VICTORIA STREET RESIDENTS

Victoria Street south of the railway line was in the 50’s and 60’s – as it remains – a residential street. Facing south west from the Victoria Street bridge, the first house on the left (on the corner of Cornhill Street) was the home of Bunny and Veronica Mallet, and their children Alena, Sandra and Michelle. I no longer remember who occupied the next house on that side of the street, but thereafter was the Barclays Bank house that was occupied by a succession of managers. These included the Courtney family (with sons Michael and Reggie) and the Reich family (with children Leda – now Mrs. John Lloyd – and Brian). After that was the unusual, almost fortress like looking, double storey home operated as a boarding house by a family named Jones (including some additional rooms behind the main residence). Then there was the house built and occupied by Mr. Forsythe of Stockowners (I recall that his daughter was named Leslie). Next to that, on the corner of Cuthbert Street, was the home of Joyce Donald.

On the opposite corner of Victoria Street and Cuthbert Street (on the bridge side of the intersection, 90 Victoria Street - now owned by Evan Jones) was the home of Dr. Len and Phyllis Batchelor, and their sons Garth and Alan. (Incidentally, next door to the Batchelors, on Cuthbert Street, was the original home of Hylton and Joyce Smith – Hylton was Mayor of Dundee from 1968 to 1971). The Batchelor’s neighbour on the Victoria Street side was "Girlie" Reynolds. Then came the home of John and Paddy Davies, and their daughters Jill and Sally (who eventually married my law partner in the Durban firm of Garlicke & Bousfield, Richard Pemberton). John Davies was the Company Secretary at Kiltys sweet factory. Next door to the Davies lived Jimmy and Muriel Douglas, and their children Margaret, Jimmy (Jnr), and Heather. Jimmy’s tree house was the envy of us younger kids – it even had running water! The Steilau family lived in the house next door – right on the corner of Corner Street. Their daughter, Dr. Steilau, went on to teach at Natal University in Durban.

Heading back to the Cuthbert Street corner, and continuing up Victoria Street towards the suburbs, the house on the left corner was that of local attorney Aubrey Wynn and his wife Mollie. Their children Brian and Yvonne were out of the home by the time my generation was growing up, but Brian continued the family tradition by becoming an attorney in Eshowe, while Yvonne married Glyn Durham and is now the matriarch of the Durham family. I cannot now recall who lived in the next one or two houses, but in the house second from the corner of Tatham Street lived the Stanbury family – Town Clerk Claude Stanbury and his wife “Pikkie”, and children John, Richard and Betty. Claude was for many years the local Scoutmaster – if I remember his Scout pseudonym was “Otter”. Next door to the Stanbury family, on the Tatham Street corner, was the Shepstone family – whose only member that I remember the name of is their son, John.

On the opposite corner was the large, double storey home of Ken and Margaret Simpson, and their children Anne, Jean and David. Ken was a prominent local land surveyor in the firm of H. S. K. Simpson and Son. His father H. S. K. Simpson was for years the local United Party member of parliament. Ken had the distinction of having the NDE 1 number plate on his cars – a number which he gave up to Denis Smith when Ken left for Durban to teach at the Natal University. The Simpson home was the scene of many a fireworks display on Guy Fawkes night (November 5th), as my family and theirs used to pool our fireworks and celebrate the event together. This property was later developed by Glyn Durham into a multi unit condominium estate. I cannot recall who lived next door, or in any of the other homes on that block.

Diagonally opposite the Simpson home was the home of former United Party member of parliament and later Senator Robbie Robertson and his wife Marjorie. I cannot recall if there was a house in between, but after the Robertsons was the home of Albert Norenius and his wife Doris (105 Victoria Street). Albert Norenius was the publisher of the Northern Natal Courier, and a deacon of St. James Anglican Church – where his wife Doris and sister Dagma were long serving and prominent members of the choir. (That house became the home of Denis Smith many years later). I cannot recall who lived in the next few houses, except that I seem to recall that perhaps the Boswell family lived in one, and that Frank Hardy, a former Town Clerk, lived in one of the houses between the Norenius family and the corner of Coronation Street. On the corner of Coronation Street was Duncorvic, a block of residential flats – one of which was occupied by High School Deputy Headmaster, and later school inspector and Director of Education of Natal, Sol Levinsohn, and his wife Willie and daughter Lynette.

Opposite Duncorvic was the home of local pharmacist Arthur Wallace and his wife, and daughters Barbara and Sheila (I believe that he also had a son, but I cannot recall his name). The occupants of the next few houses – going back towards Tatham Street – are something of a blur, but I seem to recall that Miss. Gwen Hardy lived in one of the houses. In the early 50’s Roy and Pam Hindle lived – I believe – in the second house from the Tatham Street corner. Roy Hindle was a roads engineer with the NPA. Another roads engineer, Jimmy Seymour, and his wife Doreen (my swimming coach as a youngster) also lived in that house for a time, with their three sons. On the corner of Tatham Street was the large two storey home of the managers of the Stafford Mayer Mining Group. The residents of that house who were best known to me were the Morgan family – Ruth and Ann being my contemporaries (a photograph of a party at this house appears in the photo gallery of this website).

