Page 58 - KBHA Bulletin 10

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In April 1897 the Municipality’s Public Works Committee recommended that
application be made to the Colonial Government for a site at Fish Hoek, The request

had to be made to the Colonial Government because the Fish Hoek area was Crown
Land and fell outside the KB-MM boundary. The site was examined by the Colonial

Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Gregory (Fig. 2.6), who was not impressed by it.

The Wynberg Times: 10 April, 1897 & 26 February, 1898.

Proposed New Cemetery

Dr. Gregory’s report on (a) the proposed site for new cemetery and (b) on the sanitation
of Kalk Bay, with reference to a case of typhoid fever in the family of Mr. Lawrence,
MLA, as forwarded by the Under Colonial Secretary, was read. In the report Dr.
Gregory says: The site is situated about half-an-hour’s drive from Fish Hoek, and so far
as its proximity to dwelling houses and the absence of drainage into water used for
drinking and domestic purposes are concerned, no objection can be taken to it, but he
considered that serious objection could be taken on the point of the great distance from
Kalk Bay. The greater part of it is either rough hilly ground or low-lying water-logged
land, which would be quite useless for burial purposes. Only the upper portion of the
ground would be capable of being used for this purpose, such piece being from 450 to
500 feet in extent though in winter not more than 200 feet could be utilised, and the
medical gentleman thought that this would not afford sufficient accommodation for
burial plots for the different religious denominations. The entire area of Crown Lands
selected and applied for by the Council measures over 93 morgen. Upon enquiring why
application had been made for such a large area he was told that the municipality
wanted it to let out for grazing purposes. On the whole the doctor did not think the site
sufficiently suitable and convenient to make worth the while of the Council, even if the
triangular portion be granted, to expend any considerable sum in fencing it and convert-
ing it into a public cemetery; still if the people were willing to put up with the distance,
he saw no reason why the ground should not be granted by the Government. Several
trial holes had been sunk from which it could be seen that the nature of the soil for a
depth of some six feet was a sandy potclay.

Inaction on the matter for the next 18 months resulted in sporadic outbursts of

indignation.