White South African Suburbia in the '60s

My wife Sandy and I were born in Johannesburg South Africa. I was raised in the city and completed my high schooling there. Sandy completed her high school and college education in England. In 1982, several years after our marriage we were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when our first two children, Susan and Philip, were 8 and 6 years old. Louise and Stephen arrived shortly thereafter! We came to BYU in 1993 and have lived in Provo for the past 16 years.

The "Suburbia" exhibition at the Brigham Young University Museum of Art, in Provo, prompted me to find my parental home in Johannesburg, SA on Google Earth. It was an uncanny experience to see my old neighborhood. Nothing seems to have changed from this satelite view - although the demographics have probably changed a lot since the Apartheid era. We lived in a "white" middle class suburb called Kensington to the East of Johannesburg, about ten miles from Soweto, the Black "township" located on the west of the city. As "White Europeans" we never set foot in Soweto in the 21 years I lived in Johannesburg. The city was laid out so that we lived in a separate world of quiet, comfortable, 1st World, domesticity. Whites were not allowed to enter Soweto unless on "official" business, and one could be arrested travelling on the single road that led in and out of this area.


Black people were employed all over the "White" suburbs and could travel in and out of the city as long as they had valid ID "passes". There was never a time that my parents did not employ at least one servant. Usually a Black woman as a housemaid who lived in the "servants' quarters" of our property, and a "garden boy" who tended the garden a few times a week. The housemaid would return to her family in Soweto on weekends. On the left is Sophie, our long-time housemaid while I was in high school.

Our home, on the corner of Juno Street and Roberts Avenue, was situated across the road from a well appointed block of "flats" (appartments) called "Kensington Mansions" mostly occupied by retired elderly people and widdows. Sometimes they would come out onto their balconies to see why I was making such a noise with my "Thimbledrome" model aircraft and racers in our back yard. Most of the houses in SA were built with bricks and mortar, with roofs of corrugated iron or red Marseilles tiles. I really enjoyed my teenage years. We lived a stone's throw from "The Kensington Bowling and Tennis Club". Outdoor bowls was played on weekends on immaculte greens by mostly elderly people dressed in whites, but my teenage buddies an I made full use of the tennis courts - playing as much as we could, sometimes all summer long and then before and after school on weekdays during term time.

View of the "Kensington Bowling and Tennis Club" in the middle distance, from our front garden.

Family celebrations were frequent and would bring out the fancy goblets! Here a great aunt, my aunts, my uncle, and my father, drink a toast to each other's health. Days of wine and roses...

 I attended Jeppe High School for Boys. The school was modelled on the British grammar school, architecturally and philosophically - most of the teachers were from the UK. We had about 750 boys (pupils) from 8th grade through matriculation. The school was well known for its Rugby, Cricket and Rowing prowess. I was thrilled to find some pictures of my old school on the Internet. It was situated about a mile up Roberts Avenue from our home and I would walk to and from school on school days. I'm still proud of my high school, my teachers, and the friends I made there.

"Jeppe High School for Boys is Johannesburg’s oldest public school having been established in 1890. Recognised as one of South Africa’s top boys schools, the defining characteristics of the men it produces often centre on the principles of loyalty, honour and friendship. Whilst many Jeppe pupils have gone on to become captains of industry, famous politicians and international sportsmen, it is the ability of the school to shape the characters of boys into men which is its greatest success. While taking great pride in our ethos, tradition and achievements, the School strives to develop well-educated, well-rounded, well-mannered and tolerant young men ready to face the challenges of life."

 My aunt on the left and my mother on the right are excited about my sister-in-law's pregnancy. The sixties were the days of the bouffant hair!

I also found some earlier black and white "snapshots" of my late brother, Philip, and I, as todlers in our dressing gowns, sitting with the neighbor ladies, Mrs. Adlam on the left, and Mrs. Sawyer on the right, on the occassion of their visit to my mother one evening, (Visiting Teaching?) Note the use of "antimacassars" on the back of the sofa. Antimacassars were cloths placed over the backs or arms of chairs, or the head or cushions of a sofa, to prevent soiling of the permanent fabric by the greasy hair oils and creams used by men during this period (Macassar oil, Brylcream, etc). Also note the heavy curtains, and the wrought iron burgular guards just visible through the lace curtains.

Herman du Toit is Head of Museum Research at Brigham Young University Museum of Art in Provo, Utah. He has enjoyed an extensive career as an art educator, curator, administrator, critic, and author, both locally and abroad. He is a former head of the Durban Art School and founding director of the Cecil Renaud Art Gallery at the former Durban Technical Institute in South Africa. He holds post graduate degrees in Art History and Sociology of Education from the former University of Natal. At Brigham Young University he was awarded a J.Paul Getty Fellowship for his Ph.D. study investigating interpretive practices at some of America's leading art museums.