Stories Archive

February 21, 2018
Hermanus History Society

Best photographer of his time – One of only five ‘Freemen’

Take a walk along the east side of Main Road in the Hermanus central business district. Stop at the pedestrian crossing outside the Pick n Pay store and look across the road. You will see a service station to your right, a bank of post boxes in front of you […]
December 22, 2017
Hermanus History Society

THE COLOURFUL HISTORY OF FICK’S POOL

In 2017 Fick’s Pool is one of the lesser-known amenities in Hermanus. Probably not one in twenty shoppers at the supermarkets will know what it is or where it is. But it has been in existence in one form or another for 90 years and has provided exercise, bathing opportunities […]
October 5, 2017
Hermanus History Society

How I won the Victoria Cross – Story of Major William Hewitt

You can learn a lot by reading a description someone gives of the most important event in his or her life. This certainly applies to Major William Henry Hewitt who, almost exactly 100 years ago carried out an action during World War I that earned him the Victoria Cross, the […]
October 4, 2017

An Elephant Whisperer in Hermanus? The Story of Harold Langford-Browne

Another process of research, another unlikely link uncovered between Hermanus and events of world significance a long way away. This time it is the “Burma Campaign” that took place in the country we now call Myanmar between 1942 and 1945. It started with the Japanese invasion of Burma in preparation […]