The gritty underbelly of ocean-loving Nahoon suburb in East London is about to be told.
However, Nahoon author and researcher, Glenn Hollands, has decided to try a more innovative way to have his self-published book, Fighting and Fun at Nahoon printed. In a variation of crowd-funding, Hollands, author of the popular and internationally-requested book The Reef: A legacy of surfing in East London is promoting snippets of the Nahoon story to the community before going to press.
So far, he has pre-sold 25 copies of the 16000-word work at R200 each and needs to sell 30 more to get the presses turning.
Hollands, a life-long surfer and highly-trained researcher and policy specialist, was active in the United Democratic Front and worked as field-worker for the Black Sash advice office in Grahamstown. He served as a peace officer during the 1990s transition.
He lives in Nahoon.
Research for the latest work started in 2014, taking him deep into the archives of the East London Museum, and also had him rummaging around in people’s kists in Nahoon for memories, stories and photographs.
After pouring over original documents, and many Daily Dispatch news reports, he discovered that Nahoon suburb was once the fiery frontier between Xhosa and European settlers. Pitched battles were fought in the Nahoon bush in 1878 between Buffalo mounted patrol soldiers and Xhosa warriors and records show that 21 Xhosa men died.
As he worked his way through the suburb’s evolutionary and occasionally warring history, he came away with new insights.
“Nahoon, as a space is deeply imprinted in the memory of the community, has enjoyed a special status as a place of recreation and beach camping, but its story is multi-layered with dips and peaks in the social and economic fortunes. “We can tend to sanitise our memories, but the research shows that we need to be more nuanced in our understanding. It was not only about the good times. Nahoon’s history involved hardship and, fighting, and tough frontier life for everyone, which was relieved by the weird and quirky stuff.”
In the 1840s, the annual big camp at Nahoon River mouth was cancelled in panic when Xhosa fighters overran “farms in Cambridge” and rumour spread that the Xhosa were massing on Nahoon beach for an attack on the armoury. The gunpowder stock was rowed into the middle of the Buffalo River and anchored under guard.
He says the first Nahoon suburbanites were pioneers and traders, such as Jewish smous Josh Baskir, who moved into Nahoon from Buffalo Street and started a general dealership. These early stores tended to be run by Chinese and Indian traders such as Bhengal Bazaars who sold tiekie bread and moer coffee. But garages arrived too as the first businesses got going along Old Transkei Road at the top of Beach Road.
Baskir and family set up a 24/7 operation of a general dealership by day, and The Flying Saucer drive-in take-away joint by night, once used as a late-night nosh pit-stop by English Formula 1 race champ, Stirling Moss.
Nahoon’s first major boost came in the 1940s when East London needed more residential land, especially flat land, mainly for returning World War 2 soldiers.
“A major land auction was held and Nahoon land was snapped up at prices higher than the asking price. The houses that were build were not luxurious at all,” said Hollands.
Among the many tales told is the murder mystery of Nahoon Hotel owner and timber entrepreneur Joseph Sage. Hollands said that after reading Gill Vernon’s history of the hotel, he felt like he had walked through the saloon doors of a down-and-dirty bar where brawls were a regular feature, and whose rooms were also home to a number of “permanent spinsters” who were falsely accused of theft.
It’s a tale of deception, fraud, mistresses, poisoning, and even a defamation lawsuit. It even has its own Sherlock Holmes, a detective JB Cockrane, who cracked the case.
The first flight in Africa from Nahoon racecourse, the wrecking of three sailship barques off Nahoon Point, and the rise and fall of the infamous Dolphin Hotel are all in there, he said.
To pre-order email glenhol@telkomsa.net — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Author sheds light on Nahoon’s intriguing past
The gritty underbelly of ocean-loving Nahoon suburb in East London is about to be told.
However, Nahoon author and researcher, Glenn Hollands, has decided to try a more innovative way to have his self-published book, Fighting and Fun at Nahoon printed. In a variation of crowd-funding, Hollands, author of the popular and internationally-requested book The Reef: A legacy of surfing in East London is promoting snippets of the Nahoon story to the community before going to press.
So far, he has pre-sold 25 copies of the 16000-word work at R200 each and needs to sell 30 more to get the presses turning.
Hollands, a life-long surfer and highly-trained researcher and policy specialist, was active in the United Democratic Front and worked as field-worker for the Black Sash advice office in Grahamstown. He served as a peace officer during the 1990s transition.
He lives in Nahoon.
Research for the latest work started in 2014, taking him deep into the archives of the East London Museum, and also had him rummaging around in people’s kists in Nahoon for memories, stories and photographs.
After pouring over original documents, and many Daily Dispatch news reports, he discovered that Nahoon suburb was once the fiery frontier between Xhosa and European settlers. Pitched battles were fought in the Nahoon bush in 1878 between Buffalo mounted patrol soldiers and Xhosa warriors and records show that 21 Xhosa men died.
As he worked his way through the suburb’s evolutionary and occasionally warring history, he came away with new insights.
“Nahoon, as a space is deeply imprinted in the memory of the community, has enjoyed a special status as a place of recreation and beach camping, but its story is multi-layered with dips and peaks in the social and economic fortunes. “We can tend to sanitise our memories, but the research shows that we need to be more nuanced in our understanding. It was not only about the good times. Nahoon’s history involved hardship and, fighting, and tough frontier life for everyone, which was relieved by the weird and quirky stuff.”
In the 1840s, the annual big camp at Nahoon River mouth was cancelled in panic when Xhosa fighters overran “farms in Cambridge” and rumour spread that the Xhosa were massing on Nahoon beach for an attack on the armoury. The gunpowder stock was rowed into the middle of the Buffalo River and anchored under guard.
He says the first Nahoon suburbanites were pioneers and traders, such as Jewish smous Josh Baskir, who moved into Nahoon from Buffalo Street and started a general dealership. These early stores tended to be run by Chinese and Indian traders such as Bhengal Bazaars who sold tiekie bread and moer coffee. But garages arrived too as the first businesses got going along Old Transkei Road at the top of Beach Road.
Baskir and family set up a 24/7 operation of a general dealership by day, and The Flying Saucer drive-in take-away joint by night, once used as a late-night nosh pit-stop by English Formula 1 race champ, Stirling Moss.
Nahoon’s first major boost came in the 1940s when East London needed more residential land, especially flat land, mainly for returning World War 2 soldiers.
“A major land auction was held and Nahoon land was snapped up at prices higher than the asking price. The houses that were build were not luxurious at all,” said Hollands.
Among the many tales told is the murder mystery of Nahoon Hotel owner and timber entrepreneur Joseph Sage. Hollands said that after reading Gill Vernon’s history of the hotel, he felt like he had walked through the saloon doors of a down-and-dirty bar where brawls were a regular feature, and whose rooms were also home to a number of “permanent spinsters” who were falsely accused of theft.
It’s a tale of deception, fraud, mistresses, poisoning, and even a defamation lawsuit. It even has its own Sherlock Holmes, a detective JB Cockrane, who cracked the case.
The first flight in Africa from Nahoon racecourse, the wrecking of three sailship barques off Nahoon Point, and the rise and fall of the infamous Dolphin Hotel are all in there, he said.
To pre-order email glenhol@telkomsa.net — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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