The Rhodesian Study Circle is a philatelic website for the areas of Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, British Central Africa and Nyasaland, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Conversations with Swiss Missionaries in Barotseland 1940-1972 (with photographs and watercolours by Claire Bornand)
A new publication of the RSC by member Ian Menzies (who resides in Geneva and farms cattle in Zimbabwe). This is a much smaller publication than recent Memoirs; it is about a rather intimate encounter with one of those brave women who journeyed to Central Africa as missionaries in the middle of the 20th Century and is entitled: Conversations with Swiss Missionaries in Barotseland 1940-1972.
Conversations with Swiss missionaries’ is the story of a young nurse – Claire Bornand – from Geneva who sets out for Barotseland in 1940. She travels through Vichy France, through post Civil War Spain and eventually to her station on the Upper Zambezi. Many of her veteran colleagues are ill or exhausted and she soon finds herself taking responsibility for a clinic and treating thousands of patients. In her diary, she records Lozi customs, she photographs scenes on the Zambezi and botanical observations in her delightful series of watercolours. The 40 page book is based on interviews, documents bequeathed to the Geneva Ethnographic Museum and Paris DEFAP missionary archives.
Details
Title:Conversations with Swiss Missionaries in Barotseland 1940-1972
Author: Ian Menzies
Available from late July, 2020.
Prices:
PDF – N/A
Print Copy (Members Only) – UK £8 including P&H; Europe £10 including P&H; International £12 including P&H
This well researched book of 304 pages provides an in depth study of the gold mines in Southern Rhodesia. Early chapters cover mining history, mining law and mining documents. Then follows a listing of 125 mines each with its history, postal history, output of the mine and its location shown by both a map and geographical co-ordinates (an example of the map for Shamrock Mine is shown in the September 2019 Journal).
The manuscript of the book is dated 1996 when reproduction techniques were not as advanced as they are today, thus the quality of the black and white illustrations of covers and documents is not up to modern standards. The sections on mining documents and postal history are perhaps better covered elsewhere but the strength of the book lies in the history and geography of each mine. All mines are covered even if they had no post office and even towns which had a mine but “mine” was not in the post office name.”
Kariba Dam was ‘Africa’s Greatest Mass of Masonry Since the Pharaohs Built the Pyramids’, the Sunday Mail thundered on completion of the wall in 1959. In this picture-rich book, the construction of what remains the world’s biggest man-made lake is retold by those involved in the project.
Strong on social history, Kariba – Legacy of a Vision by Jonathan Waters contains the stories of over 100 people who drove the development of industries around the lake in the six decades since its completion.
Rhodesia 1890-1924. The Postal History and Stamps of the British South Africa Company. Display to the Royal Philatelic Society London 20 February 2020 By Colin Hoffman RDPSA, FRPSL
Reports of RSC Meetings:
Melbourne (14/3/2020)
Harare (8/2/2020)
Johannesburg (22/2/2020)
Overprint Oddities, a sign of Zambia’s Postal Woes? – Adam Goulding
Three interesting ‘historical’ documents – Adrian de Bourbon
The Gwelo ‘M’ Post Office – Mike Hughes
Bulawayo brochures, publicity items in which postal rates and times are shown – Rob Burrett
Queen Elizabeth II material ex Archives – Patrick Flanagan
Preamble to the Colours and Printings of the Rhodesia Double Head – Stephen Reah-Johnson and Simon Hensman
The Chaos at ZIMPOST in 2019 – Geoff Brakspear
Some interesting BCA / Nyasaland items – Patrick Flanagan and John Shawley
Rhodesia Admiral Postal Stationery Cards – Andrew Wilkie
1915 Registered Linen Parcel Tag with 2/6d Die II Plate 3 State 3 (SG Unlisted); two strips of three and one block of ten and four single copies – Allen Kirkpatrick
1959 Rhodesia & Nyasaland 2½d Fairbridge Memorial – Dave Cooper
Some further thoughts about the postcards published by the Paris Missionary Society in Barotseland – Sean Burke
The British South Africa Company, King George V Admiral Series. Rediscovering
the Origin of the Portrait – David Spivack and Colin Hoffman RDPSA, FRPSL
Early map of Bulawayo 1896 – Mike Barter
Early revenue usage of Rhodesia’s first stamps – Mike Barter