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Pioneering

The Life of a Plumtree Fag

The first classes at Plumtree School on the Rhodesian border with Bechuanaland were held in a rondavel in the garden of Mr. and Mrs S.J. Smith whose nine children were the first pupils in 1902.  Later the school moved to the dining room of the Plumtree Hotel which doubled

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From Bundu to Outback

From Bundu to Outback Tim Hughes severed his ties with Rhodesia in 1962. In those days pilots navigated by the stars to cross the Indian Ocean flying at night. The four day trip from Johannesburg in a propeller driven Constellation made an overnight stop at Mauritius due to bad weather

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Breaking Away

Breaking Away Gervas Hughes had fended off military call-up papers for four years, telling them his son was overseas. One day another letter arrived from the Ministry of Defense requesting Tim attend a medical examination before doing his four months compulsory national service training. Breaking Away He had been subjected

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All in a Day's Work

Spreading Manure on the lands at Melrose Farm, outside Que Que, Southern Rhodesia 1961 All in a Day’s Work A typical week at Melrose Farm for Tim Hughes started with a cup of tea from his ‘cookboy’ Mark before daylight. After pulling on his khaki shirt, shorts, boots and

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Getting Reacquainted

Getting Reacquainted  The next morning at Giraffe Farm Philip appeared. He nearly dropped the early morning teatray— teapot, and hot water jug, cups and saucers, milk jug, sugar bowl and plate of biscuits. When he saw Tim he exclaimed, “Ah! Ah! Ah! Sakubona Nkos, wena pendugili!” (I see you sir,

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Homecoming

Gervas and Dorothy on the steps of their new home on Giraffe Farm outside Que Que.  The house had been built during Tim’s  4 years abroad. Homecoming Heading homeward on the BOAC plane to Salisbury in August 1961, Tim Hughes chatted to an English doctor seated next to him

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Experiencing the Best of Africa

David Read’s niece, Marilynne, sitting on his pet elephant which was tended by a full time keeper.  In the background is the elephant’s boma next to the keepers hut. Aug 1961 Experiencing the Best of Africa On return to Ketembelion Farm from the seaside David Read, on a

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A Wonderful Welcome Back to Africa

The Freyburg’s holidaying at their modest seaside cottage, with the million dollar view at Pangani, Tanganyika. A Wonderful Welcome Back to Africa. The SS Iberia from Sydney docked in Mombasa on 19th July, 1961. Two of the ship’s gangways were lowered to the wharf: one for transit passengers,

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Going Abroad

Tim Hughes with his 1929 TR 1,  bought for twelve pounds. Going Abroad Tim Hughes took up his father’s offer to attend Kingston Mauward Agricultural College near Dorchester, a palatial manor house and estate. Going Abroad Tim excelled at agricultural engineering and the practical farm work.  He soon graduated

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Lessons in Headers and Head Over Heels in Love

Brian Freyberg with his plane, Whizzer,  in the hanger at Ketembellion Farm Ol Molog, Killimanjaro (photo Aug 1961) Lessons in Headers and Head Over Heels in Love After the long drive up from Southern Rhodesia Tim Hughes and Ken Wallace  were welcomed by Tim’s Uncle, Brian Freyburg, and Aunt

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Lessons for Life

On the steps of the Giraffe Farm house Tim Hughes bids his father, Gervas, farewell before heading north. Lessons for Life  Tim Hughes decided to leave his first job with Ronny McLean in the lower Gwelo district and visit is beloved Aunt Joanie and his Uncle Brian Freyberg farming on

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Introduction to the Real World

A Thames Trader truck with the same engine as the Fordson Major tractors of the mid 1950’s was the ‘potato truck’  Tim Hughes drove 100 miles south to Bulawayo Introduction to the Real World  At the end of 1956 seventeen years old Tim Hughes passed his Cambridge School Certificate,

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Efficient Fishing

Tim wearing his Plumtree School hat rowing Rosemary Paget, the Bishop’s wife,  across Lake McIlwaine 1954  Efficient Fishing    Tim and his friends, ‘The Gang’, went fishing in local dams around Plumtree. The goal was to obtain as many fish as possible in the shortest time.   Efficient Fishing    Late Saturday

