Boomtown Umhlanga’s roots are, ironically, due to a number of disastrous agricultural experiments. Ian Morrison reports.
The area to the north of Durban, including Umhlanga Rocks, probably owed its origin to the shortage of cotton resulting from the American Civil War in the mid 19th Century. The Natal Cotton Company bought large areas of bush country for 20 cents an acre − try to calculate the escalation in land values at today’s purchase prices.
At that time this area was devoted to arrowroot and coffee but neither of these two products nor the cotton experiment were particularly successful, despite the efforts of Jonas Bergtheil who started a plan for German immigrants based on the cultivation of cotton in the area now known as New Germany. This venture, as well as the Natal Cotton Company, was a complete disaster and the land reverted to the government.
Enter Mr John Moreland, agent for Byrne, whose famous (infamous?) immigration plan was put into operation at this time. People from England landed at the Point and formed convoys to the promised land where they were allocated farms. One of the immigrants lost the convoy at the Point and walked North on his own. Shortly after leaving he learnt that he had passed through the town of Durban without noticing it.
The first immigrants settled and started cotton farming only to find that, quoting Eric Rosenthal (“Schooners and Skyscrapers”), “The Zulus, on whose agricultural ambitions the authorities had placed great hopes, declined all interest in a crop whose fruit could not be eaten and called for laborious harvesting.”
Sugar was introduced and Edmund Moreland established the Natal Sugar Company at Compensation which is north of Verulam.
This was followed by the floating of Natal Sugar Estates by Sir Marshal Campbell in 1895. He sold 2 000 acres of his sugar lands for the KwaMashu township – the town of “Mashu” (Marshall).
His son William Alfred was instrumental in founding Umhlanga Rocks as a quiet holiday resort for mill workers and friends. He built a cottage called Oyster Lodge on the present site of the Oyster Box Hotel. Nearby was a Zulu kraal of tribal head Mahakane, after whom a high-rise block of flats in Lagoon Drive is named.
Soon there were a few other cottages of wood and iron but as development proceeded, an artesian well had to be sunk which still exists in the park opposite Malindi.
The first hotel was built by Marcus McCausland in 1923 and included two old trams as annexes. This Victoria Hotel was a great success and was graced by, among others, famous Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw. After additions the name of the hotel was changed to Umhlanga Rocks Hotel.
A boarding house called Wave Crest was built in 1931 on the site of the present Umhlanga Sands Hotel. Tom Surgeon completed the Durban View Hotel in 1935 but this was demolished to make way for Malindi. Some staff and residents were moved to Twilanga retirement home.
As recently as 50 years ago Umhlanga Rocks was a small, secluded enclave visited mainly by monkeys, loeries and snakes.
Access to Umhlanga Rocks – today by way of a four-lane highway – was originally by a gravel road through Durban North. In the main picture one can see Northway proceeding from the river, around the bend on the extreme left, to the intersection with Umhlanga Rocks Drive disappearing from the bottom of the picture. Yes, this was Durban North.
Many bridges were built and replaced when destroyed by floods. The most famous was the Queen’s Bridge, which was opened in 1894 in the face of severe disagreement between Victoria County and Durban Town as to the nature of the celebrations leading to each party celebrating at either end of the bridge.
This grand bridge did not last long and within three years was washed away without trace.
The lighthouse was built in 1952 because of the number of times that ships mistook the Umgeni River mouth for the Durban harbour, often to their cost. The South African Railways and Harbours had sold a large area to the owners of the Oyster Box Hotel and now wanted permission to build the lighthouse on this area. The permission was refused and negotiations led to a settlement to erect the lighthouse on the beach. The erection of the lighthouse, believe it nor not, was completed in 24 hours, apparently to prevent the structure from cracking.
Modern Umhlanga Rocks is a story of a proliferation of hotels and shopping centres and extension towards the north along the sea.
Picture copyright: Local History Museums, Durban, South Africa. Local History Museums Collection, Durban
12 Comments
Great stuff Mr Morrison. Love the gallery.
Ian Morrison is a great resource when it comes to local history.
I love this kind of feature .. .well done Ian Morrison –
I went to Umhlanga Rocks in 1970, stayed at the Umhlanga Rocks hotel, up on the hill, I think?? Does anyone know if the hotel is still there, and if so, what is it now called? I would love to return!
Ms Fisher, uMhlanga Rocks Hotel was always on the beach front. The monstrosity called the Pearls now stands on that site. The only hotel which was built quite high up on a bank of sorts was the Chevron Hotel, later renamed Edge of the Sea Hotel.A luxurious condo complex bearing the same name has been constructed on that site. The original building was the beach home of the Campbell family. I have an aerial survey photograph of the town taken in about 1963 which depicts all of the old infrastructure.
As a child in the 80s we used to camp at the Caravan Park in Umhlanga Rocks. I cannot remember exactly where it was situated, and would like to know what is in its place now.
I haven’t been to Umhlanga Rocks for almost 25 years and believe it’s very different now!
I grew up in Umhlanga Rocks, I left in 1969. If I could get some pictures of then and now I would love to see them and cherish them. At that time we lived in the Natal Roads Dept Camp because my dad and the team built the main road from Umhlanga to Tongaat in those years. We went to school by bus to Durban every day, and those were good years. There was a military camp, and next to the NPA Camp there was a forest which looked like a nature reserve. Would love to know what happened to the military camp and the forest. I have such good memories of Umhlanga because those were the best years of my life.
Marietjie
You must have known mike Freemantle , who also lived in the camp . We have published a book on the history of UMHLANGA Rocks Surf Life Saving Club .
This covers the period when you lived in a UMHLANGA and the photos in the book reflect the changes that have taken place over the years .
Good evening
Am I right in saying that the popular Sugar Bowl restaurant of the 1960s was in the Chevron Hotel? If so, am I right in saying the Chevron was on the south side of the main road leading into Umhalanga Rocks, i.e., near the old Durban View Hotel? Any information or photos you could make available would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Syd,
The Chevron Hotel was positioned directly above the main bathing Beach . We also knew it as “The edge of the sea hotel”
This was to the left of the road entering UMHLANGA from Westridge , So it was North rather than south of the road into UMHLANGA Rocks.
My grandfather Tom Surgeon (I was named after him), built Durban View Hotel during WW2. My brother & I grew up there and were transported to class 1 & 2 to the Sugar Mill at Mt Edgecombe by horse cart because of petrol rationing during the war. Only sand roads in Umhlanga then and mostly fishing cottages.
Sunnyside Hotel, Umhlaga Rocks Hotel and Seasands Hotel were the only other hotels there then. There was one grocery store and a Post Office. Wonderful childhood memories.
We now live in Manitoba, Canada
And to follow on from Tom’s comment about the Post Office, my mother, then Dorothy Swales, opened that first Post Office in Umhlanga in about 1939/1940 and ran it for the war years. Her then In-laws, Fred Courtney and Mabel Edith Swales, managed the St Merryns Hotel which was apparently near the Post Office. I wonder if anyone recalls that Hotel as I can find no reference to it so far.