IDNO

P.48844.ACH2

Description

Rector Warin Bushell and his sister standing with Punch, a San (Bushmen) farmer, dressed in his “best clothes, including a white waistcoat” at Weenen, KwaZulu-Natal. [JD 14/10/2009]

Place

S Africa; South Africa; KwaZulu-Natal; Weenen

Cultural Affliation

San [historically Bushmen]

Named Person

Warin Foster Bushell (Rector); Punch; ?Bushnell (?Ms)

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Bushell, Warin Foster (Rector)

Date

1926

Collection Name

Unmounted Haddon Collection

Source

Bushell, Warin Foster (Rector)

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

The print was found in envelope now marked C157/2/2/. This envelope was found in drawer 2 of the green cabinet. The entire cabinet was previously numbered as “batch 143” and is now re-numbered C157/ by the transcriber.

These photographs appear to have been donated to Haddon by W. F. Bushell, as indicated by the accompanying letter (archive ref).

Related Archive: Letter from W.F. Bushell, Sept 1952, reference AA1/1/26:
“These pictures of the last farming Bushmen in Natal. I heard of him in 1926 when I went to South Africa as living in Weenen with a farmer. I was invited to go and see him. It was amusing that he dressed himself up in his best clothes, including a white waistcoat, but had to converse with me via an interpreter as he talked Afrikaans.
I gave him a few cigarettes which made him very friendly. I wanted to see the top of his head, so we decided, mutually, to give 3 cheers for the King. Hence the pictures where we are without our hats.
I tended to tell my friends about him, and several people went to see him. Hence, when I went to say goodbye at the end of 1929, he had rather become ‘above himself’, and a present of at least 2 boxes of cigarettes was required before he would pay much attention to me!
He was reputed to be 100 years old, but there was no real evidence for this, and it was most unlikely.
My visit was largely due to the kind intervention of Mr Methley, a farmer who lived close to me at Balgowan when I was Rector of Michaelhouse. Mr Methley told me of the almost canny power over animals possessed by Bushmen. In his father’s day a Bushman had been employed to drive several hundred sheep over a distance of several hundred miles. This meant crossing many miles where there were no bridges, and any European would have found it a very difficult job. This particular Bushman arrived with more sheep than the number he started with!
Punch, as the Bushman depicted in the photographs was called, died between 1930 and 1940.
The lady in the picture is my sister.
W.F. Bushell, Sept 1952.
I might add that many years before, a number of Bushmen were running away and a woman among them dropped her baby, which was brought up on the farm. Hence the origin of ‘Punch’.” [JD 14/10/2009]