Maria Emmeline Buchanan (Fuller)

As you walk up the impressive Jameson Steps at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with Devil's Peak in front of you, look to your left and you will see the women's residence, Fuller Hall. In a portico above the door is bronze bust of Maria Emmeline Fuller, nee Buchanan.
As today is Women's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to have something about this lady as Fuller Hall is so well known, but the person for whom it was named is not. It turns out the she was one of the first four women students to enrol at the South African College (the precursor of the University of Cape Town) in 1886 for her matric and teacher's certificate. The four were allowed to register for chemistry only; it was only in the following year that women were admitted to all classes.
In 1893 she married Dr Edward Barnard Fuller, a consultant at Somerset Hospital and part-time medical officer for the City of Cape Town, who later became chairman of the University Council (1938-1945). Maria was instrumental in establishing Arthur's Seat (a residence for women students of the South African College) in 1907, and served on the house committee for five years until a warden was appointed.
After the South African College officially became the University of Cape Town on 2 April 1918, Maria was a member of the Provisional Committee appointed to oversee the development of the new Groote Schuur campus. In the same year she was one of two women appointed to the newly constituted University Council.
Opened in 1928, the women's residence was renamed Fuller Hall in 1950 in recognition of her contributions to UCT. In the same year UCT awarded Maria an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.
As founder member and first president of the National Council of Women, and dedicated to promoting education and the enfranchisement of women, Maria was awarded the George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935 for more than 40 years of public service.
She died in 1957.
The bronze bust was commissioned by UCT's Works of Art Committee and created by sculptor Delise Reich.
Info from The Monday Paper.

I think she bears a striking resemblance to the actress Geraldine James!

Nurturing mother - with chameleons

I came across this column outside the Kramer Law building on Middle Campus at the University of Cape Town recently - a bronze done in 1996 by Bruce Arnott, entitled Alma Mater. I was very taken with the chameleon crawling up the side. The heritage trail brochure says of it "This sculpture of a female figure used as a supporting column is referred to as a caryatid and is often associated with classical Greek figurines. However, it is not exclusively a western figure, since it is known from China, ancient Persia, West Africa and the Congo, particularly in the art of the Luba people. This caryatid symbolically combines the twin roles of authority and responsibility. The phrase, Alma Mater (Latin: ‘nurturing mother’), is often used to denote a school or university, and here we see the emblems of learning being generously offered by the stylistically evolved caryatid figure. The chameleons represent historical process and transformation."

Playing tricks

Another scorcher of a day. And sizzling in the hot sun is the new sculpture on the Alma Mater plaza between the Kramer Law Building and the new Student Administration Building on the University of Cape Town's middle campus, where the annual Summer School is in full swing. The artist, Charles Diamond, says that "the dogwatch" is a nautical term for the hours between late afternoon and night, when fading light can play tricks on the eyes. "It's difficult for me to explain the piece, so when people ask me what it is, I usually just say, 'it's about seven and a half tonnes'."

An African send-off

Today was the opening of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. I hope they have as much fun as we did last year with the Soccer World Cup. This is Prof. Tait, Warden of Smuts Residence at the University of Cape Town, hauling out the Smut's vuvuzela to lend some support to our team! Here is a video clip of our team's send-off in Johannesburg earlier this week. Go Bokke!

The wind in //Kabbo's window

A cold and rainy day today, and breakfast with friends who, being the Warden (and wife of the Warden) of Smuts Hall, live in this most gracious of the University of Cape Town's residences. We were given a tour, and were particularly struck by the beautiful stained glass windows in the grand Dining Hall that you can see in the photo; the light just catching the window on the left. Six of the windows are quite old and depict scenes from South Africa's colonial history, but there are a few more modern designs; one of which is by Pippa Skotnes, entitled The wind in //Kabbo's Window. //Kabbo (the back slashes denote clicks when pronouncing the name) was a /Xam Bushman who was interviewed in the nineteenth century by Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd while he was doing time in prison for threatening colonial farmers in the Northern Cape. These diaries and transcriptions are all that remains of the culture and day to day life of the indigenous people of the northern Cape and are the most precious and intriguing documents of our history. The other new windows are Ithemba by Zwelethu Mthethwa, The birth of democracy by Lyn Smuts and Afrika phakamisa uphondo iwakho by Ella Lou O’Meara.

