Number 19: August/September 2006
ISSN 1810-5580
Full-size PDF of cover (188K)

Old photographs
We often use old photographs to illustrate our articles. Many of these are supplied by the families connected to the stories, others come from published or archival sources. This time the Editor discovered he was now old enough to supply the historic photographs for one article himself!

I began taking photographs in earnest in the 1970s when I had just started working for magazines and a newspaper in Cape Town. I also acquired my first car and duly went off to new, unknown destinations over week-ends. Names such as Baardskeerdersbos, Akkedisbergpas, Waenhuiskrans and Garies fascinated me, and I drove to them all. It also so happened that I visited some of the mission stations that author Molly D’Arcy Thompson was visiting for her book Forgotten Corners of the Cape – we could almost have run into each other!

I still have virtually all my negatives and slides taken over the past thirty-five years, and when we decided to retrace Molly’s steps to Mamre for this issue, I could retrieve photographs taken in 1976. I no longer have a dark-room, but by scanning the negatives I could reproduce scenes that have since disappeared – such as the one printed at bottom right… [top left on this web page]

Cover portrait
Miemie Rothmann is in a sense the custodian of the legacy of noted Afrikaans author and women’s rights activist M.E.R. This portrait of Miemie painted in 1973 by Jean Welz is one of a number of works by famous artists in the house in Swellendam, which have been left unchanged since the days M.E.R. lived there – page 10.

Contents
2 Oribi return to Addo
Farmers have helped to save these graceful but threatened antelopes in the Eastern Cape

6 Camphill – a special place for special people
This school, founded on the theories of Dr Rudolph Steiner, cares for people with disabilities

10 Women of courage
Author M.E.R. was a remarkable woman ahead of her time, and left an enduring legacy. Article by Lesley Howard

15 Special book offer for our readers:
Camdeboo Karoo Venison, a delightful compilation of recipes from the Karoo, is not widely available in bookshops. Readers can now order it by mail of fax for direct delivery [download PDF with more details] (download order form as PDF)

16 Not all whales leave in summer
Well-known researcher Dr Peter Best reveals some new findings

21 From military post to mission station – Mamre
We follow Molly D’Arcy Thompson to a forgotten corner of the Cape

26 The quiet beauty of Yzerfontein
Resident Peter Hollard tells the history of this West Coast village

30 Art, food & books in the old Uniondale mill
A creative couple is utilising a neglected National Monument

32 The people of Nuy build a dam
Annalize Mouton concludes her history of the families at Nuy near Worcester. Differences are buried to solve the water shortages of the valley

38 The history of the mountains that shape the Cape
Duncan Miller tells the fascinating story of how the Cape Fold Mountains were formed and folded

42 Whiskered Tern, summer visitor
Stories and great pictures from the long and varied experiences of nature expert Nico Myburgh (read full article)

46 A fragrance garden to lull & cure
By Geraldine Gardiner.
A special place in the newly restored gardens of Fernkloof Nature Reserve

48 Country Table
It’s time for tasty venison – Annnalize tries out one of the recipes from Camdeboo Karoo Venison, and have her guests asking for more!

50 An edible little parasite
Louie Lemmer continues her series on edible seaweeds

52 Tail piece
It’s a hard life for Missy at the office – a lighthearted look at a cat in a box