Popular book back on the shelves

THE third edition of author Desirée Joubert’s popular book, ‘Munster and its Pioneers’ is now on the book shelves.

This charming, well-researched book tells the story of Munster, the many influences that shaped it and the pioneers who made the fledgling town their home. When it was first published in 2000, it was quickly snapped up by readers interested in the story of Munster and, more generally, the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.

In response to the demand, a second edition came out in 2006 and Desirée thought she had done her bit to record the story of Munster. However, the second edition sold out and she was soon receiving requests for more copies of her book.

The end result is a bigger and better third edition, published by Jotha Printers in Pretoria. Desirée has updated and revised the original book, adding more information.

Her story begins around 610BC when history records that an Egyptian fleet, manned by Phoenician sailors, must have sailed past Munster as it circumnavigated Africa. Desirée records the stories of some of the many ships that came to grief near present-day Munster, including the famous galleon, São João, wrecked north of Umtamvuna in 1552.

Clues to their stories were left behind in the form of pottery shards and beads that still occasionally wash up on South Coast shores. The pottery shards have been the subject of intensive research, undertaken by Valerie Esterhuizen, who has successfully unravelled many of these clues. However, regarding the plentiful supply of pottery shards that wash up on Munster beach, no-one has been able to find out for certain from which ship they come.

Readers of Desirée’s book might be surprised how the rather tragic story of the settlement of East Griqualand by the Griqua people had a direct impact on the area around Munster. Farmers, many of them English settlers, eventually bought farms from the embattled Griqua people. Some of these early settlers grazed their cattle in the Port Edward area during winter.

Desirée tells the story of Alfred Eyles, the founder of the Imbizana Mission at Southbroom and the first European settler in the area. After his arrival in 1883, he kept a diary, extracts from which have been included in the chapter on the first missionaries.

Chapters also tell about interesting characters and well-known local families who pioneered Munster and its fringes, including many owners of early holiday homes there.

Finally, Desirée looks at the town of Munster and its surrounds as it is today.

She concludes her story of the town and its surrounds with a fascinating story, the discovery by a group of local botanists, incuding the late Hugh Nicholson and the late Tony Abbott, of an extremely rare tree, Raspalia trigyanal, in the Umtamvuna Gorge.

The third edition of the book retains its striking front cover, featuring the ill-fated ship, the Nightingale, on the rocks at Munster. However, a new-look back cover features photographs of some of the shards and beads that tell the beginning of the story of Munster.

For information about the new edition, contact Desirée at 012 4605002. It is also available at Ramsgate Stationers in the Southcoast Mall.