TOPIC:

Postcard view of the Buffalo River



Paul

Paul

This postcard brought back a flood of memories!

That section of the Bushman's (not Buffalo) River was where my friends and I learnt to swim - unsupervised and by trial and error. Why no-one drowned is a mystery. By the 1950's, long before drugs and computers had become part of teenage life, a wier had been built a short way downstream, so the river was (and still is) much deeper in this stretch and ideal for swimming and canoeing.

The two hills above the cliff were known as 'Sheba's Breasts', supposedly because Rider Haggard used them as inspiration for two topographic features in one of his books. The name amused us and it was probably our only tenuous link with Haggard and his books.

On the south bank of the river, to the right of the view in this photograph, was the Boer War cemetery. The men who were buried there had died of wounds or disease in the hospital at the nearby Fort Durnford. I have a few photographs of this cemetery taken with a Box Brownie camera. The cemetery no longer exists. In 1964, the remains of the men were disinterred and moved to a site on the clifftop near Sheba's left breast, and a consolidated memorial was built over them.

When I last saw the memorial a few years ago, it was still in good shape. Fortunately, the names of the men had been inscribed on plaques of black "granite". Had it been bronze, the plaques would long since have ended up in the melting pot, because the memorial is 'out of sight' in a lonely spot.

Thanks for showing this postcard and reminding me of happy days.

Regards
Brett

That's a fabulous story to link with the picture, Brett. Sound happy memories indeed.

Will we be seeing any pictures of you at this spot?

David

The only personal photographs of this period in my life were taken by me with my mother's Box Brownie and the only ones to survive were those of the cemetery and one of Fort Durnford in the distance. I have wondered if they can be connverted to digital images?

Regards
Brett

Brett

Many thanks for adding a great story to my postcard, most excellent!

Paul

Brett Hendey wrote: Paul

This postcard brought back a flood of memories!

That section of the Bushman's (not Buffalo) River was where my friends and I learnt to swim - unsupervised and by trial and error. Why no-one drowned is a mystery. By the 1950's, long before drugs and computers had become part of teenage life, a wier had been built a short way downstream, so the river was (and still is) much deeper in this stretch and ideal for swimming and canoeing.

The two hills above the cliff were known as 'Sheba's Breasts', supposedly because Rider Haggard used them as inspiration for two topographic features in one of his books. The name amused us and it was probably our only tenuous link with Haggard and his books.

On the south bank of the river, to the right of the view in this photograph, was the Boer War cemetery. The men who were buried there had died of wounds or disease in the hospital at the nearby Fort Durnford. I have a few photographs of this cemetery taken with a Box Brownie camera. The cemetery no longer exists. In 1964, the remains of the men were disinterred and moved to a site on the clifftop near Sheba's left breast, and a consolidated memorial was built over them.

When I last saw the memorial a few years ago, it was still in good shape. Fortunately, the names of the men had been inscribed on plaques of black "granite". Had it been bronze, the plaques would long since have ended up in the melting pot, because the memorial is 'out of sight' in a lonely spot.

Thanks for showing this postcard and reminding me of happy days.

Regards
Brett