Victoria Falls
The Victoria Falls is probably southern Africa's single greatest tourist attraction. As Otto Peetoom's wonderful display shows it has been an inspiration to travellers ever since it was first discovered. The first people to see it were Africa's indigenous people. The local people called the waterfall 'The Smoke that Thunders'. Its colonial name results from its 'discovery' by a European explorer. It was named after Victoria, the Queen of Great Britain, by David Livingstone, the great missionary explorer, the first European to see it in 1855.
I once asked a leading Rhodesian philatelic and postal history dealer what colonialism had done for Rhodesia / Zimbabwe. His slightly incredulous and indignant response was that "we built a railway bridge across the Vic Falls". True, the construction of the bridge was a remarkable technical achievement in a remote and challenging part of Africa. It also says a lot about the imperial, colonial and capitalist spirit of development, self-belief and interest, ('Rhodes' in a word'), that drove the project to completion and profit for the greater good.
Tobacco was a huge cash-crop in Rhodesia. The following three images are Christmas cards from 'Tobacco Reserarch Board of Rhodesia'. The images were painted by Thomas Baines, the first European artist to paint the Victoria Falls in 1862. They sailed from Cape Town to Walvis Bay and then overland by ox-wagon in a journey that took 16 months. Baines spent twelce days at the Victoria Falls sketching. He completed his paintings on the return leg of the journey. There is no date on the cards to show when they were made.
1862. Christmas Card from 'Tobacco Reserarch Board of Rhodesia'.
'The Falls by Sunrise with the Spray Cloud rising 1,200 feet'. (Thomas Baines F.R.G.S. Bulawayo Club Collection.)
1862. Christmas Card from 'Tobacco Reserarch Board of Rhodesia'.
'Centre Rock Fall and the Eastern Cataracts'. (Thomas Baines F.R.G.S. National Archive of Rhodesia.)
1862. Christmas Card from 'Tobacco Reserarch Board of Rhodesia'.
'Zanjueelah, The Boatman of the Rapids'. (Thomas Baines F.R.G.S. National Archive of Rhodesia.)
Below is a later Chromalith showing perhaps an early mass-produced view of the Falls created by someone who may never have been there. Note the 'Smoke that Thunders' rising up and the exotic vegetation worthy of the naïve and primitive style of the impressionist Henri Rousseau, a painter who never left France but nevertheless bought his fantastic jungle imagining into 19th C. living rooms.
This image below is altogether more interesting than the preceding one.
The above print was purchased in a charity shop. The painting of the Victoria Falls was presumably based on a well-known photograph. The bridge appears to have been added after the painting of the Falls. What is most interesting is the backing in the picture frame. This is a 'LONDON & xx' railway timetable of 1st October 1901, (the SA War had not yet ended) to 31st May 19xx (when it did in 1902!).
Work on the Victoria Falls railway bridge only began in May 1904, two years after the SA War ended . The structural assembly started on 21st October 1904 and the bridge was completed on 1st April 1905 when it was joined and bolted together. It was officially opened on 12th September 1905. It appears that the above image predates both the start of the construction and the opening of the bridge, I wonder if it was not used as a pre-construction promotional publicity item to gain support and funding for the project?
This is a FDC celebrating Southern Rhodesia's Golden Jubilee. This event and the cover provides an excellent clue as to why Rhodesia was founded as a chartered company in the first place. If you cannot guess it, the answer is writ large in 'GOLD!'
1940. FDC. SALISBURY S. RHODESIA '3 JUN 1940' to BLANTYRE, NYASALAND '6 JUN 1940'
Full set of eight BSAC (British South Africa Company's) Golden Jubile stamps.
Three fine strikes on reverse, two different Blantyre, registered and barred.
Almost the entire colonial history of of Rhodesia is shown in these stamps, from Rhodes and the Pioneer Column to the Victoria Falls Bridge. The British Royal Family loom large on the top value 1/- stamp. The cover shows a bridge at bottom left. I originally assumed that this was the Victoria Falls Bridge. As it does not look like the 4d stamp I am going to stick my neck out in a subject I am unfamilar with and say it is the Birchenough Bridge crossing the Sabi River in Manicaland, built in 1935, a proud example of '50 Years of Progress'.
I recently saw the President of Zimbabwe on the TV discussing land seizures in South Africa. This was wrong, he said. "The Boers (Afrikaners) are an African people. The situation in SA is quite different to Zimbabwe" where the problem, he said, was that the British monarch, Queen Victorias, gave the BSAC (Rhodes) a charter to occupy land that was not hers to give! The President made the very interesting point that his country's problems with its colonial history was one that remained unreconciled and largely the fault of the British Royal Family.
Most philatelists have their own area of interest which is expressed in their collecting field. From my side, I do not collect Rhodesia. I have never liked it philatelically enough to want to collect it. Early interaction with Rhodies gave me a lifteime allergy. However, I have accumulated a few bits and pieces on the way to collecting something else, mostly SA postal history. The cover above is one that I have had for many years. It has never been a part of my displays and was too much effort to get rid of. Offers are welcomed. Please!
The cover below has little to do with the Victoria Falls but I thought to add it because it has everything to do with Rhodesian history as shown in the cover above. Created as a bit of fun by a jingoistic British racist it adds a dash of credibility to my unpopular views.
1883. Envelope. Presumably Printed illustration. Unposted.
The creator may have been a philatelist. The 'Royal Male' & 'Postal Jubilee' suggest so.
The reference to a 'Matabele Postal Jubilee' is spurious and tendentious. There was none.
Top: Lobengula as a child crawls around his father's kraal at Gubulawayo in 1843.
