Durban - This week’s picture of old Durban is from a postcard dated October 15, 1904, taken from Sydenham Road and showing an emerging city and the Bluff in the background.
The postcard, titled "Durban from the Berea showing the Racecourse", simply has the words on the bottom “Trusting you are keeping well” and a name which is unreadable, possibly Ingrid. It was recently posted on the Facebook site, Durban Down Memory Lane.
In it Sydenham Road is still a dirt track. The picture was taken above the Botanic
Gardens.
The suburb of Sydenham was established by 20-year-old David Sparks, who arrived at Port Natal on the ship Ballengeich in January 1850.
He bought a portion of the Brickfields Estate from Joseph Cato where he and his wife, Elizabeth Walsh, who survived the wreck of the Minerva, settled. Initially they planted sugar cane before the estate was divided up.
The bustling suburb was incorporated
into the city of Durban in 1921.
Greyville Racecourse opened in 1896, with the Durban July first held in 1897 with only seven horses competing.
Our photographer Shelley Kjonstad took the opportunity of less traffic during the Covid-19 lockdown to shoot today's picture from the corner of Currie and what is today John Zikhali roads. The high-rise city almost obscures the Bluff.
The Independent on Saturday appeals to readers who have old pictures of Durban and other parts of the province to send them to us for consideration. If any readers are featured in the old picture, we will do our best to recreate the scene with them in it again. Readers sending pictures digitally - images should be about 1MB - can address them, with the relevant information, to [email protected]
If the pictures are in hard copy format, they can be posted to The Editor, Old Pictures, The Independent on Saturday, PO Box 47549, Greyville, 4023.