Swaziland Digital Archives: Decades: 1950's

About the 1950's

Photos 11 to 20

1950's Mhlambanyatsi Photographer: Unknown Source: Usutu Pulp Co.	Photo No. 505
1950's Quabiti Photographer: Unknown Source: Usutu Pulp Co.	Photo No. 507	There is a myth of colonial splendour, of vast houses, gleaming floors and white gloved servants. Less than a dozen mansions were built, this is a part of Quabiti, created to house the managers of the Usutu Pulp Company.
1950's Quabiti Landscape Photographer: Unknown Source: Usutu Pulp Co.	Photo No. 506	View from the lawn of Quabiti.
1950's Secretariat Photographer: Mrs Culverwell Source: National Archives	Photo No. 67	The seat of British power. The Cape-Dutch colonial style is indicative of the Britis idea for Swaziland's future - integration into South Africa.
1951 Kubuta Mine Photographer: Mr Malinga Source: National Archives	Photo No. 44	Kubuta Mine, 1951. One of the entrances to the mine at Kubuta. The constructors of this mine are completely unknown (possibly the "Enigma" culture) - there are some 45 artificially widened cracks, many of them with two openings, one above the other, as here. There are extensive stone walls on the mountain slopes below the mine and a 700 cubic metre spill heap about one kilometre below and away from the mine. No pottery or artifacts have been found in association with this mine.
1955 Administration, Bremersdorp Photographer: George Murdoch Source: George Murdoch	Photo No. 285	Britain ran Swaziland with a colonial heirarchy. The District Commissioner ruled almost supreme in his area. Often well educated with a degree from Oxford or Cambridge, they formed an efficient, if sometimes pompous, administration. There was no bribery or corruption. This is the Bremersdorp D.C.'s office - described by Paul van Heerden, Head of Agriculture, as "nipple pink for suckers".
1955 Bennett's Store Photographer: George Murdoch Source: George Murdoch	Photo No. 313	John Bennett and his brother were small children, living with their mother, at the outbreak of the Boer War. They were marooned when the whites left and were taken in by the Royal Family and raised with King Sobhuza, starting a close lifelong relationship. One of the brothers became a highly successful trader and re-entered white society, changing his name to John Gordon-Bennett to distance himself from his brother who had a "coloured" family in Siteki. When John Gordon-Bennet died, he was buried under a vast granite slate, a la Cecil Rhodes, at the foot of the Royal Caves in the Mdzimba mountains.
1955 Bremersdorp Hotel Photographer: George Murdoch Source: George Murdoch	Photo No. 310	In the 1950's, Bremersdorp had three good hotels, the Bremersdorp Hotel became the Manzini Arms in 1962 and later the Prince Velabantfu with Uncle Charlies before going bankrupt.
1955 Bremersdorp Library Photographer: George Murdoch Source: George Murdoch	Photo No. 311	The British institutionalised their Commonwealth/Empire. The same school desks, libraries and hospitals were put up thousands of miles apart.
1955 Grass strips 1 - surveying Photographer: George Murdoch Source: George Murdoch	Photo No. 339	The British wanted to slow soil erosion by planting grass strips on the contour, to do this they employed 110 land utilisation officers, some Swazi but mostly Zulus and Xhosas to use army surplus dumpy levels to get the levels correct. Every field in the country was surveyed.