Palmiet Nature Reserve committee fear the end of their beloved hall

THE deteriorating condition of the Frank Farrer Hall at the Palmiet Nature Reserve in Westville has led to the hall being closed to the public.

Palmiet Nature Reserve committee member Jean Senogles said the hall has been neglected for many years.

The reserve committee is made up of a group of elected volunteers who are passionate about the ongoing preservation and use of the Palmiet Nature Reserve. According to Senogles, this dire situation could have been prevented if it was well-maintained.

“Our pleas have been falling on deaf ears. For 30 years, we have been asking for something to be done to protect the hall from being undercut by the river.

“The roof is leaking and has led to the floor being damaged. We are no longer allowed to use our hall for our displays for the schools or anyone else because it is so badly neglected by the municipality that it is now a danger to those who would wish to use it,” said the concerned nature lover.

She said that during the first part of the year, they had a number of schools visiting the nature reserve and the Bergtheil Museum where some of the Palmiet Nature Reserve artefacts are displayed.

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“We used to use the hall to show them other things found in the reserve and demonstrate their use, for instance, that of a grinding stone, as well as other objects of interest. The schools get involved in the Passbook Competition, sometimes three of them a month.”

In addition, the children are taken down to the river and along some of the paths to show them the uses of some plants of interest, such as in basket-making and traditional medicines.

“The children love the outings as much as we who are involved in their visits,” said Senogles.

Field ranger Phillip Mncube said the hall was built by Frank Farrer during the apartheid era.

“He built it for domestic workers to use when they were not working – to socialise and be equipped with skills such as reading and writing. There were no trees at that time, but there was a huge soccer field,” said Mncube.

Palmiet Nature Reserve committee member Linda Smith said the eroding of the riverbank on which the hall and staff accommodation are situated is an ongoing problem that has been highlighted by various concerned individuals for a number of years.

She said this issue became a particularly pressing issue after the April 2022 floods when the foundations of the Frank Farrer Hall were exposed through the washing away of the riverbank.

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“The walls of the hall have now started cracking due to the lack of underpinning support. This has created a potentially very dangerous situation for other residents who live along the riverbank and for the municipal staff who work at the reserve.

“At the moment, the fixing of the hall’s foundations would not be too expensive, but if it is left much longer, the cracking of the walls of the hall and the eroding of the foundations will become much worse, leading to total collapse.

“This would be an ecological disaster for the Palmiet River and the wildlife in the reserve,” she said.
The eThekwini Municipality did not comment by the time of going to print.

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