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Showing posts with the label Trekking in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century

Trekking in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century

Auntie Connie was the first female lawyer in South Africa, and my Grandfather's older sister. She wrote about her experiences as a child with her father, mother and brothers in South Africa as they trekked across the highveld and lowveld. Auntie Connie was married to Uncle Jack and I remember them well. They were two very cheerful, intelligent and positive people, with a large Pretoria family. Here she is recounting his memories to "Loco Voco" published in 1986 and edited by C. C. Callaghan. * * * Why on Earth did they do it? What on Earth induced my young parents, who were both members of large, suburban, university-oriented English families, to leave England only two years after my father was appointed science Master at the Dulwich school in London ? What induced the two to set out, toddler in tow, to make a new life three weeks away on a Union Castle liner? Was it the spirit of adventure? Was it a geologist's desire to see what things looked like in situ? Or wa...