the disaster.  The men of the South African Labour Corps came from a wide range of social backgrounds and different groups within South Africa, but the majority were from the rural areas of the Pondo Kingdom in the Eastern Cape.  Some men were killed outright in the collision while others were trapped below decks.  Many however gathered on the listing deck of the Mendi, but unfortunately very few of them could swim.

One of the most shocking parts of the incident is that the crew of the Darro made no attempt to rescue survivors and kept on sailing on.

The names of the men who died on the SS Mendi are inscribed on the Wall of Names at Freedom Park in Pretoria 

Oral history records that the men met their fate with great dignity. Their chaplain, Reverend Isaac Dyobha, is reported to have calmed the panicked men by raising his arms aloft and crying out in a loud voice:

"Be quiet and calm, my countrymen. What is happening now is what you came to do...you are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers...Swazis, Pondos, Basotho...so let us die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war-cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies."

They were stomping the "death drill" as the ship went under.

Port Elizabeth City Hall

The Port Elizabeth City Hall is one of my favorite historic buildings in the city.  What makes it even better is that it is surrounded by a number of other historic buildings.  The City Hall stands in the Port Elizabeth city centre on Market Square.  In the photo the Old Post Office is visible on the left while the two buildings on the right are the Feathermarket Centre and Plein Huis.  In the foreground is a replica of the cross planted in the bay by Bartholomeu Diaz in 1488.

The beautiful city hall was built between 1858 and 1862 from the design of Robert Archibald who became the city's first Town Engineer in 1860.  Unfortunately the city hall was gutted by fire in 1977 and a number of paintings, including the only portrait of Elizabeth Donkin, was destroyed.  The building was fully restored and reopened in 1981.

The city hall was originally built without the clock tower which was added on in 1883.

Prince Alfred Guard soldier

The figure of a ready-to-charge PAG Sargent-major on top of the Prince Alfred Guard Memorial in Port Elizabeth. PAG Memorial in St Georges Park was erected in remembrance of men from the regiment that died in four different wars, one of them the Anglo Boer War.

Visit Skywatch for more neck craning pictures featuring the sky

Queen Victoria Statue

Today (9 August) is National Women's Day here in South Africa. I checked my photos for something relevant and decided to feature the Queen Victoria Statue in front of the Public Library in Port Elizabeth. It kinda links in with the post I did the other day on the Queen Victoria Profile in the Gamtoos Valley.

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. At 63 years and 7 months, her reign as the Queen lasted longer than that of any other British monarch, and is the longest of any female monarch in history. Her reign is known as the Victorian era and as South Africa, known in those days as the Cape Colony, was a British colony, a lot of its development took place under her reign.

The Queen Victoria Statue was erected and unveiled in 1903 to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee which took place in 1897. The statue is made of Sicilian marble and takes pride of place in front of the historic Public Library building next to Market Square. The spot was chosen as she would look down what used to be Jetty Street towards the landing beach and welcome people into the town.

Canon sunrise

My Skywatch contribution for this week: Sunrise at Fort Frederick overlooking the Port Elizabeth Harbour

Walmer Cenotaph

Most Port Elizabethans know of the Cenotaph in front of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Gallery at St Georges Park, but very few know that the monument in front of the Walmer Town Hall is a Cenotaph as well.

On the front and the back of the monument are plaques with the names of men who died during the two World Wars.

Every year on Remembrance Day there is a parade and service at the monument that are organised by the Memorable Order of Tin Hats (Moth) Organisation.

Prince Alfred Guard flower

I snapped this picture at the Prince Alfred Guard Memorial in Port Elizabeth the other day. I hadn't been to the monument for a while and stopped by to see if I could get a couple of photos from angles that I haven't taken there before.

Donkin sunrise

Sunrise at the Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth with the Donkin Memorial (pyramid) on the left and the lighthouse on the right.

.

Visit Skywatch for more pictures taken my photographers pointing their cameras skywards.

Horse Memorial Silhouette

For a while now I've wanted to get down to the Horse Memorial here in Port Elizabeth to get a nice silhouette sunset shot. Well, the other night I had my chance. It wasn't the most painted sunset sky, but I love the effect.

Campanile

Its been a while since I've climbed to the top of the Campanile. Last weekends I had to keep Chaos Boy busy for the morning while the girls went shopping and we decided to go and climb to the top of the tower.

The Campanile was built and completed in 1923 in commemoration of the centenary of the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820. The site on which it stands used to be the landing beach where the settlers were offloaded before their long journey to the Grahamstown district.

The tower is 51.8 meters high and has 204 steps to the top. It also has a carillon of 23 bells.

At the top of the tower there are windows looking out to each of the four directions. East (above) you look across the Port Elizabeth Harbour which now separate the old landing beach from the ocean. South looks towards the beachfront while West looks across the freeway which separates the Campanile and harbour from the rest of the city. Looking North one can see the new Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and the mountains beyond Uitenhage in the distance.

Pyramid

Over the last couple of years I have taken many pictures and has done a couple of posts on the Donkin Reserve, in particular the lighthouse and the pyramid. On my last visit, not wanting to take the same ol' photies again, I was looking for a different angle of some sorts. This is what I came up with this time around.

Horse-a-flutter

Spending some time with the FIFA city profile film crew last week gave me the opportunity to observe the camera men very closely which gave me a lot of tips to try with my own photography. One of the spots they filmed at was the Horse Memorial here n Port Elizabeth. There is always lots of pigeons around and the camera man used two loaves of bread to attract them to the monument just to frighten them off again for the shot.

I know both these photos aren't framed perfectly and I didn't want to fiddle with them by trying to crop them, cause I kept on cutting out most of the birds. After looking at the pics I realised that for me the pic is more about the birds than the monument and that the monument is just a good backdrop for the pigeons flying off. Out of the two I prefer the second angled shot more as there seems to be more action in it.

City Hall reflextion

The reflection of the City Hall clock tower in one of the windows of the Feather Market Hall