David Keay, a young man who grew up on his family’s farm outside of Unity, moved to South Africa to work in the gold mines with his uncle. He wrote home to his parents and siblings often, outlining some of the interesting things he was doing. This is a continuation of David’s story.
As the year 1939 began, David’s first letter home shared the excitement of the South Africa Grand Prix, an annual event held in East London, drawing in crowds from England, South Africa, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. A total of 15 cars drove 18 laps on a course roughly 12 miles, with average speeds around 150 miles per hour. The first two winners were Villoresi and Cortese, both Italians.
The vacationing group took in other activities including bathing in the brine, sightseeing in Durban and saw ponies called basuto being ridden by clotheless younger ones. As David wrote, “it was like passing through a savage nudist camp!”
Once home, David received 100 per cent in each of the four subjects he was taking, with a recommendation that he should be studying for a Mining Bachelor of Science. Such studies would require David giving up his job and deciding to forego the education.
At the end of January 1939, David visited the Knell’s, who had a plentiful garden of the floral and vegetable kind. Included in the vegetables was Canadian corn, which was such a treat for David.
The start of February is busy for the young man, with semi-annual phthisis [tuperculosis] exams, where approximately 300 men are examined each day, minus Sundays, with many being in the mining industry. David is instructed he must attend First Aid Practice as he has become part of the Bedeaux team for the upcoming First Aid competition.
David has also signed on for two more years of classes, including Geology, Mining Economics, Mathematics and Electrical and Mechanical Engineering. This will take up three nights and an afternoon each week.
David writes again mid-February, saying it had been raining for most of the week, to the point there has been flooding in some places. David said he lost his watch, the one he got in Unity the afternoon he left on the train before going to South Africa. David has met several Canadians while working in the mines. He writes:
“Mr. Hall who has been here for eight years is off on a long leave visiting family in Vancouver, B.C. Another chap McKinnon was born in Swift Current. Another chap Walker has studied mining at McGill University in Montreal. He may leave soon for the Canadian mines. Easy to determine Canadian or American but no one seems to know what country I was raised. Most have the conclusion I am either Scottish or Irish. Where do I get the Irish from?”
David is sent on a special job in the development end in March 1939, where haulages are being made in new ground. Nearly 30 holes are drilled six to eight feet deep into rock using compressed air and only a couple of young fellows holding the drill. According to David’s letter, this is an investigative study to see if the miners are receiving maximum advance for the amount of powder being used during blasting. Throughout the shift, David measures the angles of the hole and the depths. After a day’s worth of work, David then practices with his First Aid team until 6 p.m. before he has supper at the boarding house. He ends his day in Springs with his evening classes.
There is talk of the First Aid competition being cancelled as some of the team members became ill with the flu and another had to go to the hospital for an operation.
There is tension in the country as the Africans want an African flag to be the only flag flying and many refuse to sing God Save the King, wanting and Africanese national anthem. Some street names such as King George Street are being torn down. David writes:
“Life and prosperity to this country is through influence of the British. Shouldn’t they try to pull together rather than being antagonistic? Argue it this way, had Britain not taken South Africa, some other European power would.”
He also thanks his parents for the renewal of the Free Press for a couple of years, as he thoroughly appreciates the paper.
In his letter dated March 29, 1939, David writes his team placed third in the First Aid competition, winning 10 shillings each. There was a total of 15 teams entered and there ended up being a large crowd watching. The competition was divided into three paddocks, the first doing individual work, the second working together as a team on a patient with a fractured ankle and ribs, a gash to the forehead and severe bleeding. The final paddock had the team treat a patient who had been pulled from the water, which included transportation by stretcher.
For Good Friday, the mine shuts down for the holiday, so David spends the day mountain climbing at Heinleberg. David has been asked to attend the district First Aid competition as a standby.
After Easter, David had an important job on the surface at the shaft, checking on the natives that were going underground. Each native is supposed to have a number and a badge on their wrist with the same number. They are also to carry a book of tickets for the boss to sign on each shift they work. David had to take the number and issue tickets to those without their badge.
“There are 4,000 natives that pass through the gate between 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. The day shift boys have to start going underground at 2:30 a.m. so all can be underground before work commences. I am now back on day shift on the job of measuring up supports, since all the support positions must be plotted on the stope plans.”
In May, David reports to his family the flying boat “Challenger” that brings mail from England to Durban and up to Johannesburg had crashed at Mozambique, where a lot of the mail was ‘dipped in the sea’. David also hears on the wireless broadcast that the King and Queen are leaving Canada on the Empress of Australia. He said the programs came over very clear, they could hear all the music as well as the crowd cheering and shouting.
David experiences very long days, starting work as early as 3:30 a.m. and working until 5 p.m. before he must attend classes. On one Saturday night, David joins some friends at the Bioscope to see a short picture called Gold. It was a South African picture taken by Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer three years prior. It showed the mine natives at the compound and working underground. It also showed the reduction works and pouring of gold. Oddly enough, MGM chose Daggafontein for their pictures, including the smelt house where David worked for the first nine months. However, David arrived at the mine only a few weeks after the crew was at the mine.
David also enjoyed the picture Heart of the North, relating to the early days in northern Canada during the fur trading era where the main characters were the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Although David suspected the picture was greatly exaggerated, it showed some of the hardships the RCMP may have encountered in those days.
Donald McKinnon, another Canadian who is working in the mines, has shared stories of his life as a geologist, when he prospected for gold in the Yukon and when he worked in a copper mine in British Columbia. David wrote:
“On coming to South Africa, McKinnon first came to Rhodesia where he prospected. He told of shooting zebra, but the meat was slightly strong. A picture shows him nicely posing on top of a lion that got in the way of one of his bullets. I now feel that I will not be content until I have a while up in Rhodesia hunting. Donald’s home is in Vancouver where his mother and twin sisters live. He has covered many a mile riding freights and with a pack on his back in good old Canada.”
David also shared that a fellow who refused to pay his monthly and compulsory subscription to the Mine Works Association was fired and is now being held for murder after he took a revolver and shot the association’s secretary in Johannesburg.
Please stay tuned for the next installment of Letters to Home in an upcoming issue of the Unity-Wilkie Press Herald or on SaskToday.ca.
