NEWSLETTER - SEPTEMBER 2021

Our August ZOOM lecture, which was an extended repeat of a ROOM lecture to the KZN branch, was
"Kenneth Graham Gillings 1947 - 2016: A personal reminiscence and tribute from his friend Graeme Fuller."

Ken Gillings was a stalwart of the KZN branch and was well-known to Johannesburg audiences as an expert on many Zulu, Anglo-Zulu War and Boer War topics. He was a well-deserved Honorary Life Member of the Society and so much more besides. We were privileged to share Graeme's tribute; it brought fond memories to many of us.

His influence on the recognition of especially KZN's military history extended beyond helping with the establishment of the Battlefields route, organising conferences eg with Talana Museum, to helping establish the curriculum required for tour guides - natural as well as military history.

Thanks are due to Graeme for sharing more about this extraordinary human being whose untimely passing was a shock and a loss to all who knew him.

His lecture is in the ZOOM video library as usual.

Just let scribe@samilitaryhistory.org know in order to be sent an invitation to the next ZOOM meeting.

Contact the branch to confirm ROOM meetings while we are under Covid-19 restrictions.

Next zoom lecture will be on Thursday 9th September starting at 19h30
peaker: Johann Ahlers
Subject: "SA German Internment at Fort Napier during WW1"

Next zoominar will be on Monday 13th September starting at 19h30

Speaker: McGill Alexander
Subject: "Wounded warriors - two eccentrically exceptional maimed men of war".

Andre Crozier will give an illustrated report on SAMHSEC's field trip to the Nanaga area on 18 September.

Members with an interesting presentation on any aspect of military history are sought for ZOOMEETINGS. A nominal 30-40 minute lecture supported by Power Point or similar slides, but not video, is required

All paid-up members should have received their Journals by now, most having been posted on 11 August. For overseas members whose postal service from SA is chronically in doubt, a link to an online version was also distributed to paid-up members.

Thank you to members who served as distribution hubs for fellow members.
IF YOU HAVE NOT COLLECTED YOUR JOURNAL FROM YOUR HUB PLEASE DO SO ASAP!

LECTURES / TALKS
09h00 Lecture 1: The Smuts personality with a multifaceted approach.
Jan Christian Smuts is often presented as a specific personality type, which has become a one-sided version in secondary sources. Other lesser known facts about Smuts will be presented to offer a less stereotyped presentation.

11h00 Lecture 2: The house interior as reflection of the cultural lifestyle of the period circa 1909 - 1954
The Smuts House museum will be compared visually to similar South African interiors. The intention of the talk is to show that the Smuts House museum interior presents the period interiors of its time.

13h00 Repeat Lecture 1
15h00 Repeat Lecture 2

Presented at the MOTHs Hall, on the Museum grounds. R50.00 per person per talk, cash / card payment on the day. The funds collected during the talks, will be used for specific conservational tasks to preserve the Smuts House museum collection.

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL: info@smutshouse.co.za

Contact Sharon: 012 670 9016 / 079 3933 282

Members are welcome to send articles, poetry and similar contributions to joan@trolleyscan.com or to scribe@samilitaryhistory.org

The deadline is the end of October 2021.

Our Grand Lodge Heritage Committee is preparing for Commemorative Celebrations during June 2022 when we will mark the 250th year of Freemasonry in South Africa.

To commemorate this milestone, The Grand Lodge of South Africa are planning a series of celebratory events including the publishing of a Collection of Historical Papers collated in a Heritage Commemorative Book comprising articles and papers that reflect on the challenges and influences faced by the country and the impact this had on society as a whole.

As England, Scotland and Ireland played a significant part of the societal development throughout the history of South Africa, needless to say, they too introduced over the centuries along with the Netherlands, their own Masonic lodges of whom many significant historical figures featured prominently. Where previously the development of Freemasonry in Southern Africa proved to be harmonious, the Anglo-Boer Wars as a significant event in our history, brought tales of Masonic brotherhood overriding war ideologies and it is these stories that we are appealing of Freemasonry, in particular during the Boer wars.

We are therefore asking for assistance with any historical articles that you or your society might have on record which we will credit in the publication.

We would appreciate any assistance and relevant articles and photos must please be sent to myself:
Victor Muhlenbeck email: muhlenbeck@iafrica.com
Grand Lodge reference: https://www.grandlodge.co.za/history/
Mobile: +27824515057
176 Springfield Road,
Morningside, Durban, 4001

Cape Town details contact    Carl Burger     082 333 2706    c.burger@bissets.com

Eastern Cape details contact    Malcolm Kinghorn    041-373-4469    culturev@lantic.net

Gauteng details contact    Joan Marsh     010-237-0676    joan@rfidradar.com

KwaZulu-Natal details contact    Charles Whiteing     082-555-4689    charlesw2@absamail.co.za