This image inadvertently acknowledges a Matabele presence and ownership of the land since 1843.
Bottom: King Lobengula flees Bulawayo in 1893 after firing it before the advancing BSAC Pioneer forces.
This is a facetious item of pro-Empire, anti-Matabele racist nonsense.
I imagine that back-in-the-day (1893) it was created as a testament to the Englishman's civilising influence and the defeat of the Matabele whose capital and land the BSAC had occupied. Today it is a rather awful remindeer of the greedy motivations and iniquities of colonisation. I collect items of ephemera like this but feel vaguely uneasy about doing so. I tell myself that some of us have to remember and be the custodians of the past. One day when we come to explain what happened items like this will be invaluable.
As you expect of Africa's and the world's leading natural wonder, there are a LOT of postcards showing the Victoria Falls. Here are four colour tinted postcards of the Victoria Falls in about 1906 - 1910, the Edwardian Age. A quick look suggests that none of these postcards are in Otto's display. (But what he does show, especially the building of the bridge, are amazing!) I find these much more attractive and collectible than the functional Black & White Real Photo Cards that became so widespread and common after the First World War.
Below are two more postcards in the 'Camera Series' from the Cape Town photogapher, T. D. Ravenscroft of Rondebosch. These were posted from Burghersdorp 'JA 29 07', top, and Cape Town 'JY 18 06', bottom, both just after the bridge was opened to railway traffic. The railway allowed travellers to vist the Falls in numbers that were were unimaginable just ten years earlier. We are fortunate to have a huge number of postcards from this time that document both the waterfall and its surrondings, as well as the development of tourism on the once remote Zambezi.
Here are some other items of mine that may be of some small interest to the Rhodesian collector.
1908. Postcard. BULAWAYO RHODESIA '13 JAN 08' to AUSTRIA.
Sent to Austria at halfpenny Book Post rate. Taxed T10c. Uncommon BSAC ½d deep green stamp.
Postcard published by P. S. & C., Cape Town. This suggests the devlopment of early tourism.
1931. Philatelic Air mail Stationery (J. Robertson, Stamp Dealer, Old Arcade, Johannesburg.)
BULAWAYO S. RHODESIA '30 JAN 32' via JOHANNESBURG '1 FEB 32' to KIMBERLEY '2 FEB 32'.
Two x 1913 small Waterfall defintives, 2d black and sepia and 3d blue (less common) cancelled Bulawyo.
Letters addressed POSTE RESTANTE were held until collected and reurned to sender when not
Poste Restante was used to send mail around the world and get it returned at no cost with interesting postmarks!
1935. Cover. QUEQUE S. RHODESIA '12 APR 1935' to USA.
1932 Southern Rhodesia 3d blue large Waterfall, both relatively commom
This stamp promotes the Victoria Falls internationally in the hope of creating a tourist industry.
Watch this space.... coming soon-ish!
I found the following two machine cancels among my accumulation. Neither are great but they do tell a story. The two below both show the widely used 'See The Victoria Falls' machine canceller.
The one below was used in 1962 in SOUTHERTON, a post office that Otto lists as using it but does not include as an image with the half-a-dozen or so others that he includes in his display. So, it is perhaps not so common, then? The stamp is also nice QE2 use from Rhodesia and Nyasaland, introducing aspects of the various federations of colonies in the reegion.
The second cover is from 1975. Rhodesia has now declared Independencs and is going it alone (with a little help from SA). Had Rhodesia been a legitimate British colony this official letter would have been pre-printed 'OHMS, (On Her Majesty's Service). As Rhodesia is a rebel ex-colony it is simply marked 'On Government Service' and shows no deference to Britain or HM The Queen. They are still using the same (I think) 'See The Victoria Falls' machine canceller in CAUSEWAY 13 years later, so a reasonably good innings then for this MC.
The Victoria Falls Hotel, Rhodesia.
The Victoria Falls Hotel was first built as accommodation for workers constructing the bridge and railway line across the Zambezi gorge. Today it is world famous luxury hotel brand that offers wealthy travellers serene lily ponds, arched loggias, broad verandas and dramatic views of the gorges of Zimbabwe's spectacular Victoria Falls.
Circa 1950. Postcard, Unposted. 'Victoria Falls, Hotel, Rhodesia'.
The railway line can be seen passing behind the back of the hotel, top.
The history of the Victoria Falls Hotel is incomplete without a reference to the development of the railway system in south-central Africa. Cecil Rhodes tasked his friend and colleague Sir Charles Metcalfe with the job of realising his dream, the development of a railway system stretching “from the Cape to Cairo”. Metcalfe initiated the plans for the first railway bridge to span the mighty Zambezi above the falls. Rhodes insisted that the bridge be built in a place where the spray from the 'smoke that thunders' would fall on passing trains. The site that was chosen was just a little below the Boiling Pot, almost at right angles and in very close proximity to the falls.
1966. Hotel Postcard. Rhodesia 9d QE2 Tobacco stamp cancelled VICTORIA FALLS '15 AUG 1966' to FRANCE.
The Victoria Falls Hotel was built and operated by the railways administration. As a result many early postcards are published by Rhodesia Railways Limited.In the early 1970s the hotel was leased to the then Southern Sun hotel group, the forerunner of today's African Sun Limited. A significant development in the late 1990s was the involvement in the hotel of another leading Zimbabwean hospitality operation, Meikles Africa Hotels. Today the property itself still belongs to the National Railways of Zimbabwe and there is a shared 50/50 partnership operation between African Sun and Meikles Africa.
Back to the Beginning, back to Thomas Baines. This is self-explanatory. Or should be. Useful background to Baines.
