Page 180 - Bulletin 21

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Volumes of correspondence went back and forth until in 1942 an alternative site that did not

encroach on the Fernandez property was made available and offered to the Roman Catholic
Church at a nominal £1. By 1944 the matter had still not been settled because of the

possibility of changes to legislation affecting schools.

This plan for a single storey building by the Architect Norman Lubyinski had been accepted
in 1942 and then rejected by the City Architect. (Fig. 4.59.) Fr. Doran’s impatience with the

authorities comes through clearly in the correspondence and things were delayed further by
lack of funding because of the war. In his frustration he even submitted his own design for a

three classroom school.

Work on building the school to the final design of Lubyinski & Werthmueller began in 1946
by builder K Mann of Fish Hoek. Transfer of the land (erf 89935) to the Vicar Apostolic of

the Western District of the Cape of Good Hope finally took place on 17 March 1947. The
school was completed by 1948 at a cost of £7,000. Fr. Doran had more to do and wrote a

strong letter to Council pointing out that ‘the site of the road is disgraceful: a mass of jutting

out pieces of corrugated iron, a dozen different levels, all manner of litter, a Sahara of foot –
deep sand now, a quagmire whenever it rains.’

Flats and School complete

The provision of high quality housing and a Catholic School for the fishing community had
been a long and arduous process and a sense of the complexity can be seen in the overlay of

the new buildings over the old. (Fig.4.60.) This provides an impression of the complexity of

the Flats project and the number of buildings that disappeared permanently from Kalk Bay’s
history.

Through all of the many trials over the years and those that came later – the Group Areas Act,
reduced catches, and irrational Government fishing quotas – the community has stood proud

and dignified. Long may they continue! (Fig. 4.61.)