Milnertonian

Faunal fossils of Miocene and/or Pliocene age (12-3 million years ago), when the sea level was over 40 metres above the present level, have been recovered from Milnerton beach. About 30 metres nor th of the lagoon mouth, a local occurrence of Last Inter-glacial marine molluscs can be seen at the high-water mark. The seam extends over some 15 metres and is distinguished from the modern beach by the concentration of shells and shell fragments and the fact that some shells and fragments show signs of ferruginization (alterations caused by weathering close to the surface in the presence of iron-bearing aqueous solutions). Fossils of larger animals which roamed the area during the terminal Miocene/early Pliocene period (circa 5,2 million years ago) have been found at Langebaan, about 150 kilometres north of Cape Town. The West Coast Fossil Park is world-renowned for its well-preserved fossil faunal remains, which date to the time when many animals that are now extinct, such as sabre-tooth...

In the early 1960s, we woke to a clinking sound as 'natives' delivered milk in glass bottles with foil caps and an inch of cream at the top. The milkmen rode  bicycles with large baskets in front.   Every evening, Mom placed that day's empties on the front stoep with the correct number of coins for the next day's delivery. The coins were never stolen, but a few years later, we had to purchase plastic disks and the milkmen started driving an electric van with a distinctive hum. If we were lucky, we could cadge a ride to the next street. The back of the van stank of sour milk. The tuneless bray of a fish horn announced the approach of the Malay fishmonger and his boys on their donkey cart. Wet hessian sacking covered fresh snoek and stock fish (hake). I'm the proud owner of an original fish horn, fashioned from a paraffin tin. We children were entrusted with buying the vegetables Mom needed from an Indian greengrocer, who parked his tarpaulin-covered truck out...

Did you know that long before we or any other humans set foot in Milnerton, it was connected to the east coast of what is now Argentina? About 335 million years ago, during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras, the continents as we know them today were still part of a super-continent known as Pangaea, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek pan ('all, entire, whole') and Gaia ('Mother Earth, land'). Then, about 175 million years ago, shifts in the earth's tectonic plates caused Pangaea to break apart. It was during the second of the three phases of this process, in the Middle Cretaceous period, that South America started to move westwards away from Africa and the South Atlantic Ocean opened up. The area now known as the Cape Peninsula broke away from the area now known as San Matias Gulf in Argentina. What is now Milnerton was once connected to what is now Bahia Blanca, a city lying to the south of Buenos Aires, where the Naposta Stream flows...

(With apologies to Jimmy Webb, the composer of Galveston, oh Galveston ) When my family moved to Milnerton in January 1960, I was six years old. It was still a seaside village back then, and the only formal housing development along the northern shores of Table Bay. There were just over 3,000 residents and many of the plots were still vacant. There were no tower blocks, no shopping centres, no restaurants, and no fast-food outlets. There was only one general dealer, the Lorna Doone Cafe on Koeberg Road, between Jansen and Knysna Roads, which is remarkably still there. Here you could buy everything from American comics to zinc tubs. We'd spend our tickey pocket money on Chappies (4 for a penny), Stars (3 for a penny) and Wicks bubble gum (2 for a penny). These sweets were bigger than they are today. The back section of the cafe, fitted out with small tables and chairs, was patronised by leather-jacketed 'Teddy Boys', their hair slicked back with Brylcream, and their f...