Talks
The glory and demise of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies.
Speaker: Dr Giovanni Coci
I was born in Naples, Southern Italy and I am quite passionate about the culture and the history of this beautiful part of the world. The purpose of my talk is to share with you some facts about the history of Southern Italy which may not be well known.
Let’ s...
The De Poort Murders of 1802
A United Front of Khoikhoin Gounaqua & Amagqunukhwebe
SPEAKER: Mike Kantey
Events leading up to the 19th Century
The first major driver behind the dispossession and fateful resistance of the indigenous and migrant African tribes of what became South Africa was the colonisation of the Southern...
The Battle of Omdurman
SPEAKER: David Hall-Green
The country which we know today as Sudan is the biggest on the African continent. It would virtually swallow up most of Western Europe without so much as a hearty belch.
The ancient Egyptians called it Nubia, and it was the source of slaves and other commodities for...
The Van Reenens of Knysna
SPEAKER: Garth van Reenen
The ancestor of the family was the noble Graaf Jacob Van Reenen of Memel in what was then Prussia, who came to the Cape in 1721 in a sturdy little ship, the Astria. His brother Daniel was the Mayor of Allenburg in Prussia and it is said that he had to flee from his...
An Extraordinary History of Boxing & Fisticuffs
SPEAKER: Clive Noble
Mesopotamia
The first recorded history of boxing was found in Mesopotamia in the Tigris Euphrates Valley. A terracotta relief of 2 bare fisted boxers was found in the Ninto temple dated about 3000 BCE. This was in what is now Iraq. Other boxing reliefs were...
The Story of the Griqua Re-visited
SPEAKER: Sean O'Connell
The Griqua Story starts well before any influence of Western Civilisation ever reached the shores of the Cape of Good Hope. To understand the Griqua Story it is necessary to understand the Heritage of those people who called themselves “Khoikhoin” (“Men...
Suitable approaches to preservation of the Old Timber Shed
Speaker: Len Raymond
Commissioned in 1788, Plett's Timbershed is an important symbol of the economic development of our sub-continent as envisaged and thereafter made good in the late-18th Century. For it came to be built and commissioned here at Plettenberg Bay – on instructions of the...
Tsitsikamma Rivers Project – quest to understand and conserve our rivers
Speaker: Geoff McIlleron
The Tsitsikamma Rivers Project, launched in 2008, is a quest to understand and conserve the river systems of the Tsitsikamma mountains which are valuable natural assets of this area.
In many parts of our country the river systems are...
Diggings and important findings in the Blombos Cave
Speaker: Petro Keene
A South African archaeologist with a considerable international reputation, Professor Christopher Henshilwood discovered Still Bay's important prehistoric cave site in 1991. He has close ties with two leading Universities – Wits in Johanneburg and Bergen in...
Unlimited Child Expedition to the South Pole: The Last Degree
Speaker: Peter Berning
This bit of trouble that I got into began at UCT (Smuts Hall, 1968). Iain Buchan and I were new men together and both products of the Transkei, where our parents ran medical practices in Lusikisiki and Cofimvaba respectively. We remained...
