In the article below, Oscar Norwich, Johannesburg historian and collector, explores a few early gaols in Johannesburg and then reveals the history behind the Johannesburg Fort. The piece first appeared in the 1983 edition of the old Johannesburg Historical Foundation's journal 'Between the Chains'. Thank you to the Norwich family for their kind permission to publish this article.
BOOK REVIEWS
J. B. Taylor’s A Pioneer Looks Back is one of those understated memoirs that rewards careful and sympathetic reading. It is not the self-promoting autobiography of a dominant Randlord, nor a triumphalist corporate history written to secure a legacy.
BLUE PLAQUES
A founder member of the ANC he lived under banning orders through the 1960s, with the last one expiring in 1972. Thousands attended his funeral in January 1981. The raising of the banned ANC flag, and reports of the apartheid flag being burnt, forced government to pass the new Republic of South Africa constitution Act 101 of 1981 making it a crime to damage the national flag.