FoToS: Antique glass bottles found at Westbury Golf Driving Range
Digging up history of 'Matikitwan'.
At the beginning of the year, we were called for the discovery of antique glass bottles that were found at the Westbury Golf Driving Range. We had to hold the story as the discoverers of the bottles were afraid that residents would flock to the site and at the time the area was a danger zone as it was a construction site.
The bottles started surfacing after tunnels were made for drainage in the area. Shahiem Ismail, Ralph Johnson, and Leslie Fortuin were the first to make the discovery.
“This was an old dumping site and if you look at the years of the bottles, some are between 94 and 84 years old, some of them are even maybe 100 years old, and they have been underground for so long.”
“This shows you that it comes from the old Sophiatown where they use to do the forceful removals. We use to call this place ‘Matikitwan’, our people use to live from here. We used to eat, dump, play and collect stuff here back in the day.
“This whole driving range was like an open river but then they started closing it slowly and it became a sports ground,” explained Ismail.
Back in March, a bottle of 1924 was found and that’s when the residents discovered that the bottles are antique bottles that go back into the early 1900’s. A car engine was also found and some guys collected it for scrap metal. Cutlery, as well as plates and cups, were found still in good condition.
“It is amazing that these things have been underground for so many years and they are still in good conditions. This discovery also shows us how old our communities are. It’s part of the history of the community and I believe that it should be preserved,” added Ismail.
When asked what the discovery is like to the residents, Johnson said: “This whole project is an adventure, whenever we went out with great enthusiasm and also great expectation. In my life-span, I’ve never seen anything like this, I wasn’t even born when these bottles were manufactured.”
Fortuin also added: “I was just amazed to see the small bottles. It made me wonder what was in those little bottles, was it poison? You’ll also very seldomly find broken glasses, it just shows how genuine and strong they made the glass bottles back then.”
Between the bottles were Coke bottles, poison bottles, perfume, water, and milk bottles. “The most interesting part of this discovery shows that our community was part of the struggle.
“It’s amazing how the discovery of a single bottle can bring back the memories of the past. We all have a story to tell about where we come from and what really happens in those days,” concluded Ismail.
A total of 6000 bottles were found and the University of Johannesburg partnered with the discoverers of the bottles and they will be displaying some of these bottles at the University for the public to see.
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