The “Huisgenoot” magazine is certainly THE oldest family magazine in South Africa. These pics come from the magazines which I found on TUKKIES (University of Pretoria) website. I myself have got a few of these old Huisgenoot mags, but they are in bits! I’ve got a few complete pages and others are half pages and bits…and…pieces….I think my oldest one dated 1932.(all in SA packed away) In our family, I was always the one that liked the old history stuff and wanted to keep all kinds of precious, (well to me) historical “artifacts” safe. I hated History as a subject at school when I had to study and learn for exams, but love to read about it and visit historical places and museums. In my last two years of study, I had an optional “subject”, called Museum studies. We visited every Thursday a museum in the city….or near the city…we were only about 15 students…my History tutor was really an interesting man. He joined us on all those trips and could come up with the most amazing facts about Pretoria and you were like…”oh my….gosh…I didn’t know that! and I do live here!”…your jaws dropped every minute he was talking…anyway…those trips were just big fun…the Post Office museum…which is not in Pretoria anymore, but in Cape Town….was the biggest fun…we played like 10-year old kids with everything, about the only museum where we were allowed to touch everything…we made phone calls to one another with the old phones and sent messages with the morse code machine…that was great fun! We had to hand in a folder with information abut every visit and museum by the end….and….I still have mine! …I couldn’t throw away such precious articles and photos/post cards/information/leaflets/notes …etc.
On these adds you can still see a little bit of Dutch, as Dutch was the spoken language and Afrikaans was still very young and not the official language at the time. Afrikaans was a young, upcoming language at that time….
Old Huisgenoot to be found HERE on the University’s website. The link will open in a new window..
If you click on the images, you would get a larger image to view and read. You will only be able to read if you can read the Dutch language, as that was the language spoken. We have a saying in Afrikaans that says: “Die Kaap is weer Hollands”….”The Cape is Dutch again”….and that means…everything is again OK. When the English ruled the Cape, the Dutch didn’t like it…..so when the Cape was given back…they said…”The Cape is again…Dutch!”…and we’re still using that saying in any situation…to say…everything is OK!…if things had gone wrong….
In this article, 1916, Afrikaans was recognised in the Church! as a language…only in the Free State….one of the provinces of South Africa.
This is now the current “logo” of Huisgenoot….and also in its modern format.
This issue has got Nuweland on the cover, Nuweland is THE place to be for rugby in Cape Town…it is a 1962-issue…and inside there were lots of rugby photos, rugby was and still is, THE sport of the day in South Africa.
Chessalee 