HAVE you ever wished that you could travel back in time? Where you can walk down to the market or to the bio-scopes(cinema), which were just a stone’s throw away, and enjoy the music in the bustling town centre of Durban? Well, plans are underway to immortalize the good old days of old Warwick Avenue before it was torn down by the dreaded Group Areas Act and people were forced to move to various Durban suburbs.
History buff, Zainul Aberdeen Dawood hopes to preserve the memories in a museum by trying to turn a dilapidated house into the Warwick Avenue Museum. The museum material will be based on the work by the Research of Curries Fountain and Surrounds (ROCS) heritage research project based at the Durban University of Technology, which was co-ordinated by Leonard Rosenberg and hopefully contributions by acclaimed photographers and the general public.
“Currently I am engaging with the municipality to lease a dilapidated house and restore it. Growing up in the district, as it became known, the area is now on an upward development scale with the renovation of certain buildings. The area has lost three houses due to vagrancy. Two old houses were burnt to the ground after vagrants occupied it when the owners left. A third is on the brink of collapse in Milton Road. The house we have chosen is historically situated. For now it’s a pipe dream,” Dawood said.
The proposed museum will cover the area between Curries Fountain, Botanic Gardens Road, King Dinizulu (Berea) Road and Julius Nyere (Warwick) Avenue. The infamous interior roads were Wills, Acorn, Stratford Road and Etna Lane. The museum will cover politics, the Duchene Gang, transport modes (trains, buses, taxis), the market, sport, the Klopse music bands, development of the freeway, architecture and buildings, and community spirit and individual community achievements.
The research team wrote four books capturing the history of the area in books titled: Wellspring of Hope, Making of Place, Dirty Linen and Curries Fountain – sport, politics and identity and inspired the book Indian Buses by Zainul Aberdeen Dawood, initiator of the museum project. Research has shown that Walter Sisulu frequented these roads to hold clandestine meetings with Yusuf Seedat. Warwick Avenue played its role in the freedom struggle. Among the infamous dignitaries was Duchene gang boss Lucas Draai. He was so feared that he ruled the prisons and spent time on Robben Island prison for his criminal behaviour.
“The museum would like to create a state-of-the-art recording studio to record former residents’ memories of the area. I cannot let all the research on this place be locked up in a cupboard. People for generations to come must learn.The motto is to promote (the history of the area), preserve (by recording it) and educate (the general public). Images can be digitized so in one part, you can see thousands of pictures in the space where only one picture frame could fit.”
The depth of information available on the Warwick Avenue and Berea area is tremendous. Before people settled here, wild animals roamed free which are depicted by the elephant sculptures on the N3 freeway off-ramp to Warwick Avenue. The last elephants were shot in the Berea around 1870. Anyone who would like to contribute information and photos can email warwickmuseumdurban@gmail.com
A reunion of ex-Warwick Avenue residents, to share nostalgic moments and memories, will be held at the St Anthony`s Hall on Saturday, 27 May. Residents who lived in the area are urged to join the meet and greet event. For more information, contact Gregory Coleman on 082-877-0496.
