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Book Review
IT’S THE PEOPLE
WHO MAKE A TOWN
BY JAMES CLARKE
Steytlerville Main Road
think I’ve been to Steytlerville. that is Humansdorp and St Francis Bay. Linda Henderson, a local
In fact, I must have, for I’ve been All around, it’s sheep and Angora goat entrepreneur, and her friends who
I through the Eastern Cape Karoo country. conceived the idea of the banners,
a few times. But, in those days, I A little while ago, a long row of decided to uplift their town. As Linda
suppose it was one of those places masts were erected down the length put it, “En dis mense wat jou ‘n dorp
of which Dorothy Parker would have of the central island of the main road. gee” – it’s the people who make a
said, “when you get there, there is no Hanging from each mast there is a town.
there there”. pair of large vinyl banners bearing They began interviewing the
I have now vowed that when I the crests and even coats of arms families of which a few had family
am in that area again, I will stop at reflecting the past of many of the crests and one or two clans possessed
Steytlerville and I will walk down its families and clans who live among coats of arms. For those who had
main road and, at the end, have a cup Steytlerville’s 4 000 people, of whom neither, Linda’s group delved into
of coffee at Lizzy’s Khaya which is, in 70% are Coloured. their histories and, with the help
fact, part of her house. The road was, until recently, a dusty, of the anthropology department
The town gets a chapter to itself in littered avenue. The municipality of the Albany Museum in nearby
a very entertaining new book, Karoo had long given up watering the 250 Grahamstown (now Makhanda), set
Road II – more tales from the heartland bougainvillea shrubs along the central about designing individual family
by Julienne du Toit and Chris Marais. island – shrubs that were planted crests and coats of arms. This is why the
The main road through the town is years before by a much-loved resident banners bear some unusual armorial
an extraordinarily wide road. To the far gardener. It had also stopped cleaning symbols: cooking pots, items such
south, there’s Baviaanskloof. Beyond the streets. as kudu horns, cotton reels, brown
20 • Issue 5 2022 • The Villager