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"My Greatest Desire"

Beit Hall at Plumtree School was named after the philanthropist Alfred Beit. “My Greatest Desire” Alfred Beit had initiative, good judgement and generosity. His legacy is uncontaminated, unlike his friend Rhodes whom he assisted so much. There is a memorial to him at the entrance to the School of Mines

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A New Tyre Becomes Old

Nests of White-browed Sparrow-weavers  in an acacia  tree, Bechuanaland (now Botswana). A New Tyre Becomes Old Tim Hughes and his friend Ian arrived on their bicycles at his Uncle John Millard, the Divisional Commissioner of northern and western Bechuanaland, in Francistown.  John  was horrified that they had biked through man-eating

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Lionhearts

Rhodesian strip road Lionhearts In the winter of 1956, Jack Chase, the lion hunter, invited Tim Hughes to spend a week of his school holidays with him to see the Central Kalahari, West of Mahalapye in Bechuanaland. Tim made a plan with Ian, a Gang member. At the end of

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Adventures with the Divisional Commissioner

John Millard as Divisional Commissioner oversaw  two thirds of Bechuanaland Protectorate (which is a little bit smaller than Texas).  He travelled with his family in the caboose to cover the area between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers in the north and south and including 11,000 square miles of the

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Cross Country or Down Stream?

Lloyd Cross Country Team 1955  Back L to R: Ian Bailey, Tim Hughes, Colin  Stuart.  Sitting L to R: Peter Black, Brian Black, Michael Nelson. Sitting on the ground: Peter Johnson. Cross Country or Down Stream?  Plumtree School held assembly at Beit Hall six days a week. The school plays

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A Sharp Eye and a Good Shot

In the school holidays, fifteen year olds, Tim Hughes and Malcolm Mackendrick went shooting  on Giraffe Farm. A Sharp Eye and a Good Shot At fifteen, home for the school holidays, Tim and his old CJR Junior School friend from Connemara Gold Mine, Malcolm Mackendrick, decided to go camping on

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Bordering on Freedom

Plumtree Lloyd Bisley Team 1956 L to R John Davy and Kevin Calvert, Hugh Riach and Tim Hughes.  Tim and Hugh got lots of practice with a 303 rifle on weekends going ‘bush’ without permission.  Bordering on Freedom Tim revelled in being a fifteen year old at Plumtree High School.

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'To a Definite End'

Malcolm Mackendrick of the Connemara Mine standing on the doorway of the cab of Tim Hughes’ 1939 Chevrolet Pickup truck on Giraffe Farm. Tools and fuel were stored in the Cato hut in the background. ‘To a Definite End’ One’s school motto does, I think, to a greater or

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The Carryings On In the Carriages

The typical Rhodesian carriages that transported children on the long journeys to and from boarding schools in Southern Rhodesia. The Carryings On In the Carriages  In 1897 a railway siding, Plumtree, was built on the border with Bechuanaland in Rhodes’ Southern Rhodesia, recently established by his private British South Africa

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The Sting

The senior boys at CJR Junior School in Gwelo hunted scorpions in their free time.  Photo http://www.medtogo.com/scorpion-stings.html The Sting In 1951, Tim, at age twelve became top of the ‘pecking- order’ as a senior at Cecil John Rhodes Junior School in Gwelo. The Sting Horse

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Tall Tales and Long Drops

Philip, the cook, standing outside Gervas and Dorothy Hughes’ new house on Giraffe Farm. Tall Tales and Long Drops Peter Hughes, the son of Gervas Hughes’ half-brother, Tom, returned from the North Africa campaigns of WWII a tough soldier, still only twenty three years old.  He came to work at

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Conditions of One Sort or Another

Dorothy’s Darlings  getting their weekly spray down for tics 1962 – See more at: https://www.oncecalledhome.com/2013/05/conditions-of-one-sort-or-another/#sthash.bqF30mvK.dpuf Conditions of One Sort or Another   Part of Dorothy Crowther-Smith’s conditions for marriage to Gervas Hughes were that she would bring a nucleus of her