A common heritage

Rondebosch Common with the University of Cape Town at the foot of Devil's Peak in the background. The common is an open space in the centre of Cape Town suburbia - its history stretching back into the dim and distant past when Khoe herders grazed their sheep and cattle there. During the Dutch and English colonial periods it was used as a military encampment but also as common grazing land. Botanically it has become of great importance as it harbours two patches of almost extinct vegetation types - Sand Plain Fynbos and Renosterveld.

Opposition

Today is Freedom Day in South Africa - a public holiday to commemorate the first free and non-racial elections held on 27 April 1994. As I drove past the imposing, Virginia Creeper-clad walls - now in autumnal splendour - of the University of Cape Town (UCT) in the shadow of Devil's Peak, I thought a photo of this august institution would be a good way to honour those who opposed the Apartheid state to win the freedom we take for granted now.
In 1959, the Apartheid government passed the Extension of the University Education Act, despite opposition by UCT staff and students, past and present (and also at other universities like Wits in Johannesburg). This act took away the freedom of universities to choose who to admit, a way of barring black students. The university erected a plaque in 1960, the Latin plaque, to mark the shameful day, and the TB Davie Academic Freedom Lecture was instituted to recall this loss every year. In 1968 academic freedom at UCT was further restricted when the state compelled UCT to overturn its decision to appoint a black academic, Archie Mafeje, to its staff. This second restriction of UCT’s academic freedom is commemorated by the 1968 Latin plaque. During the 1970s and 1980s the state’s grip on academic and personal freedoms tightened even more, producing open resistance by numbers of students and staff and bitter clashes with the police. Since 1990 the state’s overt restrictions on academic freedom at UCT have been withdrawn.
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Let us rejoice!

Today is a public holiday here - the Day of Reconciliation. It is also the day of our son's graduation with a BA Degree in Law and French. This is my view of the academic procession onto the stage of Jameson Hall at the University of Cape Town. (I was unable to capture the strains of Gaudiamus igitur.) We sat up in the gallery and had a bird's eye view of the ceremony - and the huge Art Deco chandelier too.

And as a proud mom, I was unable to resist a photo of my son Simon!

Ayoba Alice Walker

Standing ovation for Professor Alice Walker, the speaker at the Steve Biko Memorial Lecture last night at the University of Cape Town. The title of the lecture was "Coming to see you since I was five years old: An American poet's connection to the South African soul." What a great opportunity to hear this eminent lady speak.

A step up

This “belvedere” on the University of Cape Town's Middle Campus was built in about 1760 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) on Rustenburg Estate. It is the oldest building on the University of Cape Town's Groote Schuur campus. It was designed as a belvedere, a raised structure from which to enjoy an extensive view and to provide a shady retreat in summer. A garden plan that was drawn up in 1791 for Rustenburg House features a drawing of the "Summer House" as the focal point for an avenue of oaks leading up the hillside from the house. When Cecil John Rhodes bought the land for the Groote Schuur estate a century later, he commissioned Sir Herbert Baker to restore the dilapidated belvedere.

According to the plaque on the wall, this belvedere and the "Japonica Walk" in front of it lie on the main axis around which the campus of the University of Cape Town was planned.

The motorway cuts Upper and Middle campus in two, and you can see its crash barriers above the belvedere. The beautiful buildings of the Upper Campus can just be seen in the trees below Devil's Peak. (The other campus, Hiddingh Campus, is in the city of Cape Town.)

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