Durban - Sydenham was the village near London where David Sparks lived before he settled in Durban. He was one of the early settlers and the patriarch of the Sparks family.
The two old photographs of Sydenham Road by G Stuart Jones were taken in 1909 and show the road’s rural ambience.
The photos are from the booklet lent to Mark Levin by Marion Ritson, which advertised the programme of events during Durban’s 1909 Gala Season and the various tram routes.
The guide also listed places of interest to visit, including the Electric Power Station, the Telephone Exchange and the Central Fire
Station. For those with bookish tastes, there was the Public Library; or others there were the Public Baths next door, which included Turkish Baths.
As far back as 1909, Thomas Cook & Son offered day trips to Mariannhill’s Trappist Monastery and a weekend tour of the Natal Battlefields, as well as a separate trip to Zululand’s capital, Eshowe.
The recent photo, taken from just below Musgrave Road, recaptures the same view as the 1909 photo of the man walking up the steep gradient of Sydenham (John Zikhali) Road.
The second photo was taken at the intersection of Sydenham and Essenwood roads and is probably the same intersection seen in the other old photo with the rickshaws.
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.