There’s a lot of Plettenberg Bay’s history worth revisiting
Mike Kantey has a good memory, and shares some of them along with local stories from days gone by in his capacity as Van Plettenberg Historical Society stalwart.
The last month or two have seen a massive flowering of interest in matters historical.
First, it was a true delight to see how Charmaine Wild has bounced back from her near fatal illness to organise a wonderful morning of stories from the old folk of Piesang Valley.
Many of them were forcibly removed from their family homes in the valley, but the stories of their lives and their schools – led by the indefatigable Shirley Harker – were told with such dignity and grace that it was a truly humbling experience.
Let’s hope that these oral testimonies will be faithfully written down and a proper map drawn up which may show us all where everyone had their homes before 1974.
The next big event was the sudden removal of the sand at Hobie Beach to reveal not only the iron slipway used for the whaling station at the beginning of the 20th Century, but also a mystery wooden wreck, which caused a flurry of speculation.
Alas, at the time of going to press not much light was shed on this little reminder of Plett history, except for a few suggestions.
Charmaine Wild remembered the excavations of 1992 – including Heinz Ruther of UCT, who I tried to contact but without success as yet.
Lynne Wallace remembers observing the wreck as a youngster back in the 1970s, while Jack Mudd had an idea it might have been the Tri-Star, a fishing trawler that ran aground about then. So… plenty of speculation but surprisingly little hard evidence.
The last piece of history to emerge was in conversation with local Professor Emeritus Mike de Jongh, who informed me that the second excavator of the Robberg Nelson Bay Cave after Ray Inskeep, Professor Richard Klein, had revisited the site with colleague Janette Deacon.
Way back in the 1960s, Professor Klein helped make famous the term “Robberg industry”, which has since become a global catchphrase for early modern humans’ ability to make and use tools effectively.
On Sunday July 12, caravan park owner Chris Hops entertained us with an incredibly rich history of the Toplis and Cuthbert families.
Farms and buildings for which fine details were provided included: Weldon House, Ganzevlei (including his own site and the Old Nick complex, Hangklip, and Hillview (now South Cape College in KwaNokuthula).
Follow the Van Plettenberg Historical Society for new and re-invigorated interest in our ancient and modern history.