Moving beyond Coronation Street, the block on the right hand side and all the way to Tandy Street was – with the exception of the Archbell home on the corner diagonally opposite Duncorvic, occupied by the Holy Rosary Convent. (For some reason poor Les Archbell frequently bore the brunt of the “roof music” played by the hooligan youths of the town.) Until the late 60’s the nuns of the Irish Dominican order based at the Convent provided a liberal education to just over 100 girls from class 1 through matric. Well known nuns included Sister Dominica, Sister Ann, and Sister Paul. For such a small school the convent provided an amazing array of school activities: in addition to its academic subjects pupils were offered the opportunity to represent the school in tennis, hockey, swimming, debate, various musical arts (at the annual eisteddfod), and also in the school orchestra and in school plays.

The block on the opposite side of the street – bounded by Coronation, McKenzie and Handley Streets – was taken up entirely by the park. On the corner of Coronation Street was the Berea Tennis Club, home to such stalwarts as Andy and Jody Rankin. Further into the park was the Dundee Bowling Club.

I cannot now recall who lived on the other Handley Street corner, but the next house was for a time occupied by the Pike (or Pyke) family. Their son Derrick was a contemporary on mine, who attended Dundee schools, but they did not live long in the town. The next house (or next but one) was that of Mr. Harold Goudge, who was a principal of the Dundee Building Society. According to notes made by my father (apparently in response to my request that he write his autobiography!), Mr. Goudge was one of the “big five” businessmen in Dundee in the 1950’s – the others identified by my father were Hamish Smith, Donald McHardy, Tom Worthington, and Jimmy Keith. Apparently the businesses in which one or more of them owned interests were Dundee Brick & Tile (later acquired by Coronation Brick), the Dundee Building Society, Johnstone & Keith, and B. J. Motors.

In the 50’s and 60’s there were no houses on the ‘nDumeni side of Victoria Street beyond Tandy Street. Turning to the other side of the road, I cannot now recall who lived on the corner of Tandy Street. But the second or third house after the corner was the home of the Soden family – son Roger was a schoolmate of mine, and elder son Lee was a scout leader in my junior scouting days. The order may be mixed up, but also around that position was the home of Pat (?) and Una Friis. Pat and his brother Eric owned a drilling company – Good Hope Drilling, if I remember correctly. A little further up the road was the home of Hugh and Kath Cameron, and of their children Kay and Ewan.

Beyond Biggar Street was a semicircular park bounded by Simpson Crescent. Taking the liberty of following Simpson Crescent, one of the first homes was that of Ms. Eileen Funston, sister of George Funston (principal of Kiltys), and a tireless worker for charitable organizations in Dundee. A few house further along was the home of Town Clerk Jimmy Adams and his wife Dot and daughters Michelle, Sandra, and Jill. Both Adams parents and Sandra were stalwarts of the Dundee Golf Club, and good players. Proceeding further, I seem to recall that Norman and Beth Henderson, and their children Maurice (“Hedgehog”) and Heather may have moved to Simpson Crescent from their earlier home in Tatham Street. And the Dinkelman family(parents of Jonathan “Jasco” Dinkelman) lived in that street too. And, finally, at the corner of Simpson Crescent and Victoria Street was the home of Rory and Biddie (?) Wolmarans, and their daughter Jennifer.

The Wolmarans home – which was opposite the entrance to the Dundee Aerodrome – was the last house within Dundee’s town boundaries on the Wasbank road side of town. Just outside the boundary was Ashdene farm, then occupied by Glyn Durham’s parents, and now occupied by Glyn and Yvonne Durham. Opposite the entrance to Ashdene was the road to the farm of Ormand DuBois and his family – his son Lionel was in my class and scout troop, but I cannot remember the name of his sister. Other farmers on the road to Wasbank were Owen Durham, and Basil Osborne and his wife Dolly (a well known music teacher at Dundee High School), and their children Michael and Marie-Jean (an accomplished musician). Further along were the McKenzie brothers, of whom Duncan was very well known in the town for his charitable work (especially for the TocH organization).

Going even further afield, farmers in the Wasbank area and residents of By Products included Sid and Mollie Bennett and their daughter Diana, John and Peggy Sparks and their children Jennifer, Patty and Anthony (nicknamed “Bundu” for the fact that he was born in the farm pickup truck en route to the Dundee Hospital), and the Tommy Dudley family (with their sons Rob and Dave).