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Archiver > SOUTH-AFRICA > 2004-06 > 1086386598


From: "Lorraine & Rick Vass" <>
Subject: Re: [ZA] Fort Genesa, Bechuanaland
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2004 08:03:18 +1000
References: <005001c449f5$5541b040$825323cb@topend.com.au> <004d01c44abc$26d029e0$2ec7ef9b@chuckles>


Hi Chuck

Thanks so much for that - at least I can find it on a map now - looks to be
about 75 kms NWish out of Vryburg. Must have been a shock to the system for
a young fellow who was born in Grahamstown and had spent most of his early
years around Cape Town.

The album I referred to is held by one of my husband's cousins who lives in
Canberra (a long way from us). I saw it a few weeks ago and the photos
(which are very small) are of very desolate scenes indeed. There's a
building which could easily be a Trading Post, or a Police Station for that
matter with a couple of people standing around.

I remember thinking when I was looking at them that there was nothing that
indicated a fort or military activity but I suppose the photos had been
taken prior to any of that occurring. As I remember, none of the photos
depicted tribal dwellings.

From your description, it sounds as if nothing much has changed in Ganyesa
in over 100 years. I will think on what else I would like to know and get
back to you.

Thanks again
Lorraine
Wyrallah
Northern Rivers NSW

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Osborne" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: [ZA] Fort Genesa, Bechuanaland


> Hello Lorraine,
>
> I have been to Ganyesa as it is now spelt, which was changed as it was in
> part of the previous 'Homeland' of Bophuthatswana. My reason for going
> there was to scatter my father's ashes on his Grandparent's grave - JOHN
> JOSIAH BAIN & SARAH JANE BAIN(nee RUDMAN). They owned the 'Ganyesa
Trading
> Post' in the homeland, next to the Ganyesa Police Station - a very dry and
> desolate tribal area on the edge of the Kalahari Desert. I remember my
> father saying that Ganyesa was the place where police patrols changed from
> horse patrols to camel patrols - but the patrols never met, or else the
> horses would bolt when they smelt the camels !!!
> My Grandfather PERCY OSBORNE came to SA in 1902 to join the Cape Mounted
> Police and was posted to Ganyesa, where he met and married my Grandmother
> LILIAN MARY MARIA BAIN, and being a grocer by trade, took over the Trading
> Post.
> Another policeman posted to Ganyesa was HARRY CHAPMAN, whose son married
my
> Dad's sister.
> Apart from the Police Station and Trading Post, there is a very basic
church
> and very little else amongst the tribesmen's dwellings.
> My family left the Trading Post in 1935 to move to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe,
> and sold out to a family that still owns it - I have their address.
> Contact me off list if you would like more details.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Chuck Osborne,
> Durban, SA.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lorraine & Rick Vass" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 10:32 PM
> Subject: [ZA] Fort Genesa, Bechuanaland
>
>
>
>
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