Page 65 - Bulletin 22 2019

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covering Royal Road, getting into the working parts of cars and bringing them to a standstill,

according to a letter from WJ Gillard, secretary of the KB-M Ratepayers Association in
October 1930. One resident suggested the construction of three rows of bathing boxes east of

the vlei mouth to act as a barrier. City Engineer Lloyd-Davies suggested instead that the new
elevated promenade, which stopped at the vlei outlet, should be extended 500 ft (152 m)

eastwards with an overhang on its the seaward side that would trap a cushion of air and
prevent landward sand-flows. He pointed out that his new promenade had been designed on

exactly that principle to protect the sunken gardens, and it had done so successfully. The land

behind could be filled with household refuse, leveled off, topped with soil, and laid out for
recreational purposes as had been done in the sunken garden area (and as proposed in Mr

Piercy’s 1914 plan.)

Instead, a jarrah rail-sleeper palisade 1¾ ft high was put in place as an interim measure until

the promenade could be extended. During 1932 the sand-dunes east of the vlei mouth were
removed and the surface hardened with a gravel-clay mix and this apparently solved the drift-

sand problem in Marine Estate – but also drew complaints about the dust whipped up off its
surface and the ‘vandalization’ of the dunefield.

A few years later there were complaints of a different sort, namely that the pavilion and
bathing boxes had caused a build-up of sand in front of them that made the beach steeper and

produced backwash and currents that bathers had never experienced before. Also, there were
fears that the build-up of sand would engulf the pavilion; it had nearly reached the level of

the promenade and it prevented some bathing box doors from being opened. During 1934-35
the complaints were taken up in the Johannesburg papers, particularly ‘The Star’, which

asserted that the Council had done nothing since March of 1935 to correct the situation.

Some officials, like former municipal engineer Mr DP Howells, who was consulted on the

matter, and newly-appointed city engineer Mr TP Francis, acknowledged that structures built

on the foreshore interfered with the natural flows of tides and winds and that prior to 1930
sand had been blown inland across the backshore areas as far as Royal Road. Now it

accumulated in front of the new structures. They agreed the situation was complex because
there was an annual cycle of erosion during south-easter-driven seas, and accumulation

during north-wester-driven seas. It was also believed that there was a longer natural 5-10 year