Looking into Salt Rock’s history books

Salt Rock has a long history of fantastic fishing, sporting fun and drunken shenanigans – a beach village born in the 1800s long before Ballito took shape in the 50s.

Looking back at the few yellowing photographs available of yesteryear, Mary Rose Strode of Claremont Farm tells the story of her grandmother, Mary-Anne – the daughter of John Burne after whom Burnedale is named.

“Burne came to Umhlali when he married Isabella Tyson at the Umvoti Mission Station in 1857. It is believed that Burne, who was a sergeant at the time, was connected with the newly-built Fort Scott at Umhlali, which had been constructed and manned by the 45th regiment,” said Strode.

Burne went back to England in 1859 on the troopship HMS Himalaya and after his 21 years’ service, received the Long Service Good Conduct Medal from the Duke of Cambridge and was complimented by Queen Victoria.

“Burne came back to Umhlali in 1862 where he ran a blacksmith and wagonmaker business behind Umhlali station. His property was called Burnedale.”

He joined the public service field and became the prison keeper for the Tugela Division of Victoria County. Later he was promoted to constable – a position he kept until he retired in 1884.

“He had two children from his first marriage and ten with his second wife – he was Irish Catholic, you see,” said Strode, who was born in Umhlali in 1937 and grew up in the house that is now Eden Village in Foxhill.

“My grandfather built that house which used to be called Windy Ridge, as it was so windy up there on the hill once the cane was cut down. My mother’s vegetable garden used to be where Ezulwini Estate is now (next to Linc Church).”

The Umhlali tennis courts used to be where Monoblock is now, next to the Sasol garage.

Further down the road, Strode’s uncle Bill Robbins built and owned the house where Siggi’s Restaurant is now.

“He chose the property because he was a big sports fan and could overlook the bowling green from his house.”

Mary Rose’s daughter, Jane fondly remembered her first holiday job in 1979 – sorting the Christmas post at the post office.

“I loved this job and remember working with a lovely little Indian man called Moon who used to trundle over to the train with his big trolley where he collected all the parcels and sacks of letters which I then helped sort out.”

Another long-standing local family are the Milsteads who lived at Burnedale.

“Our family originally came with the 1849 settlers from the UK,” relates Barry Milstead, who now lives on Upton farm, while his brother Trevor owns Karibu.

“We had a lot of fun back in the day. Salt Rock was just a couple of holiday homes and the hotel. Gradually it grew into a little village. We used to race on the dirt road from Salt Rock to Lali pub – the local watering hole.

“The races were never very fair. One of the guys had a really slow Renault and got fed up losing, so he just pulled his revolver out and shot. He obviously won,” chuckled Milstead.

On your next visit to Burnedale, take some time to admire the beautiful gardens which were meticulously cared for by Barry’s mom Peggy who was known for her green fingers.

Solomon and his tricks

Professor Bernard Balkisson grew up near Salt Rock and often visited his uncle Jonathan Balkisson who was the barman at Salt Rock Hotel from the 1940’s and lived in a house provided by the hotel.

Jonathan’s brother, Albert was the wine steward and his son Solomon the head waiter.

“We had wonderful times in Salt Rock. On one sunny afternoon an African gardener ran up to the owner of the hotel, claiming he saw a huge black mamba alongside the footpath. They stealthily approached the vicinity of the snake – the hotel owner in front, the gardener following closely behind and Albert at the rear.

“Albert pinched the gardener on the back of his right leg and simultaneously made a hissing sound. This caused the gardener to scream and rapidly raise his leg resulting in a sound kick to the buttock of the bending boss,” chuckled Balkisson, who completed standard six at Umhlali Indian Primary School (now called R.A. Padayachee Primary School) in 1960 and matriculated at Stanger Indian High School.

Now a renowned professor and retired in Perth, Australia, Balkisson was the first Indian in the country to be registered in the field of clinical psychology in 1974.

Another fond memory included a game of cricket which saw the hotel guests play against Solomon’s team in the 1950’s on a turfed area along the sea shore on which donkeys sometimes grazed.

“The hotel guests were confident of winning but, unknown to them, two of my older brothers were inter-district cricketers and the younger twins were college and club cricketers. A fairly large crowd gathered expecting a confident and somewhat cocky visitor’s team to defeat Solomon’s side.

“There was almost a carnival atmosphere at the ground on that Saturday afternoon when the visitors were resoundingly beaten and completely deflated.”

Determined to avenge their loss, the visitors issued another challenge for the following afternoon. Unfortunately for the visitors, they had the same result.

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