HERITAGE MONTH 2023
The 2023 Heritage Month brings focus to South Africa’s rich and diverse cultural heritage and its immense contribution to our social, economic, health, and scientific well-being especially for rural, township, and peri-urban communities. Annually, September marks Heritage Month with Heritage Day
THE M23 REBELLION
By: David Rilley-Harris - Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History (DNMMH) The conflict area within the Democratic Republic of Congo (www.berejst.dk/389/Goma.htm). The end of the Great African War (1998-2003) did not end conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
MEDAL OF CARNAGE: BATTLE OF WATERLOO 1815
By: Anzel Veldman- Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History A watercolour sketch of a wounded man at the Battle of Waterloo by Sir Charles Bell, a military surgeon who recorded wounded men on the warfront between 1809–1815. During the 17th and
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SERINGAPATAM MEDAL OF 1799
By: Anzel Veldman - Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History War has been a constant presence in human history and as such rewards have been bestowed upon deeds of valour and martial daring. War medals have a long and storied
MRS PLES (STS 5) FROM THE STERKFONTEIN CAVES, SOUTH AFRICA
By: Francis Thackeray, Honorary Research Associate, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand and Lazarus Kgasi, Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology, DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History “Mrs Ples” (Sts 5) is the nickname of a Plio-Pleistocene skull (Fig. 1) attributed to Australopithecus africanus,
IMAGES OF SOUTH AFRICAN NAVAL OPERATIONS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1939 – 1945)
By: Allan Sinclair - DITSONG: National Museum of Military History Introduction For centuries it has been the tradition throughout the world to depict war and battle scenes in art. During the 19th century, war art was recognised as a genre and war
THE HISTORY AND THE ROLE OF MILITARY SURVEYING AND SIGHTING DURING WARS
By: Abraham Mohale - Junior Curator, Communication, Sighting and Survey, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History Figure 1, WW 1- A surveyor on the battlefield. Introduction In the 18TH century modern techniques and instruments for surveying emerged. A British mathematician, astronomical and scientific
THE SPATIAL ORGANISATION AND LAYOUT OF A ZULU ROYAL IKHANDA/AMAKHANDA MILITARY HOMESTEADS
By: Tinyeko Captain Ndhlovu, Curator: Insignia, Memorial Plaques, Postal History, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History This article focuses on the description of the spatial organisation and layout of Zulu military homesteads, known as Royal ikhanda (head)/amakhanda (heads), which were introduced
HINKY-DINKY PARLEZ-VOUS: SOME WORLD WAR I SONGS AND TRENCH LINGO
By: Anzel Veldman - Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History In the muddy, bloody, and hellish battlefields of World War I (1914-1918), soldiers developed a unique language and songs that reflected the harsh realities of their daily lives in the
A MEDICAL PRACTITIONER WHO BECAME A PALAEONTOLOGIST
By: Lazarus Kgasi, Junior Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History In the history of South African science, Robert Broom ranks among the most flamboyant and controversial individuals. The tall, eccentric doctor, who was born in Scotland, is most known for
