Rhosarian 2019

The Rhosarian 1/19
20
unwise decision to punch a huge hole in the
southern wall to encourage a flow of fresh air,
which, more than likely, swept wave upon wave
of suffocating heat into an already confined
space.
Cecil John Rhodes passed away quietly and
without ceremony in the presence of his close
and dear friends as the sun gently touched the
Cottage before quietly sinking below the
towering Muizenberg Mountain range.
The man after whom Rhodesia was named in
1896 was entombed in the Matopos Hills on 10
April 1902 after lying in State at his Groote
Schuur home, the Houses of Parliament, the
Funeral (Coach) Train to Bulawayo, the Bulawayo
Drill Hall, and his final Gun Carriage journey to
“Worlds View” in the harshness of dusty
Matabeleland, yet his memory lives on in the
Cottage’s tiny “Matopos Room” where a diorama
of his final resting place remains an awesome
reminder of a great man who today ‘ghosts’
through the Cottage when the wind climbs under
the eaves and rattles the shutters.
Not long after the death of C.J.R. the Cottage
remained closed for over thirty years - much the
same as the Fort Tuli Police Outpost in the old
Rhodesia (fourteen years) - bringing to mind the
haunting poem, “The Listeners:” ..........
‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,’
Knocking on the moonlit door, And his horse in
the silence chomped the grasses of the forests
ferny floor................. enough .... call it up on the
internet - Walter de la Mare will tell you more!
Come and see for yourself one of these fine days.
Coincidentally, Ian Smith, the last Prime Minister
of Rhodesia, passed away at the St James
Retirement Hotel in 2007, barely a kilometer from
Rhodes Cottage, on the same side of the
mountain, facing the sea.
Ian Smith was cremated in Cape Town, and his
ashes scattered on his farm and across the
rippling waters of Gwenora Dam in the Selukwe
District: the first, and last born and bred
Rhodesian Prime Minister!
FISH EAGLE
October 2019
The staff and carers at the Retirement Hotel in St
James still speak highly of ‘Smithy’: a gentleman
and a scholar; a soft spoken man whose last wish
was to return to Selukwe: his place of birth in the
lush, green valleys. GOD took him Home.
Take the word “RHODESIAN” - ‘Rhodes and Ian’!
Best wishes.
Tony.
THE WAR MEMORIALS : MILTON HIGH
SCHOOL, BULAWAYO
Milton High School, Bulawayo, was opened in July
1910. Four years later, the First World War broke
out, and old boys and teachers volunteered for
service. Ten lost their lives in the ensuing conflict,
a high number for a new and fairly small school.
Their sacrifice was recorded on an impressive
bronze plaque in the school.
Twenty-nine years later, the Second World War
broke out, with old boys and teachers again
volunteering their services. By the end of the war
in 1945, 115 had given their lives in the cause of
Britain and her allies.
On 2nd April 1948, two bronze plaques honouring
these men were unveiled at a touching service in
the impressive Beit Hall at Milton School. They
were placed on either side of the earlier memorial,
flanked by the Union Jack and the flag of the British
South Africa Company.
The Headmaster, Mr. A. Ball, opened the service
with a prayer and reading of a lesson. This was
followed by the Chairman of the Old Miltonians
Association, reading with deep feeling the Roll of
Honour.