Page 51 - KBHA Bulletin 10

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Harry Scowen described the beach as swarming with rats attracted by the fish offal
strewn about the place, and on a moonlight night they could be seen “skipping about

like lambs.”

Kalk Bay was evidently not as charming and healthy as some suggested, with burial of

the dead just one of the problems facing it. Until 1903 the various religious
denominations in the area took responsibility for burials. There were four established

places of worship and there were burial places related to each.

St James Roman Catholic Church (1858) was the first one to be established more or less
on its present site on Main Road. (Religious services had been performed informally in

Kalk Bay long before that.). The Catholic Presbytery owned a narrow strip of land

running towards the top of the mountain, but whether or not any burials took place there
will probably never be established. (Fig. 2.2). What seems fairly certain is that with the

arrival of Father Duignam in 1875 the Filipino congregants were buried in a triangular

area that may have become known informally as Hillside Cemetery behind Seahurst
Hotel, and at the end of the later (1939) Quarterdeck Road. (Fig. 2.3). On maps it was

marked variously as ‘space occupied by graves’ and ‘Filipino fishermen’s graves’. An
article by Maxwell Price in the Cape Times of 5 October 1946 describes a typical burial

with Father Duignam in charge:

“Burial services in the old days were important occasions to the Filipino
community. With the arrival of Father Duignam they were allotted a
burial ground on land behind the present Seahurst Hotel.

They attended funerals in black suits, silk top hats, starched shirts and
white gloves. The procession was always in double line with the coffin
bearers in front. The entire community attended and many of the older
people at Kalk Bay and St. James will tell you that it was a most
impressive sight to see 200 people walking reverently behind the bearers.

At the head of the line in solemn dignity, like a patriarch of old, walked
Father Duignam leading his beloved charge to eternal rest.”