Lost Communities Living Memories – Sean Field

Street Life and Popular Culture By 1966, District Six was a densely populated sub- urb. It was almost exclusively a working-class community and most residents were coloured Capetonians. While many outsiders regarded District Six as an overcrowded slum harbouring criminal elements and gang members, the majori- ty of people living there were law-abiding citizens with deeply rooted family and community ties and a strong sense of belonging.”* District Six was a cosmopolitan place. We all stayed together — Germans, so-called whites, blacks, people from Indonesia and Malaysia, Irish people like my Gran, all those stayed together and needless of colour …

and we mixed. We had a beautiful relationship. Here there was no need … near to the shops, near to the market, near to the fish, schools were there. (Mrs R.T.) Six Community infrastructures were well estab- lished. There were over twenty schools and col- leges, including the well-known Trafalgar and Harold Cressy high schools. Eighteen churches, three mosques and four synagogues served the community, indicating that there was a good degree of religious tolerance.’ The Lieberman Institute was built in 1934 and together with the Marion Institute provided the community with important cultural centres.

Woodstock beach was a short walk away, the mountain on the doorstep. It was a quick bus ride to Sea Point and Green Point. Many people were able to walk to work at the harbour, or to the city centre or the factories in the neighbouring suburbs of Woodstock and Salt River. Hanover Street was the heart of District Six.

It was here that social activity, entertainment and trading took place. People of ‘all colours and creeds’ lived side by side in Hanover Street, ‘select people, average families, and gangsters all lived next to each other, and all hung their washing View from District Six over Cape Town after the Group Areas Act (University of Cape Town Libraries/Manuscripts and Archives) Omi ONES. Mile MOR INES Second Circle Girl Guides, Marion Institute, ca.

Edited by Sean Field Centre for Popular Memory University of Cape Town David Philip + Cape Town This book is dedicated to all those who experienced forced removals in Cape Town and beyond First published in 2001 by David Philip Publishers (Pty) Ltd, 208 Werdmuller Centre, Claremont 7708, South Africa ISBN 0-86486-499-X © 2001 Centre for Popular Memory All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Designed by Abdul Amien Reproduction by Imvakalelo Repro Printed in South Africa by CTP Printers Acknowledgements: The authors and publishers would like to thank the following for their assistance and for permission to reproduce photographic material: District Six Museum — Margaux Jordan, Haajirah Esau, Sandy Prosalendis Patricia and Don Pinnock — Photographs by Don Pinnock reprinted by permission of African Sun Press, RO. Box 16415, Vlaeberg 8018, Cape Town Simon’ Town Museum — Cathrynne May Salter-Jansen and Jean le Roux South African Library, Cape Town — Najwa Hendrickse University of Cape Town Libraries, Department of Manuscripts and Archives — Jasmin Mohamed and Lesley Hart Land Information Branch, City of Cape Town — Ian Black Cartographer — Anne Westoby Contents Contributors Foreword Vincent Kolbe Preface Sean Field Oral Histories of Forced Removals.

Sean Field Mapping Cape Town: From Slavery to Apartheid. Vivian Bickford-Smith Windermere: Squatters, Slumyards and Removals, 1920s to 1960s. Sean Field ‘Everyone had their differences but there was always comradeship’: Tramway Road, Sea Point, 1920s to 1961. Michele Paulse ‘Ja! So was District Six! But it was a beautiful place’: Oral Histories, Memory and Identity.

Felicity Swanson and Jane Harries ‘It changed everybody’ lives’: The Simon’s Town Group Areas Removals. Albert Thomas ‘Mense van die Vlak’: Community and Forced Removals in Lower Claremont. Felicity Swanson ‘| dream of our old house, you see there are things that can never go away’: Memory, Restitution and Democracy. Sean Field Appendix: Oral History Projects. Sean Field Notes Bibliography Index ~~ fl Zi a 62 81 100 Lay jay bse TS Contributors Vivian Bickford-Smith: | was born and brought up in Britain. I first visited Cape Town in the 1970s and came across this extraordinary mixture of beauti- ful geography and dreadful social engineering.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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