The 161-member strong Lower Albany Historical Society (LAHS) held its 64th AGM at the Don Powis Hall in Settlers Park on Thursday, March 16. Heather Howard was presented with an honorary life membership certificate for her contribution to the society and Serena Gess enthralled members with her research on Settler life in the Lower Albany thicket.
“In many ways, the thicket is a capricious environment; some years abundant in terms of rainfall, and then dry for years on end,” Gess said. “As the settler Dugmore said: they had to ‘Wither and perish or take root and grow’.”
The Bathurst resident explored what it would have been like for those first settlers to make new lives in a thicket environment.
“There is no other vegetation in South Africa is endowed with such a diversity of plant types; large leafed trees and shrubs, small-leafed bushes, vines, both woody and soft, bulbs, grasses, herbaceous plants and succulents of all sizes,” said Gess, who is a member of the Friends of Waters Meeting Reserve organisation.
“Thicket species are adapted for the erratic rainfall this area receives; in wet years, it flourishes and grows abundantly; in dry years it seems to shrink inward and conserve its energy, holding on tenaciously until the rain comes at last. The hardiness of thicket means that it survives and remains green in a landscape with sometimes very low rainfall, and extremes of temperature. By 1822 the settlers may have been thinking of their surroundings as a green desert rather than a nobleman’s park,” she said.
Gess’s talk provided insights into the trials and tribulations that the 1820 British settlers faced after being dumped amid the wild thicket of Lower Albany.
“Most parties bartered for or bought cattle from the boers and ploughed and planted their first wheat crop before tending to their own comforts. Wheat was to be the settlers’ cash crop. The wheat seed was provided by the government. Great effort were expended in sowing as large a crop as possible. Thomas Philipps who farmed between Martindale and Shaw Park writes to his sisters in October 1820: I have 20 acres of wheat, 6 of barley, turnips and beets,” she said.
When building their homes, Gess suggested that some settlers would have been much better at building than others. “English labourers knew how to build with wattle and daub,” Gess said.
Gess revealed that the Settlers wheat crops failed several times when rust and drought struck. “In 1822 it was extremely dry, and Settlers could grow very little. Settlers were allowed to leave their locations, moved to town and resumed trades,” she said.
Some starving settlers had to learn which local plants were edible. “The ivy-leafed geranium, introduced into England in 1774. Thomas Philipps refers to it as an excellent edible sorrel, and in 1822 notes he has seen very beautiful hedges formed of the ivy-leafed geranium round the gardens in Bathurst,” said Gess. Other edible plants were the wild grape and num num, she said.
The Settlers discovered tree dassies and swallows. “During their first spring of 1820, the settlers would have made a momentous discovery. The question of what happens to swallows in winter had long been pondered by Europeans, leading to such fanciful notions as they migrate to the moon or hibernate in the mud at the bottom of ponds for winter. What a wonder for observant settlers to discover that some of them at least come to thicket country!,” said Gess.
Gess is currently finishing a historic novel set in Lower Albany in the 1820s, the research for which has informed her talk.
Earlier, Heather Howard was presented with an honorary life membership certificate for her contribution to the society.
As a cornerstone of the community of Port Alfred for over 60 years, Howard had been Mayoress of Port Alfred, served as Tourism Director for the town, and a columnist for the old Coastal News newspaper. SHe had also played an active role in Round Table and Rotary, the Kowie Players, the Board of Trustees of the Kowie Museum and what must be Port Alfred’s oldest book club, The Reading Circle. Howard had served on the Hospital Committee for 40 years and as chairperson of Damant Lodge, said LAHS chairperson, Gwynn Crothall.
Various editorial changes to the LAHS constitution included replacing the term “Auditor” with “Financial Reviewer” to conform to modern practice and Quinton Dick was appointed as the new financial reviewer.
The 2023-24 president is Dave Hawkins, vice president is Prof Pat Irwin and committee members are chairperson Gwynn Crothall; vice chair Mary Ritchie; secretary Heather Howard; treasurer Theo van der Walt; scribe Margaret Snodgrass; Kowie Museum epresentative Joy Billing; Toposcope editor Sue Gordon; Lyn Brown; Suzette Grist and Daphne McNeill.
Crothall also expressed her gratitude to the outgoing committee, as well as loyal LAHS members, who attend meetings, go on outings and stay interested and engaged.
