July 2011 Phone 044-620-3338 Fax 044-620-3176 Email: [email protected] www.ourheritage.org.za www.greatbrakriver.co.za Editor3B Rene’ de Kock Dear Museum Friends Issue 7 of 201 The Museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday The longest night for this year has passed and with it comes our longest news letter to date. and Friday between 9 am and Great Brak River and many other places have again been hard hit with storms and 4 pm and on bad weather and for the first time our Island in the river mouth has been really Wednesdays from and truly flooded. See report on www.ourheritage.org.za for more details. This 9.00 to 12.30 pm. web site is proving popular and we have already had nearly 5500 visits. Hopes next fund raising “Hands Nisde Mc Robert, our curator and Jan Nieuwoudt (BOC On” crafts member) attended this year’s museum heads annual workshop will be workshop and get together in Worcester and were in July and will be able to meet with amongst others Andrew Hall who is on Wednesday the new CEO of Heritage Western Cape. 20th. Subsequently, invited by Heritage Mossel Bay, Andrew was asked to be the keynote speaker at the Heritage Please call Hope de Mossel Bay AGM. Although very much in demand, Kock on during his two day visit Andrew was able to pay an 083 378 1232 extended visit to our museum. for full details and venue. More than seventy supporters of Heritage Mossel Bay attended the AGM which took place on the 22nd June and the past committee was re-elected for the April 2011- Short of a book March 2012 year. to read A. Chairperson Jack van der Lecq A large collection B. Vice Chair Rene’ de Kock of Pre-owned C. Secretary Nisde McRobert books on sale in D. Treasurer Pieter van Reenen the Museum See our web site for full details and lots more news. Shop….Every week day morning On Monday the 18th July, our MEC Dr Ivan Meyer will re-launch the Nobel Peace and afternoons Prize Travelling Exhibition at the Great Brak River museum. An interesting when the museum evening and get together is being planned. All our museum members are is open. invited however please RSVP to Ina on 044-620-3338 before the 12th of July. You will also be able to see the many changes taking place in the museum. Proceeds go to museum funds The travelling exhibition includes visual components through which visitors will be able to view historical footage, images and sound recordings reflecting the lives The museum shop and times of each of the four South African Nobel Peace laureates. The exhibition has a new range text and accompanying materials is presented in Afrikaans, English and IsiXhosa. of cards depicting various scenes in The following South Africans are the Nobel Peace Laureates: and around the village Chief Albert Luthuli - awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1960 which he accepted in October 1961 in Oslo, Norway. Chief Luthuli is the first African and South African to be GBR MUSEUM NEWS LETTER JULY 2011 Page No. 1 awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In September 2009 Archbishop Desmond Tutu - awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for the the Wolwedans dam promotion of Peace and Justice in South Africa. He is the second South African to be water level stood at awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 44.50% full and water restrictions Nelson Mandela & F. W. de Klerk - Mr. Nelson Mandela and the then State were introduced. President Mr. F. W de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly in 1993. This is in recognition of their efforts in bringing about peace and reconciliation in South Africa. The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry reports that From the post during late June pony pre 1775 2011, our to the eagle Wolwedans dam motive used water level is from 1970 to 100.2% full. 1993, the U S Mail service is ≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈ facing serious In fond memory competition. of our dear friend and past We read in the press about the problems being experienced with high postal committee costs. This is happening because we are using more and more emails for member Pat advertising and for day to day communication and less on posting letters. What could occur is that some countries postal services could become defunct? McGregor. Postal services rely on funding from first class mail such as personal letters. We will always Advertising mail is normally carried out at much lower rates. remember your Whilst this may not happen in South Africa for some years to come both the cheerful American and British Postal Services are in trouble. disposition and Our Corporate Membership Drive. We wish to thank the many local companies and your great small businesses who have already shown an interest in helping the Great Brak assistance River museum and our information office’s fund raising drive and who have ≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠ become corporate members of their local museum. This is very much appreciated and is helping with much needed funds. Since most of you are receiving our news letter we will acknowledge this in more detail in due course. Please feel free in requesting information or details from our office. We would also appreciate contribution articles of interest in Afrikaans. We know that we have economic imbalances in South Africa but this is a problem being experienced throughout the world. In this time when some South Africans are dreaming of ‘New Land Grabs’ we should look carefully at our past history and review who discovered and perhaps who ‘owns’ Southern Africa. A difficult question as the present day’s South Africa is composed of many parts, many cultures and is a true Rainbow Nation. See included article. News letter Index. More on Our Local Geological Rock Formations ....................................................................................................... 4 OUR NATURE CORNER ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 Railway Tracks & the Space Shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters ............................................................................. 3 SA Tourism and Other Snippets .................................................................................................................................... 15 THE CURATOR’S CORNER ............................................................................................................................................... 17 What’s on, in and around the museum in Great Brak River ............................................................................... 14 Who Discovered South Africa .......................................................................................................................................... 9 GBR MUSEUM NEWS LETTER JULY 2011 Page No. 2 Railway Tracks & the Space Shuttle's Solid From an Australian Engineer Rocket Boosters Railroad tracks. The United States standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. In other words, bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder, 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses). Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, you will notice that there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are ‘solid rocket boosters’, or SRBs for short. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit larger, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? So, Horse's Asses control almost everything... ...Explains a whole lot of things, doesn't it? PS South Africa uses a track width of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm). This was selected in the 19th century to reduce the cost of building track across and through the mountains found in several parts of the country or was it because of the donkeys? GBR MUSEUM NEWS LETTER JULY 2011 Page No.