The stone was laid by the Administrator of the Cape, Sir Frederick de Waal, the following day (10 May) and while the children stood where the event took place, members of the public were asked to take their place in Riversdale Road, opposite the building (today known as Cape Road).
Ninety-five years later, this event was remembered at the Regional Conference of the South African Museums' Association (Western Cape) which was held in Mossel Bay at the Dias Museum on 11 and 12 April. The theme of the Conference was "Museums and memories."
One of the presentations, by Ms Sigi Howes of the Education Museum in Cape Town was called: 'Foundation Stones and Masons: a Case Study of Park Primary School. How the Masonic ceremony of stone-laying and burying artefacts beneath it, helped preserve the memory of the event.’ These ceremonies were done to ask a blessing on the builders and the building and were often performed along public rituals practiced by the Freemasons at such events.
The presentation was done in workshop format at the Park Primary School and in addition to the 33 representatives from museums and heritage organizations, was attended by 32 learners from the School.
Central to the workshop was the sealed lead box or "time capsule" that had been buried under the foundation stone in 1916 and was discovered in 1973 when the School was demolished to make way for the present building. Inside the box was a hand-typed summary of the event; a copy of the Mossel Bay Advertiser dated 9 May 1916 and a copy of the Cape Times dated 8 May 1916 as well as three coins - a penny, a half penny and a tickey.
Obviously these original items have to be preserved and cannot be handled, so the workshop participants got little replica 'loodkissies' with copies of the newspapers and coins. These could be examined as primary sources of historic evidence. One of the things that the participants commented on was that both newspapers had mainly store advertisements on their front pages and almost no headline news, despite the fact that the 1st World War was raging in Europe.
The report of the ceremony was written by the Rev David Wilcocks of the Dutch Reformed Church, who was also the Chairman of the Municipal School Committee. He mentions that the architects of the new building were Messrs Reid & Delbridge (latter also designed Mossel Bay's War Memorial), the contractor Mr Frederick Boeser and many other important people of the town at the time.
The staffs of Mossel Bay's three white schools at the time were also listed: The Girls' Public School; the Boys' Public School (by now already in its beautiful new building at the Point (today Milkwood Primary School) and the Poor School (in the old Boys' School building in Bland Street. Mosselbaaiers may remember it by it’s later name, the Doch ‘n Doris).
The Principal of the Girls' School was Miss Jessie Reid, a respected doyen of her time. The Principal of the Boys' School was Mr Peter McGaffin, who came to Mossel Bay from the Adelaide Public School and who is mentioned by the famous child diarist, Iris Vaughan, in her Diary of Iris Vaughan. The name of McGaffin's son, Robert is inscribed on the War Memorial. The McGaffins were a big family - yet no graves in the old cemetery bear their name, suggesting perhaps that they left Mossel Bay soon after 1916. The Principal of the Poor School was Mrs HMH Webb.
In 1921, a mere five years after the completion of this building, the Boys'- and Girls' Schools amalgamated. The senior pupils moved into the Boys' Public School building, which became Point High School. The junior pupils moved to the Girls' Public School building, which became Park Primary. In 1926 the Poor School was absorbed into Park Primary.
The foundation stone in question is now at the entrance to Park Primary School. It bears the inscription: "Let knowledge grow from more to more, but more of reverence in us dwell," urging the children to constantly strive for knowledge and become life-long learners, but also to revere god and nature.
The time capsule is also at Park. It, together with the contents, will soon be on display at the school. Anyone interested is welcome to contact the school on 044 691 1020. What is not quite certain is where exactly the stone was located on the old building. Anyone with information is requested to contact Ms Sigi Howes at the Education Museum (021 762 1622) or send an e-mail to postmaster@cce.wcape.school.za.
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Group activity around the typed summary. On the far right is Mr Mbulelo Mrubata, Manager of the Dias Museum.
